Looking for the best overall tube?

[Timbre Wolf]

I just popped in 1 my first Raytheon Blackplate- a "Masco". I had replaced an Amperex Bugle Boy (to be id later). WOW- its so clean! I had resigned that my PRS SC was muddy. But this is like glass.

That's what I've been blathering on about! Glad you've heard the light! 8)

- T

 

[212Mavguy]

Hi JR,

thanks for the tube assignment facts, I don't have a LSS. Pretty tough to find anything that will kick that '58 Heerlen Amperex out of V2. And yes, that tesla e83cc or ecc803s in definitely not a JJ. The ones you want have two getter supports on top of the a-frame with e83cc having white print and the real ecc803s having light yellow print. The e83cc have either normal or gold pins, the ecc803s have gold pins. They also come in a white blue and yellow box. Expect to pay around 80 bucks each for the real deal, and they are 10,000 hour tubes.

I got a pair of fakie ecc803s from later production off ebay, and they don't sound as good. They came in a black white and red box, you can't see between the plates like you can on the real deal, the getter has only one support, and the printing is dark yellow. Caveat emptor!

Now you might consider some RFT el84's or Sylvania blackplate el84's...

 

[stokes]

I just popped in 1 my first Raytheon Blackplate- a "Masco". I had replaced an Amperex Bugle Boy (to be id later). WOW- its so clean! I had resigned that my PRS SC was muddy. But this is like glass.

That's what I've been blathering on about! Glad you've heard the light! 8)

- T

Yup,he's heard the light,now you are hooked,jr,be prepared to sell a left testicle for those Mullards.I have a couple of Mullards and Telefunkens,I paid $100 for the Teles,which is dirt cheap,and I was somewhat dissapointed,great sounding tubes but there are so many other NOS tubes that are just as gratifying at much less $$$.Forget what I paid for the Mullards,not as much,but again a great sounding tube,but the prices for these are out of control.Now,if you really want to up your habit,do an adjustable bias mod to your amp and try some NOS power tubes tweaked just right.

 

[jrkooshman]

Hi JR,

thanks for the tube assignment facts, I don't have a LSS. Pretty tough to find anything that will kick that '58 Heerlen Amperex out of V2. And yes, that tesla e83cc or ecc803s in definitely not a JJ. The ones you want have two getter supports on top of the a-frame with e83cc having white print and the real ecc803s having light yellow print. The e83cc have either normal or gold pins, the ecc803s have gold pins. They also come in a white blue and yellow box. Expect to pay around 80 bucks each for the real deal, and they are 10,000 hour tubes.

I got a pair of fakie ecc803s from later production off ebay, and they don't sound as good. They came in a black white and red box, you can't see between the plates like you can on the real deal, the getter has only one support, and the printing is dark yellow. Caveat emptor!

Now you might consider some RFT el84's or Sylvania blackplate el84's...

thanks for the great advice. You are right about the Herleen- I cant imagine the amp sounding any better than it does.

Now are you telling me my matched Mullard ands Amperexes are no good
Just kidding. I love mixing and matching.

Here's a dumb question- a clean boost on Channel 2 will push it into more distortion correct?

Conversely, when you use a distortion pedal on a clean signal, are the tubes are not are not creating the distortion? Cause everything sounds a little more organic now using the amp for the higher gain, and not using a pedal for that. I always thought that the pedals pushed the tubes to create the distortion, but I had never really thought about it too much.

 

[stokes]

A clean boost will give you a bigger signal,thereby pushing the tube into overdrive somewhat.A distortion pedal adds its own distortion and depending on where you have the level or drive on the pedal set may or may not push the tube into overdrive as well.I dont use pedals for any of my amps,and just cant imagine needing one for my or any Boogie amp,but I am not into metal,or hyper-drive distortion settings.

 

[jrkooshman]

thanks for the reply!
I used pedals on my Mesa LSS when I had stock tubes in. I was only able to get a good rhythm crunch out of it. The other issue is that the LSS does not have the Drive stages on the footswitch. So I am pretty locked in to a distorted tone unless I use my volume control (I am bad at this). My other issue is that I like a different lead tone on my Ch1 settings, which is why I have a pedal or 2 (MI Audio Blues or a Maxon SD with the analogman mod). I am kind of schizo with my playing tones- at times I want Kimock/Garcia clean tones, and then I want Trey (Phish)/Warren facemelting tones. Now that I can get both settings from the LSS, I need to find all of the in the middle, texture low-med gain tones, which may be via pedals. Its all part of the fun!

 

[stokes]

Didnt realize the LSS didnt have the switching options.I looked at the link to your video on your other thread and it really had me scratching my head as to why you would want to add more distortion with a pedal,but I see it isnt just distortion necessarily that you need.I dont play a whole lot anymore,but when I do jam with the old guys,I play pretty much the same as you,classic rock,blues etc. and I dont even use my Boogies much at all.My current favorite is a 5E3 clone that I have tweaked out so I can go from crystal clear to Santanaesque to screaming leads with just the volume/pickups on my PRS,and a major factor to that end is the NOS tubes,you are definately on the right track in that regard.There is nothing like the right tube,biased just right to make any amp "give it up".

 

[jrkooshman]

Cool.Yeah, in that video, what I really needed was more practice and to be sober , but hey- it was my company party and late. I really like the OD that I have much more now that I put more NOS tubes in, especially the Raytheon in V1, and the NOS power tubes.
I'll figure it all out one of these days! thanks for the advice

 

[212Mavguy]

Hey JR,

Regarding clean boost for channel 2, If you try it you might really like it.

Smacking the preamp tubes with a boosted signal will give up a wonderful tone. I have an an old DOD SS boost/eq pedal and it sounds great, love using the eq sliders to shape the tone. It gives me the "amp is about to blow up" sound with lots of sustain. Nice note definition, more howl, less fizzy. My boss at work uses a Klon Centaur clean boost, and he swears by it.

One boutique clean boost pedal that uses a tube, Siegmund's Missing Link, is interesting. His pedals use subminiature military tubes that are long lasting and sound great. I have one of his Double Drive tube distortion pedals, it is a great way to do either two or three gain stages of clean boost and/or distortion. That pedal has a variac in the power supply...and that changes the way that the pedal responds to inputs significantly.

Please accept my compliments on your voicing your amp...awesome! Isn't it wonderfully satisfying?

 

[jrkooshman]

Hey JR,

Regarding clean boost for channel 2, If you try it you might really like it.

Smacking the preamp tubes with a boosted signal will give up a wonderful tone. I have an an old DOD SS boost/eq pedal and it sounds great, love using the eq sliders to shape the tone. It gives me the "amp is about to blow up" sound with lots of sustain. Nice note definition, more howl, less fizzy. My boss at work uses a Klon Centaur clean boost, and he swears by it.

One boutique clean boost pedal that uses a tube, Siegmund's Missing Link, is interesting. His pedals use subminiature military tubes that are long lasting and sound great. I have one of his Double Drive tube distortion pedals, it is a great way to do either two or three gain stages of clean boost and/or distortion. That pedal has a variac in the power supply...and that changes the way that the pedal responds to inputs significantly.

Please accept my compliments on your voicing your amp...awesome! Isn't it wonderfully satisfying?

Thanks! Interesting. Am I correct in thinking that the LSS boost is just a volume boost, and does not provide any more signal to the tubes?

 

[212Mavguy]

Hi JR,

I don't own a LSS, but I did open it's manual online and looked carefully, if you are talking about the footswitchable solo feature, the answer is no, it is in the back end of the amp, the volume boost pedals I wrote about most commonly are placed before the instrument input jack, or possibly in the effects loop.

The drive switch adds more gain stages to channel 2 according to the manual, so it's not a boost as described in my previous post. Hope this helps.

That amp's manual is well written and interesting!