Mesa Tube Review

[Locky]

Had an awesome gig last night. First show with the new band Severfuse www.myspace.com/severfuse. Most years now I've be using JJ tubes in all my amps. But I didn't have time to wait for shipping before the show, so I popped down to the local shop and got a set of Mesa pre and power tubes. NOw I know why Mesa recommend you use their tubes. Holy Crap my amp sounded so clear, thick and tight. I never though new tubes could make such a big difference. The improvement in tone was so drastic, its like I got my amp modded or something. Very awesome. BTW the tubes where chinese. and the power tubes STR 440s.

Are the Russian preamp tubes any different?

 

[TheRazMeister]

I have the 440's in my Rectoverb and love them....

Had an awesome gig last night. First show with the new band Severfuse www.myspace.com/severfuse. Most years now I've be using JJ tubes in all my amps. But I didn't have time to wait for shipping before the show, so I popped down to the local shop and got a set of Mesa pre and power tubes. NOw I know why Mesa recommend you use their tubes. Holy Crap my amp sounded so clear, thick and tight. I never though new tubes could make such a big difference. The improvement in tone was so drastic, its like I got my amp modded or something. Very awesome. BTW the tubes where chinese. and the power tubes STR 440s.

Are the Russian preamp tubes any different?

 

[Restless Rocks]

I've read so much tube hoopla on this forum I just can't beleive it. Mesa tests and grades their tubes to make mesa amps sound their best; and why would they do other wise. I've tried em all and with the exception of some very expensive and vintage german and british made tubes (which I keep for studio use and would never waste taking to gigs) have always come back to off the shelf mesa's. After reading on here how fabulous and groovy JJ's were, well I went and ordered some right up. After 15 minutes of thinking my ole lady had taped a pillow over my speaker and poured mud on my strings I jerked them puppys out and went back to my trusty russian and chinese mesa tubes. And the best part is each time I retube they sound nearly identical to the last set. So consistency and reliability works for me. But again tone is in the ear of the beholder, whatever that means. Maybe too I'm one of these guys who doesn't really give a **** about getting approval for MY SOUND from a bunch of anonymous people on a web forum. When I go to a gig I only care about sounding like ME.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

I've tried em all and with the exception of some very expensive and vintage german and british made tubes (which I keep for studio use and would never waste taking to gigs) have always come back to off the shelf mesa's.

Interesting...which vintage German and British 6L6GCs do you have?

 

[Restless Rocks]

You were paying attention! Answer: unfortunatly none. I have some Mullard and Telephunken 12AX7's and AT7's as well as several Amperex. These babies are sweet in the Boogie but I mostly use them in my tube Hi-Fi stuff. As for 6L6's the only goldy oldy's I have still working in parameters are four RCA's and two Sylvania's. Man wish they still made those don't you? A recently departed Uncle who was a tube audio enthusiast left me some real treasures and I have two boxes of misc. tubes I've yet to even explore. That will be a great rainy day treat.

 

[G.I.G.]

+1

After hearing all of the hype about JJ's I decided to give them a try when it came time to retube my Dual Rec. Overall I wasn't impressed. I tried to EQ my amp to get the sound that I had before but they just didn't do if for me. The JJ's took the sparkle out of my clean channel and made channels 2 snd 3 sound muddy.

I just bought a Roadster and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the stock compliment of Mesa tubes. I don't feel any need to try anything else.

 

[Marc99]

The stock Mesa's are EHX tubes right? Someone told me that there are only a few factories producing tubes...maybe three and EHX is one.

So chances are when you buy any tube they are branded with the logo but made in the same factory. That is just what i heard, he also said tubes can no longer be made in the U.S.

But i agree, the Mesa tubes are fine. Then again i really like TAD's in my amp, for the sound i am going for.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

You were paying attention! Answer: unfortunatly none. I have some Mullard and Telephunken 12AX7's and AT7's as well as several Amperex. These babies are sweet in the Boogie but I mostly use them in my tube Hi-Fi stuff. As for 6L6's the only goldy oldy's I have still working in parameters are four RCA's and two Sylvania's. Man wish they still made those don't you? A recently departed Uncle who was a tube audio enthusiast left me some real treasures and I have two boxes of misc. tubes I've yet to even explore. That will be a great rainy day treat.

Cool. I am a big believer in the NOS tubes. The Chinese and Russian tubes have a ton of gain, and really pack a punch in the modern Boogies. But they fall flat on their faces when you try to go clean or low gain. I have heard a lot of people complain about the Roadking I clean channel. When I replaced the tubes with some Mullards it really added some life and sparkle to the clean channel and was just magnificent on channel 2.

I gig several times a month and I will not use the stock Mesa tubes. This is not Mesas fault, they have to go with what is available. But I have found these tubes to be unreliable at best. To make matters worse, the layout of the RK head requires you to take out the power tubes to replace the pre tubes and V1 of the preamp is a pain in the *** to access because it is behind the transformer. No way in the world I trust that position to any currently made tube, it could be a disaster at a gig. I just saw G3 and Petrucci had the front panel of his RK removed. My guess would be that he did this for easy access to the pre tubes.

These older pre tubes are absolutely bullet proof. I just got a complete set of the new Tung-Sol 12ax7. Brand friggin new, in the box. When I took them out to test them in my tube tester they tested at 1900. 950 is minimum on this tester and 1800 is considered new. The Mullard I tested was made in 1963, it is 44 years old and has been used extensively by me for several years. It tested at 2600. LOL!!!!!

You can bet your *** that was the tube that went in V1. LOL!!!!

 

[Restless Rocks]

Makes ya wonder why somebody can't duplicate those old gems a little closer to spec. Ask anybody who owns and listens to old McIntosh or Dynaco type audio equipment about tubes. Here's where your ears let you know a quality tube beyond the shadow of doubt. I don't think any of that old gear would be so loved if it weren't for the quality of those Mully's and Tele's etc. that those amps and pre's were designed around.
**** now you've gone and done it! I think I'm gonna pop my smooth plates into the mkIII. Think just VI is good; I'm about to go all the way to the PI. It's starting to rain so what better way to spend Sunday afternoon.

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

In my experience I don't like any Mesa tubes except the Rectifier tube or effects loop. In Mesa I prefer NOS in my ACE power section(Tesla EL-34) I compared them against the Mesa stock and it was a no brainer man. The Tesla had Livelyness the Mesas couldnt touch. I also like RFTs in the Ace those things are viscious. The Tesla Ecc83s did wonders for my clean channel in the Roadster. I have yet to own a NOS tube that crackles or that is unreliable. I love the TungSol 12ax7a but have had 4 either crackle or go microphonic they're a superb sounding tube though.Some NOS tubes are great for modern amps and some dont cut the mustard. It seems new production tubes agree with modern amps more consistently but lack bigtime in reliability.