my decent tube collection - suggestions for my roadster

[Oogadee Boogadee]

I've got these 12ax7 tubes:
(4) Ei ECC83 Yugoslavia
(2) Tung-Sol
(3) Penta Labs
(1) Electro Harmonix
(1) Ruby HG
(8) Mesa Russian-2 12ax7-A (i've seen here that these are EH tubes)
(3) Mesa Chinese-1 12ax7-A
(1) Sovtek LP/LPS

I use my Roadster mainly for classic metal and some thrash...

A forum search resulted in this:
v1 Input stage/2nd stage
v2 3rd gain stage
v3 4th gain stage/tone stack driver (Cathode Follower - no Russian tubes)
v4 reverb
v5 effects loop (Cathode Follower - no Russian tubes)
v6 phase inverter. High-gain tube here can give the amp more high gain balls.

Anyway, what I'm looking for:
ch1 - beautiful clean
ch2 - as much gain as possible, w/o being noisy.
ch3 - vintage metal tone
ch4 - modern metal tone

I'm hoping to nail a good combination w/o having to experiment much - i don't want to be yanking and plugging tubes for hours, recording tones, etc etc...

Beyond the request of suggested cocktail combos, a question: how come nobody ever uses more than 1 tung-sol in the pre-amp section? Should I try to use both of my 2?

My current set-up (which is giving me a noisy ch2 - also, note that my roadster has had the stiletto pot mod for ch2)
- V1 Tungsol
- V2 EH
- V3 Penta
- V4 Penta
- V5 Ruby 12ax7 acz HG
- V6 Sovtek LP/LPS

Things seem nice, except for the noisy ch2... Also wouldn't mind brightening the amp a touch, though I know it's inherently dark....

Thanks!!
James

 

[LithiumZero]

buy a JJECC83S rated for high gain for V2. I just put one in yesterday and it was . Along with what you already have I would do this...

V1 - Tung-Sol
V2 - JJ ECC83S
V3 - Penta
V4 - Tung-Sol
V5 - Penta
V6 - Sovtek LPS

How did that mod on Channel 2 affect the Clean and Fat modes? Did it add some meat to the Brit Mode? I find the Brit mode to be too thin for me (at least with 6L6's)

 

[Oogadee Boogadee]

it did beef up the brit mode a bit. it darkened the channel a touch too. As far as the clean and fat modes - i can't say right now. I havent spent much time with them. Over the next week or so, I'll try to record some basic rhythm and lead clips of the three modes. Probably crappy quality clips with a cheap mic. I'm in an apartment, so the clips will be brief with the amp not as loud as it should be.... But some time in January, I plan on setting up my rig at my rehearsal space. If all goes well, i'll attempt a more extensive recording session of ch2's different sounds... with and w/o pedals.

 

[LithiumZero]

Great! I look forward to the clips.

 

[RoadKinger483]

You know....i've wondered the same thing about using multiple tung-sol preamps. Im in your current sittuation at the moment also. Check these out. Im considering these also.....

http://thetubestore.com/preferred7025.html