New Guy... Tubes question

[SonomaWino]

Been lurking for a while now and finally had a question... (Great board, btw).

I'm a happy owner of a 5:50 1x12 and I recently replaced tubes after 2 years or so (from Doug's). I noticed a big difference with the new power tubes (Winged "C" 6L6GC) in Channel 2. I was never able to dial in an acceptable tone in either the Blues or Burn (too thin and fizzy), but now I get a variety of nice gain tones to go with the amazing clean/crunch channel. Plus the 5W sounds better than ever!!

I didn't, however, like the sounds I got from the pre-amp replacements. I know everybody here seemed to have a great experience, but I ended up placing the old pre-amp Mesas back in and will play them until they die out. It sounded almost hollow and actually close to a solid-state type amp. Anybody have a similar experience? I'd like to get some opinions as to what other options or tubes people have used as replacements for the pre-amps.

Other than that.....love the Express!!!

Thanks..... Mike

 

[Newysurfer]

Well I replaced my pre & power tubes with Doug's recommended one's about 18 months ago now but got Sed 6L6's.
They were a great combo with his recommended preamp tubes IMO.
They made a considerable improvement for me but the outcome will be different if you use any other combination of tubes.
Each tube has it's own role to play and changing any one will affect the overall tone :mrgreen:

 

[Don]

You might've gotten a bad pre-amp tube. Put them back in and swap each one (one at a time) with a known good pre-amp tube until the problem goes away.

 

[vbf]

I've been very happy with my re-tube ala Dougs.

 

[soundchaser59]

I've been very happy with my re-tube ala Dougs.

Me tooooo!

 

[edward]

Hey Mike,

First off, welcome to the board!

As you have found, there are no "correct" tubes to use as much as there are different flavors of tubes which suit, or not, your personal music style and taste. Lots has been written about Mesa's "cheap" tubes. Mesa uses tubes which fit their design parameters, and they are warranted against failure ...that to me speaks of quality and confidence. That said, I prefer other tubes over Mesas in certain applications because of tonal differences for my ear; and that makes one tube "better" or "not as good" as another.

Also remember that there is a relationship between preamp and power tubes. FWIW, I love the Svet Winged-Cs in my DC5 ...swear by them. But I did have to "move forward" and replace other preamp tubes to get me closer to what I wanted from that amp. For my 5:25, I tried a lower output EL84 (a NOS, no less) because it sounded good in another amp ...echhh! It gutted the girth and authrority of my amp. I ended up finding a nice NOS Blackplate set that sings in there; just gorgeous. Then tried swapping some preamp tubes and again, some played poorly with the ELs, others played well. It's all trial/error. The best thing to do is go by your ears and trust your judgment. Others' recommendations on this tube or that (especially when it comes to this/that brand name or NOS!!) should be taken with very guarded skepticism; judge with objectivity as it is all too easy to hear what you want to hear because those NOS magic wonders cost ya 5x more than Mesa's "crap" tubes

BTW, preamp tubes last for darn-near forever. So if you like what you got, you're good for a loooong time ...until you feel like experimenting, that is

Edward

 

[dogdew]

@ Edward. can you come to my house to listen to my amp?

 

[Don]

Try swapping the V1 and V2 tubes. I noticed on Doug's website that his kits for Boogies are all use the same pre-amp tubes. On An Express V1 and V2 are swapped compared to most amps.

I have had my Express 5:50 for a little over 2 years. The PI tube (V4) and the first gain stage pre-amp tube (V2) have failed during that time.

 

[SonomaWino]

thanks for all the replies... I swapped out the V2 so far and the sound improved overall. This leads me to believe one of the other tubes might have been bad. I'll try swapping one by one...once I stop playing!!