newbie Lonestar Special tube questions

[jrkooshman]

Ok, I have been going through the forums trying to educate myself. I bought a LSS about 7-8 months ago. It was the floor model at GC, and it has treated me right. I LOVE the clean on channel 1, and so so on channel 2, but have been using some pedals to alter it.

Now I have some gigs coming up next week, and I want to get some backup tubes. I went to GC and got the Mesa 12AX7 tubes- they told me that I should only use Mesa, but I know they probably have to say that. Here are my questions:

1- what tubes effect tone the most- the pre-amp or power amp?

2- GC seems to have Groove Tube Gold Series GT-EL84-S Matched Power, and the Ruby tubes Premium matched. I really want to keep that Lone star state clean clean headroom tone for channel 1. any advice here on the best ones? Buy 2 matched pairs?

3- I only have a few days till my next gig. If I buy new tubes, should I pop in the new tubes and keep my current as backup?

4- I hear a slight tube rattle or ring on ch2 on low notes "occasionally". Where do I check first?

thanks so much for your patience!
also I am in Boston if you know a better place than GC to get tubes in hurr

 

[212Mavguy]

Here are some answers for you. Opinions differ here, but most are helpful in motive if not exactly factual in content.

1) preamp tubes tend to affect the tone to a greater extent than power tubes.

2) before buying, do some market research on el84's unless you don't mind just getting a set of tubes for spares. Your output tube preference depends on the level of research you do. Some forum members like using the Groove tubes because they have a rating system that when used properly will not void the Mesa warranty. I personally prefer vintage or new old stock tubes for their sound in my amps, but to each his own, and what I like might be disliked by another.

3) Think you should keep original tubes in for the first gig at least so you don't have to chase your tone. The overall tone of the amp might change in the first hundred hours if the speaker hasn't fully broken in yet. Probably already broken in if it's the floor model, though.

4) Perhaps you have a microphonic tube. The Mesa manual is pretty clear on user-diagnosing tube problems, particularly microphonics...have you studied it? Start by learning the manual. Best to be able to know what to do on your own, IMHO.

Hope this helps, and good luck to you!

 

[jrkooshman]

Thanks so much for your response 8)

I think now after doing some market research, I will get some Grooves for piece of mind, and then get some NOS to test out afterwards for pre and power. I have an email into kcansotubes, and saw some good posts from some people looking for the similar tone

I have studied the manual, but was thrown off by some of the tests that they suggested. I am going to swap out the Ch2 tube some time today and see if that fixes it.

 

[212Mavguy]

Check to see if Groove tubes has el84's from different source manufacturors, the ones from Czechoslavakia are JJ's relabeled, and the JJ el84's are a very good value and sound. Good luck on that first position channel 2 tube. I get all my tubes off ebay auctions, I count on one out of three auctions won to have not so good of a product, but my success rate is higher than that. Good luck!