Preamp valves for VTwin

[Dr Sloan]

Hi folks, I'm looking for your recommendations for preamp valves for the V Twin. I don't use the clean setting, just the crunch and solo modes. I'm looking for a more gain on these modes. It has 12SPX7s just now?? Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[APEMAN]

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[Dr Sloan]

Ah, that's helpful and will save me some money. Cheers.

 

[treedroppings]

I used craigslist.com 's search engine. I typed in 'vacuum tubes' and results for car parts, carpet maintenance, stereos show up but so do the tube sellers in your area!

12ax7 can be around $40-80 for older tubes

 

[WytLytnyn]

I'm not sure what kind of tones you're looking for that are indicative of different brands of tubes. I swapped my Mesa 12ax7's many years ago for a pair of Sovtek 12AX7WXT tubes. They were a bit harsher and definitely had more gain. It didn't really do well for the clean channel but the Blues and Solo channels really got nasty. They took a while to burn in, but once they did they really had noticeably higher gain levels.

Fast forward 10 years, I pulled the Sovteks and put in JJ's. Much creamier and smoother attack. Definitely sound a little warmer. I think there are my favorites after owning the pedal for at least 20 years.

All of my observations and comments are based on using it into silverface Fender Champs and a Deluxe Reverb.