Report from a tube-change

[VCuomo]

I had some time yesterday and A/B'd a bunch of new overdrive pedals, including a fuzz. Taking the ice pick off the top makes a big difference in a lot of my pedals. The Crunch Box (distortion) sounds so much smoother than before. I almost sold it...glad I didn't. Ditto the Boiling Point. I actually had to roll in some high cut on a couple pedals, which is exactly where I wanted to be with respect to controlling the high end. I'd much rather need to add some than fight it all the time because it's to brash. I ordered two more ax7's for V1 and V2. With the at7 in V5 (reverb), however, it seems to have really reduced the amount of reverb available. It's not a bad thing because I don't use a lot of reverb but wondering if others have noticed this too? Again, very happy with these tubes.

Funny, I recently made the same tube swap and last night also pulled out my MI Audio Crunch Box and noticed the same thing - much smoother!

And yes, with the AT7 (or any lower gain tube) in V5, you'll have less reverb available. I'll probably put an AX7 back in V5.

 

[vbf]

"And yes, with the AT7 (or any lower gain tube) in V5, you'll have less reverb available. I'll probably put an AX7 back in V5."

Confirmation of results is always good. Thank you for responding. I really, really like the Crunch Box now. The Skreddy Lunar Module before and after results are just as pleasing. Please let us know if putting the AX7 back in V5 alters anything other than the verb. Thanks!

 

[GoranS]

The reason for me putting an AT7 in V5 was to reduce the amount of reverb. I had a hard time adjusting the reverb level with the stock tubes. Already when the taper left the zero position to the point where it starts getting hear-able it was too loud IMO, I just want the reverb to be barely noticed. Since the AT7 have 60% of the AX7 gain I thought it was worth a try, and it worked for me.

Another way would have been changing the reverb potentiometer to a logarithmic audio taper, to be able to properly adjust the levels at the low end of the scale. But changing a tube is less invasive.

The stock potentiometer is a linear taper, same as the master, a design decision I have a hard time to understand. For the master potentiometer I really believe Mesa chose a linear pot for a more brutal feel. With a linear master the volume level comes fast, giving the impression it's a louder amp then it really is, although it IS a loud amp. The truth is that not much happens after 12 o'clock. If using an audio taper (logarithmic) pot it would have been much easier to dial in bedroom level and lower levels.

 

[VCuomo]

Confirmation of results is always good. Thank you for responding. I really, really like the Crunch Box now. The Skreddy Lunar Module before and after results are just as pleasing. Please let us know if putting the AX7 back in V5 alters anything other than the verb. Thanks!

The only thing is, I feel like I'm not really using the full potential of the amp when I use the clean channel plus an OD box to get a "dirty" tone. But the MI Crunch Box, to my ears, sounds so much better than what I can get from the 5:50's drive channel that that's probably what I'm going to do. It's too bad that the dirty channel is (for me at least) so difficult to tame. I've had the amp for almost 3 years and pretty much tweaked it every way possible, even tried Yellow Jackets, but just can't get a good OD tone from the amp itself. I can get it close to what I want to hear, but in the end it just sounds a little too fizzy or brittle - not as "organic" as I'd like.

 

[vbf]

Confirmation of results is always good. Thank you for responding. I really, really like the Crunch Box now. The Skreddy Lunar Module before and after results are just as pleasing. Please let us know if putting the AX7 back in V5 alters anything other than the verb. Thanks!

The only thing is, I feel like I'm not really using the full potential of the amp when I use the clean channel plus an OD box to get a "dirty" tone. But the MI Crunch Box, to my ears, sounds so much better than what I can get from the 5:50's drive channel that that's probably what I'm going to do. It's too bad that the dirty channel is (for me at least) so difficult to tame. I've had the amp for almost 3 years and pretty much tweaked it every way possible, even tried Yellow Jackets, but just can't get a good OD tone from the amp itself. I can get it close to what I want to hear, but in the end it just sounds a little too fizzy or brittle - not as "organic" as I'd like.

One of the great benefits of dirt boxes is adding different flavors of overdrive for a lot less that the cost of another amp. The 5:50 definitely has great crunch and burn channels that have their place. But I like to mix things up a lot tonally and the 5:50's clean channel is a good platform for dirt pedals. When they arrive, I'm gonna load up the two AX7's in V1 and V2 then give the crunch and burn channels another good listen.

 

[Newysurfer]

Confirmation of results is always good. Thank you for responding. I really, really like the Crunch Box now. The Skreddy Lunar Module before and after results are just as pleasing. Please let us know if putting the AX7 back in V5 alters anything other than the verb. Thanks!

The only thing is, I feel like I'm not really using the full potential of the amp when I use the clean channel plus an OD box to get a "dirty" tone. But the MI Crunch Box, to my ears, sounds so much better than what I can get from the 5:50's drive channel that that's probably what I'm going to do. It's too bad that the dirty channel is (for me at least) so difficult to tame. I've had the amp for almost 3 years and pretty much tweaked it every way possible, even tried Yellow Jackets, but just can't get a good OD tone from the amp itself. I can get it close to what I want to hear, but in the end it just sounds a little too fizzy or brittle - not as "organic" as I'd like.

It seems you just prefer Marshall JCM distortion tones is all.
That's what the Crunchbox delivers.
The best pedal availalbe for that imo.
I have one on 18v and its a great match with a Mesa cause you then have 2 classic distortion flavours.
Mesa's modern tones and classic Marshall JCM tones.
I like both equally as much :mrgreen:

 

[Newysurfer]

I look forward to reading your future posts when you start experimenting with very high settings on your amp. You will even be able to enjoy that amp with maxed out settings and you will have much more use out of the Burn mode too! And on the Clean mode I like to use fairly very high settings on the amp and clean up the sound with the guitars volume control. The SPAX7's will make it very easy to go from squeaky clean to mud pit dirty by simply turning the volume control on the guitar!

hah, oh, i see this now. you posted your burn settings (everything "maxed") in one of my threads about burn settings...

i tried those settings and liked them, but had to roll off the tone knob on my guitar to mellow the icepickyness.
if i change the preamp tubes, i wont have to do this??

jsabo, this is a copy of the reply I sent to your PM.

I generally keep my guitar’s tone control between 0 – 6 on a 0 – 10 scale with 10 being the high or bright setting. I like a darker thicker tone and yes, if I turn the tone up all the way on my guitar it does get way too bright. Overall, the SPAX7's will help considerably with the brightness of the tone because they produce a fuller, thicker tone. In addition, you may also want to turn down your Mid tone control on the amp as well depending on your guitar. I will give you an example; I love guitars with humbuckers and Mahogany bodies – deep dark sounding. On the other hand, my best friend owns single coil guitars Fender Strats and Tele. When he plugs his guitar into my amp he maxs everything on the amp but he has to back the Mid control down to about 9:30 ~ 11:00 or the tone will be so ice pickish it will pierce our ear drums! Those guitars sound great once the Mid control is adjusted. I also have a Stiletto cab which pushes the Mids.

I'm surprised at the ice-pick comments some people have made.
My 5:50 has never sounded ice-picky with the old Mesa tubes or the new one's from Doug.
THat's thru Gibsons, Fenders, Gretsch, Epi's, Ibanez, PRS guitars
What are you guys doing with your guitar tone knob ?

I've never raised a tone knob past 6 on any guitar I've ever played.
If you do I think it'll make any amp ice-picky :mrgreen:

 

[GoranS]

I've never raised a tone knob past 6 on any guitar I've ever played.

There's lots of us who like to keep the tone knob wide open, or close to wide open to avoid muddiness.
You do not of course get the ice-pick syndrome of keeping the tone to max 6.
But again; some of us do not like the sound in that region.

Aren't we being picky now? :mrgreen:

 

[konstantine RK]

now i would like to see the SPAX7 discussed like this in the rectifier or tube sections... I have been trying to start a preamp tube discussion started for about a year now but this thread was very reassuring that I did the right thing in replacing all my preamp tubes with SPAX7's in my Roadking one head.

thanks for the read!

 

[Newysurfer]

I've never raised a tone knob past 6 on any guitar I've ever played.

There's lots of us who like to keep the tone knob wide open, or close to wide open to avoid muddiness.
You do not of course get the ice-pick syndrome of keeping the tone to max 6.
But again; some of us do not like the sound in that region.

Aren't we being picky now? :mrgreen:

Yeah well each to their own.
Just so you realise maxing out your guitar's tone knob will put every amp into ice pick territory :mrgreen:

 

[THE TUBENATOR]

I tend to agree with Newysurfer, I never really max out the tone setting on guitars I play. On a 0 - 10 scale I think the highest I tend to go is maybe a 7 but I average about 5. I also love the Eric Clapton "Woman" tone he immortalized with his Gibson SG on "Sunshine of your love" - both pickups on, tone set at 0 and volume set at 10 and the amp maxed out. That is heaven! That is a song I never get tired of playing and it always puts a smile on my face. The 5:50 with 4x12 cab and a Gibson SG plugged into it can produce an unbelivable Woman tone. That was the final deciding point that lead me to I purchased my amp and cab.

 

[vbf]

Another follow up. I hear some harshness return when putting the AX7's in V1 and V2 so I put the TungSol's back in.