alejandro
Well-known member
School me if my experience in these matters is over-par.
1. The preamp section is for cleanliness, balance, clarity, and tone. The power section should be pushed to pick up where the preamp section leaves gain. Not through preamp gain alone, but mostly through a voluminous power section pushing a speaker to its limits is where real, sweaty, rich, dynamic distortion lies. Therefore, if you can crank the volume, your V1-V3 should be as low-noise and microphonically-free as possible? Your V2, I think, could be high gain, if you preferred.
2. From less to more power, articulation, and headroom, is this correct: 5U4G > 5U4B > 5AR4/GZ34 > Silicon Diodes. I upgraded from 5U4Gs to GZ34s and I notice more tightness, articulation, and clarity; more like a subtle Spongy to Bold feel. But, in rehearsal now I keep preferring the Diodes. In the purist sense of keeping my Mesa all-tube -- rain or shine -- do you know if there's a performance difference from one GZ34 brand to the next? Or are they all lightbulbs?
3. If Bold ramps the amp power up 15W, what increase in wattage is there going from Rectifier valves to Silicon Diodes?
4. I know well of the Mesa SPAX7s. And I dig Mesa's approach in handling the modern tube with an emphasis on reliability. One less thing for us; except that I consider half of their tubes to be utilitarian at best. Why doesn't Mesa consider the last valve necessary to have balanced triodes?
Thanks guys. I always ask if I can't find it on the forum.
Cheers,
Alejandro
1. The preamp section is for cleanliness, balance, clarity, and tone. The power section should be pushed to pick up where the preamp section leaves gain. Not through preamp gain alone, but mostly through a voluminous power section pushing a speaker to its limits is where real, sweaty, rich, dynamic distortion lies. Therefore, if you can crank the volume, your V1-V3 should be as low-noise and microphonically-free as possible? Your V2, I think, could be high gain, if you preferred.
2. From less to more power, articulation, and headroom, is this correct: 5U4G > 5U4B > 5AR4/GZ34 > Silicon Diodes. I upgraded from 5U4Gs to GZ34s and I notice more tightness, articulation, and clarity; more like a subtle Spongy to Bold feel. But, in rehearsal now I keep preferring the Diodes. In the purist sense of keeping my Mesa all-tube -- rain or shine -- do you know if there's a performance difference from one GZ34 brand to the next? Or are they all lightbulbs?
3. If Bold ramps the amp power up 15W, what increase in wattage is there going from Rectifier valves to Silicon Diodes?
4. I know well of the Mesa SPAX7s. And I dig Mesa's approach in handling the modern tube with an emphasis on reliability. One less thing for us; except that I consider half of their tubes to be utilitarian at best. Why doesn't Mesa consider the last valve necessary to have balanced triodes?
Thanks guys. I always ask if I can't find it on the forum.
Cheers,
Alejandro
