Svetlana winged-C 6l6GC w/ Ei Elite 12AX7E in a Mark IV?

[holdsworth]

I recently had my MkIV serviced by an excellent guitar-tech. I'm extremely happy with the sound but I've noticed that the gain has taken a considerable drop, so much so that I have to push it all the way up to 8 or 9 whereas before I was setting the Gain and Drive at around 7 (8 at the absolute maximum!).

Is this loss in gain due to the preamp tube (i.e. the Ei Elite 12AX7E), or the Svetlanas? If I changed the Ei Elite 12AX7E to a JJ/Tesla would this solve the problem, and how well do the JJ 12AX7Es work along side Svets?

If I bought a new JJ pre I could install it without having to re-bias, right?

Cheers.

 

[PRSKILLER]

No need for bias with the preamp tubes and check out this thread.
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?p=31028&highlight=#31028
I'm going to be giving these set of preamp tubes a try with the EL34 in the outer sockets.

 

[holdsworth]

Actually I do get a lovely, rich, Mike Keneally-type lead sound with the Elite, but the drop in gain saturation is vast. I might keep these pres for fusion-type tones and get a couple of JJ pres for standard gain applications.

Anybody else had an experience with Ei Elites?