Tone issues in TR (tube replacement)

[young774080]

Hello,

I bought a mesa TR used about 3 years ago and have never replaced the tubes nor do I know if the tubes have ever been replaced by the original owner. I play the amp at a lot of gigs and have heavily toured with it and lately I've noticed a decline in the over all tone of the amp. Because everything I do is centered around high gain I've also noticed a decline in the gain level I can pull from the heads settings.

I'm wondering if this is due to the age of the tubes or if its something else?

I have the original 6L6s in there and I'm thinking if I need to change the tubes I'm definitely going to the high gain retube kit with JJ E34L's (eurotubes) as I play rock 'n' roll / Punk rock and love that Marshall sound.

Does anybody have any experience with eurotubes and the JJ E34L's?

Also conveniently the package that I'm upgrading to doesn't come with the rectifier tubes are these necessary to replace when moving to E34L's and does anybody have experience with the rectifier tubes GZ34 (eurotubes)?

Thank you

 

[domct203]

Hello,

I bought a mesa TR used about 3 years ago and have never replaced the tubes nor do I know if the tubes have ever been replaced by the original owner. I play the amp at a lot of gigs and have heavily toured with it and lately I've noticed a decline in the over all tone of the amp. Because everything I do is centered around high gain I've also noticed a decline in the gain level I can pull from the heads settings.

I would agree that it is time to change your powertubes.

I have the original 6L6s in there and I'm thinking if I need to change the tubes I'm definitely going to the high gain re tube kit with J E34L's (eurotubes) as I play rock 'n' roll / Punk rock and love that Marshall sound.

Changing to E34L's WILL NOT make your Recto sound like a Marshall, period. If you need a Marshall sound, buy a Marshall.
They will slightly change the overall tone of the amp (some say for the better), and maybe tighten up the low end a little, but it will still sound like a Recto. I tried the E34L's and thought it made the amp a little punchier, but took away too much thump.

Does anybody have any experience with eurotubes and the JJ E34L's?.

The E34L is not your average EL34 (6CA7). It is a little fuller in the low end and a little relaxed in the mids compared to a true EL34. IMO the best current production EL34 is the SED =C= EL34.

Also conveniently the package that I'm upgrading to doesn't come with the rectifier tubes are these necessary to replace when moving to E34L's and does anybody have experience with the rectifier tubes GZ34 (eurotubes)?

How do you normally play the amp, with Tube Rectifier or with Silicon Diodes? If you always play on Diode, there is really no need to change the rectifier tubes. Make sure you tell Bob at Eurotubes that so he doesn't give you too hot a set for running in Bold/Diode.

Are you also changing preamp tubes? I've found that running all JJ's in the preamp makes the amp muddy.

Dom