Too many tube options mark iv....

[prm2770]

So I've been reading lots of posts on tube replacement here and have tons more knowledge now than a few days ago. But I'm still trying to narrow down the best option for me.

So if anyone can give any input it will be greatly appreciated.

Need to retube due to what I would call bleed into rhythm 1. I can hear a very saturated distortion under my clean tone in r1. Its very quiet but definitely there. I'm assuming its tube related? Anyway its been years since a re tube and I used guitar center special :shock: gt's. And actually I've loved em. But I had little to compare to... I play mostly metal in drop c and some 7 string stuff and really need to tighten up the bottom end for the fast riffs that I play with high gain as well. I replaced all the preamp tubes a while back with electro harmonic 12ax7's but may decide to replace all tubes in one shot.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bgh]

I cannot help you from the metal aspect.

My IV is very quiet on all channels. On the clean channel, I hear nothing underneath the tone. One quick thing to try is to swap the V1 preamp tube with another (V2 or V3) and see if the distortion goes away. If it does, you have determined it to be a preamp tube - V1.

Hope this helps some.

 

[sduck]

I have all tungsol's for the preamp tubes, and a combo El34 - 6L6GC power tunes, forget the brands. Sounds awesome!

 

[bgh]

I have all tungsol's for the preamp tubes, and a combo El34 - 6L6GC power tunes, forget the brands. Sounds awesome!

+1 on the EL34/6L6GC mix. Terrific sounds!

 

[prm2770]

Thanks for the advice! Such a hard decision still. Would you say the el34 6l6 combo tightened up the bass in your rig? I'm sure anything will be an improvement over the groove tubes I have now though....

 

[knotts]

I am not a Mark guy, but I have had good experiences with Doug's tubes and more recently Eurotubes in working with my roadster. I emailed them and gave as much information as I could in terms of my current setup and what I what sounds I was looking to get out of it. I was emailing Michael at Eurotubes and asked him a ton of questions. We traded emails for a few days and eventually got to placing an order once he give his recommendation.

I was happy with both of their recommendations. I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to either of those guys.

 

[kippiejr]

JJ gold V1 jj or mesa (same tube) v2-v4 preamps. balanced JJ 803 V5
2 USA 6L6 GC
2 El 34 =C=

thank me later

 

[BlackBoxy]

to play metal any new tube brand will break up ! 8)

 

[swbo101]

This is what I've been using (Mark IV(a)) and have been happy with:

V1 - Tung-Sol (RI)
V2 - JJ
V3 - JJ
V4 - Stock Mesa
V5 - Mullard (RI)

For Power tubes either all 6L6 or 6L6/EL34 combo SED =C=. When my supply runs out, Tung-Sol.