Tube prescription

[MojoFly]

Well... I pulled the trigger on scoring a 5:50 1X12 :mrgreen:
I must say (as others have commented) the cleans are nothing less than astounding.
Crunch, Blues and even Burn offer something else to be reckoned with.

In fact, my Parker's piezo on the clean is remarkably impressive.
And that's with Mesa tubes.

Coming from an F 50, I've grown partial to JJ's so my plan is to leverage my stash of tubes using the following:

(2) Matched JJ 6L6GC's
(2) Balanced ECC83S's for V4 & V5
(2) Standard ECC83S's V2 & V1
But for V3 I'm thinking of using a Gold Pin ECC83S to maintain the brightness while adding more sound definition. Anybody here tried anything like this?

 

[J.J]

Welcome to the land of Express tone :lol:

Personally I am not a big fan of the JJ 12AX7 tubes in my Express (5:25). They were a huge improvement in my Blues Junior, but in the Express I found very little improvement over the stock Mesa tubes. The Tungsol reissues I really like and will continue to use. I think they have slightly less gain than the stockers, but not much. As far as the sound goes the Tungsols have more sparkle, more definition and more complexity.

I'd be interested in hearing what you find by just changing the preamp tubes first and then the power tubes later to see if any significant differences appear. If your current power tubes are well used then I guess you will see a large difference by putting in a fresh set.

 

[Anonymous]

The best combo I've found when rolling out of my stash is 60's Mullard 12AX7's V1-V3, a well-balanced TungSol reissue in V4, and Ei 12AX7 in V5. I love that combo.

I wasn't thrilled with Ei Elite's, Ei's, EH's, 60's Telefunken's, or 60's TungSol's in V1-V3. I still have GT12AX7M's and Sovtek 5751's to test in those spots. I'd like to try TungSol reissue's (I don't have 3, otherwise I would), too. I have never owned a JJ 12AX7, although I really like their EL84's, so maybe I'll try them, too.

 

[Newysurfer]

The best combo I've found when rolling out of my stash is 60's Mullard 12AX7's V1-V3, a well-balanced TungSol reissue in V4, and Ei 12AX7 in V5. I love that combo.

I wasn't thrilled with Ei Elite's, Ei's, EH's, 60's Telefunken's, or 60's TungSol's in V1-V3. I still have GT12AX7M's and Sovtek 5751's to test in those spots. I'd like to try TungSol reissue's (I don't have 3, otherwise I would), too. I have never owned a JJ 12AX7, although I really like their EL84's, so maybe I'll try them, too.

I've been using the tubes recommended by Doug at http://www.dougstubes.com. They are

Preamp
V1 - Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7 Part ID: TS12AX7
V2 - High gain JJ ECC83S Part ID: JJECC83HG
V3 - Penta Labs 12AX7C Part ID: P12AX7C
V4 - Shuguang 12AX7C9 Part ID: SHUG12AX7C9
V5 - Sovtek 12AX7LPS Part ID: 12AX7LPS

Power
SED 2x6L6

I've posted this list here many times now and lots of other members have reported great results too using the same set.
These tubes deliver higher gain on the burn channel, keep the same cleans, improve overall smoothness and tone in every channel, plus reduce amp humm by 50%-60%

 

[MojoFly]

OK... I dug more in this and (pleasantly) stumbled on the following:

I noticed some posts where folks were installling AT7's in either V4 or V5 and :idea:
Hmmmm. I had a Gold Pin and a regular 12AT7 in my stash...
I placed the GP in V4. Wow! :mrgreen:

Next, I loosely reviewed Doug's (forum ammended) and Eurotube Bob's patterns.
I then placed some JJ ECC83s in V2 &V3, and the Gold Pin Tung Sol in V1. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Suffice to say, I really respect the logic of keeping with 12AX7's in V1 - V3 to chime with the cascading features of Mesa's valve design.
Personally, I think V4 may be where Mesa missed it with their blanket 12AX7 standard tube offerings.
Using an 12AT7 in the output signal (at least for me) has become the secret ingredient since it really tames all the modes offering more managable (and musical) tone control.

Cleans = Truly Outstanding and better than what I fell in love with
(Even the Piezo signal became really smooth... Ovation like)
Crunch = A vast improvement over what I already liked with an improved demensional sound
Blues = At last found my "color" in the sound. I use it for alternative cleans and Blues. (just like it says) LOL
Burn = Holy Smokes! Before the change this mode was too "over the top" for me, but now I really believe the reduced output brought a lot of musical mojo to the table here.

I've read comments about AT7's in V5 cause ringing in the reverb. My experience agrees
So, I swapped in a EH 12AX7, but I'm convinced that an AT7 will remain in V4 for my recipe.

Hey, all this is like your favorite chili recipe, some prefer spice, others like it mild.
Thanks to all for such a great forum to learn from.