Tube rolling on the Mini Rectifier

[David Corrales]

Hi guys,

I did some tube rolling this afternoon and thought I'd share the results

For starters I swapped the Sovtek EL84's out after a few days since they sound a bit "dead" to me, not a lot of punch or harmonic richness. The JJ EL84's are much better to my ears. Until that point everything in the amp were JJ's (Mesa-branded JJ's 12AX7 and the EL84's)...

Today I tried current production Tungsols and a couple of Raytheon black plates because although the amp is very present and punchy, the low end was a bit too congested with mids. At first only Tungsols or Raytheons in V1 and V2 the loses the punch so no go there!

I was about to call it a day and then I put a single Tungsol in V1 while keeping the rest stock and that's the ticket! It remains punchy but tighter with more of a scoop. So if you're looking to hone your Mini Recto's sound be sure to try different tubes

Enjoy!

 

[Adambomb]

Yes Sir you ARE right. I've tires several preamp tubes and I've settled on the TungSol in V1 and the rest stock JJ's. Way cleaner cleans and smoother channel 2 gain. Still have the stock EL84's buy Ive heard great things about the JJ EL84s. What kind of differece did the JJ EL84s alone make in the tone?

 

[David Corrales]

Yes Sir you ARE right. I've tires several preamp tubes and I've settled on the TungSol in V1 and the rest stock JJ's. Way cleaner cleans and smoother channel 2 gain. Still have the stock EL84's buy Ive heard great things about the JJ EL84s. What kind of differece did the JJ EL84s alone make in the tone?

To me they added punch and depth to the mids. Hit some open or power chords and they cut more, are more present and have more "texture" to them.

Best of all... not expensive! $20 for the matched pair So you can try them out and if you don't dig them as much as the Sovteks you got a nice pair of tubes as backup.

 

[Adambomb]

Yes Sir you ARE right. I've tires several preamp tubes and I've settled on the TungSol in V1 and the rest stock JJ's. Way cleaner cleans and smoother channel 2 gain. Still have the stock EL84's buy Ive heard great things about the JJ EL84s. What kind of differece did the JJ EL84s alone make in the tone?

To me they added punch and depth to the mids. Hit some open or power chords and they cut more, are more present and have more "texture" to them.

Best of all... not expensive! $20 for the matched pair So you can try them out and if you don't dig them as much as the Sovteks you got a nice pair of tubes as backup.

Right on right on. Where did you buy them and what bias or ma rating did you get? I'm not much on just telling the tube store to make em Mesa spec, even Doug's Tubes. He's a great guy that has great tubes but first time told him "Mesa spec" he sent me 4 6L6 =C='s that were bias of 17-18 ma, way too low. So now I learned exactly what the Mesa spec bias for each tube is (EL34, 6L6 ect.) and tell them to match em up. The TungSol in V1 does make the amp sound so much better.

12 noon... My day off... Nobody home... Gettin ready to crank up the Mini until it catches the walls on fire!! Man I love this amp. Way more versitile than I thought it would be.

 

[David Corrales]

Yes Sir you ARE right. I've tires several preamp tubes and I've settled on the TungSol in V1 and the rest stock JJ's. Way cleaner cleans and smoother channel 2 gain. Still have the stock EL84's buy Ive heard great things about the JJ EL84s. What kind of differece did the JJ EL84s alone make in the tone?

To me they added punch and depth to the mids. Hit some open or power chords and they cut more, are more present and have more "texture" to them.

Best of all... not expensive! $20 for the matched pair So you can try them out and if you don't dig them as much as the Sovteks you got a nice pair of tubes as backup.

Right on right on. Where did you buy them and what bias or ma rating did you get? I'm not much on just telling the tube store to make em Mesa spec, even Doug's Tubes. He's a great guy that has great tubes but first time told him "Mesa spec" he sent me 4 6L6 =C='s that were bias of 17-18 ma, way too low. So now I learned exactly what the Mesa spec bias for each tube is (EL34, 6L6 ect.) and tell them to match em up. The TungSol in V1 does make the amp sound so much better.

12 noon... My day off... Nobody home... Gettin ready to crank up the Mini until it catches the walls on fire!! Man I love this amp. Way more versitile than I thought it would be.

Haha yeah, kickass amp for sure :twisted:

My tubes read 29 bias point and I bought them from TubeDepot. I didn't indicate anything special in the order, just added them to the cart and checked out Take the dive and try them

 

[ken361]

)[
mine were 26 from the depot, they said edge to break up

 

[Adambomb]

)[
mine were 26 from the depot, they said edge to break up

So 26 is early breakup? Confused. So that would mean the 29ms's would break up sooner right?

 

[ken361]

not really too sure, have to ask tubedepot.com