V1 in any Marks

[trem]

What tube do you guys have for V1? What do you like about it? What else have you tried? Let's hear em.

 

[MrMarkIII]

NOS Mullard 12AX7. Warm mids, un-spikey highs, smooov break-up.
... And as we all know, breaking up is hard to do.

 

[CoG]

in my MkIIIs:

JJ ECC803S Gold . I like a really thick sound, maybe a bit sludgy by some people's standards.

I tried a 5751 in my green just the other day. Not a good fit for either me or the amp--- good definition and detailed highs, but a really upper-midrangey, stiff, Marshall-y feel. Lost a lot of volume and Lead became really weird. R1 in my green is clean, with any tube, no matter how loud I crank the Volume. I think a 5751 in V1 may not be enough to really get the lead drive in V3 going, because Lead had sort of this wash of distortion over it but the actual notes didn't feel very overdriven. That 'raw power' kind of feel that the MkIII has was pretty much gone.

 

[Buddy]

+1 on the Mullard 12ax7 .

Even a used one, say from a 70's 80's console style stereo you can find at a yard sale or out at the curb . Many are relabeled as other brand's , but if you do your homework ...

Those little guy's last nearly for ever & sound great .

 

[carlosasi]

My Tubes in the Mark III The copy is lifted from Doug's Tubes. I love this setup especially for the Lead Channel. It really makes the Lead channel very creamy.

In V1 - JAN GE 5751

Lower the gain a bit with this drop in 12AX7A sub. Some are labeled Westinghouse, but they are still the one and only JAN GE

In V3 -JAN Philips 12AX7WA

The last of the 80's military production, has a nice creamy sound when overdriven. Highly recommended, every guitar player should have one.

 

[trickyrick]

in my MkIIIs:

JJ ECC803S Gold . I like a really thick sound, maybe a bit sludgy by some people's standards.

I tried a 5751 in my green just the other day. Not a good fit for either me or the amp--- good definition and detailed highs, but a really upper-midrangey, stiff, Marshall-y feel. Lost a lot of volume and Lead became really weird. R1 in my green is clean, with any tube, no matter how loud I crank the Volume. I think a 5751 in V1 may not be enough to really get the lead drive in V3 going, because Lead had sort of this wash of distortion over it but the actual notes didn't feel very overdriven. That 'raw power' kind of feel that the MkIII has was pretty much gone.

+1 on the ECC803s It thickens up the tone on my MKIV. I used to have a russian2 in there then a Tungsol. Through experimenting I found the JJ to give the best gain and deffinition. I didn't realize that others were using that tube in V1. I love the tone of my amp a lot more. It is actually more aggressive, tight and thick without any flubbyness at all. I play through a combo with a thiele EVM12L. I love to play this rig.

 

[carlosasi]

in my MkIIIs:

JJ ECC803S Gold . I like a really thick sound, maybe a bit sludgy by some people's standards.

I tried a 5751 in my green just the other day. Not a good fit for either me or the amp--- good definition and detailed highs, but a really upper-midrangey, stiff, Marshall-y feel. Lost a lot of volume and Lead became really weird. R1 in my green is clean, with any tube, no matter how loud I crank the Volume. I think a 5751 in V1 may not be enough to really get the lead drive in V3 going, because Lead had sort of this wash of distortion over it but the actual notes didn't feel very overdriven. That 'raw power' kind of feel that the MkIII has was pretty much gone.

Did you try the 5751 in the Purple Stripe?

 

[CoG]

Did you try the 5751 in the Purple Stripe?

Yeah, what I found there is that it makes the volume difference between R1 and everything else (which is already pretty significant) even worse, so I didn't mess with it much. It seemed to have the same problem with Lead that the green did. I realizes after I put the chassis back that I should have tried it in V3, just to see what happens.

I absolutely love 5751s in my Valve Jr, though, it's all I use.

 

[carlosasi]

I need to experiment with a higher gain tube in V1 to push the V3 a bit more just to see what that sounds like. Although I do love the sound I have right now.

 

[trem]

In V3 -JAN Philips 12AX7WA

Have you tried this in V1?

Good stuff guys. Keep them coming.

 

[carlosasi]

No I haven't. When I purchased them from Doug's Tubes, it was his recommendation that I use it in V3 for the lead channel. If I get the urge, I might try it.

 

[psychodave]

Either an RTF or RCA 12AX7.

 

[trem]

Either an RTF or RCA 12AX7.

You mean RFT? I've heard these are touted as crunch tubes. Does the clean suffer when you use this?

 

[psychodave]

Either an RTF or RCA 12AX7.

You mean RFT? I've heard these are touted as crunch tubes. Does the clean suffer when you use this?

Yes RFT. (oops). I dont think the cleans suffer at all, but I dont use cleans much. I like the Chinese 9th gen as well.

 

[CoG]

Don't put that RFT in a combo unless you're willing to tolerate drastically shortened tube life... like, hours... :shock:

Maybe I had a bum one but my bandmate's Roadster shook it to death in about three hours. That was an expensive lesson.