Why 8 12AX7's in 5150 III?

[talltxguy]

I know this isn't exactly new news, but I recently saw the stats for one of these amps and was a bit puzzled when I saw 8 12AX7s, and it doesn't even use a tube for a reverb driver.

Is there any advantage to having so many tubes? Could they have put 10 or 11 preamp tubes in the preamp? In other words, is there a point when extra tubes just don't matter?

 

[fluff191]

The term "extra" is relative. A marshall sometimes has 3 peramp tubes, a Recto obviously has 5 or 6.

The 5150 III has massive amounts of gain, and I suspect the additional tubes are for additional gain stages.

 

[Turumbar82]

a lot of times amps with lots of preamp tubes have completely different channels. Completely different signal paths.

this amp http://www.rodenberg-amplification.com/english/flexamp_5.html

It has 16 12ax7's haha

 

[fluff191]

Oh yeah I didnt even think about the separate channels. Good call.

 

[212Mavguy]

With certain channels having designated tubes a particular channel may be custom voiced via tube choices for the user's desired needs from those channels. That's one of the things I love about having a Mav.