[teohatecrew]

Hi there! I'm your new forummate, form italy! a month ago i bought a pevaey 5150...my first all tubes amp! in the preamp i have sovtek 12ax7 and in poweramp i have jj 6l6. Now,my sound is really good but when i cranck up the volume lots of highs and middle-highs raises up...two months ago i tried out a 5150 with gc 6l6 and mixed preamp (gt and eh and sovtek)...for some reasons a little bettere with smoothed highs, sickests pal mute.
So i ask to you: which 12ax7 sholud i try out just for fun? just a couple. In which position and why? i'm thinking to pick up a jj and a tung-sol. tt 12ax7 told me are noisy

[teohatecrew]

Hi there! I'm your new forummate, form italy! a month ago i bought a pevaey 5150...my first all tubes amp! in the preamp i have sovtek 12ax7 and in poweramp i have jj 6l6. Now,my sound is really good but when i cranck up the volume lots of highs and middle-highs raises up...two months ago i tried out a 5150 with gc 6l6 and mixed preamp (gt and eh and sovtek)...for some reasons a little bettere with smoothed highs, sickests pal mute.
So i ask to you: which 12ax7 sholud i try out just for fun? just a couple. In which position and why? i'm thinking to pick up a jj and a tung-sol. tt 12ax7 told me are noisy

PS: i play thrash-death!

[mc_guitar]

Hello,

JJs will give you a lot of mids, TTs have more Highs and thats why the noise of the amplifier can be heard better. It is not always the tube!
JJs will sound a bit smoother than Sovteks, EH is quite good as well. For detailed info, read the well known Tube-FAQ:
http://www.tube-town.net/info/doc/tt-tubemap.pdf

Best Regards

Micha

[teohatecrew]

what about tungsol? which tube should me in scooping the sound and tightening the lows?

[mc_guitar]

Hello,

The Tungsol Reissue is smooth sounding with rich mids, but not as much flesh as the JJs. Good Sound in V1 for old Marshalls. In the HiGain Amps I tested it with, the tubes were not the best. The Tungsols are better suited for Clean or crunch. I almost ever found a combination of JJs and TTs beeing the optimum for HiGain. The most dramatic Sound changes are in the V1 Position, the first preamp-tube. So I would start by testing different brands of 12AX7/ECC83 there and then work my way up. If you are playing with lots of gain, as it seems, you should consider buying V1-selected Tubes, which have less noise and are more feedback-resistent. But don't forget that the Poweramp-Stage also has a tremendous effect on how the whole amp sounds. Optimizing and fiddling with the preamp is worthless if the 6L6GC are down.

Best Regards
Micha

[teohatecrew]

Hello,

The Tungsol Reissue is smooth sounding with rich mids, but not as much flesh as the JJs. Good Sound in V1 for old Marshalls. In the HiGain Amps I tested it with, the tubes were not the best. The Tungsols are better suited for Clean or crunch. I almost ever found a combination of JJs and TTs beeing the optimum for HiGain. The most dramatic Sound changes are in the V1 Position, the first preamp-tube. So I would start by testing different brands of 12AX7/ECC83 there and then work my way up. If you are playing with lots of gain, as it seems, you should consider buying V1-selected Tubes, which have less noise and are more feedback-resistent. But don't forget that the Poweramp-Stage also has a tremendous effect on how the whole amp sounds. Optimizing and fiddling with the preamp is worthless if the 6L6GC are down.

Best Regards
Micha

i play with great amount of gain. jj 6l6 are good ma not the best (poweramp), however i will not replace them now...so i'll go for 12ax7 tubes. i heard fom a frined of mine that jj in the preamp and in the power amp bring a dry sound, not fat, but very defined.
I want to improve my lows, i want to get a fatter sound without loosing definition and the fast attack...which is definitely important on palm mutes and faster songs.
so you suggest jj balanced for v1 position or i have misunderstood? how EH tubes sound?  and the TAD 12ax7?

[mc_guitar]

Hello again,

The EH can sound a bit harsh and are in the best way neutral sounding tubes. They have some HighMids and Highs, tight Bottom end. The Mids are not very characteristic. Quite similar to the Sovtek you already use.
But all my impressions are highly subjective. There are a lot more factors to be considered. The Speakers, the Speaker-Enclosure, the Guitar and your personal playing style.
It is almost impossible to predict what kind of tubes are the right choice for you. So You will have to test some in your setup at home and do some A-B comparison between the different brands. The 12AX7 are not too expensive, so just order some and start finding your sound!

Best regards

Micha

[teohatecrew]

Hello again,

The EH can sound a bit harsh and are in the best way neutral sounding tubes. They have some HighMids and Highs, tight Bottom end. The Mids are not very characteristic. Quite similar to the Sovtek you already use.
But all my impressions are highly subjective. There are a lot more factors to be considered. The Speakers, the Speaker-Enclosure, the Guitar and your personal playing style.
It is almost impossible to predict what kind of tubes are the right choice for you. So You will have to test some in your setup at home and do some A-B comparison between the different brands. The 12AX7 are not to expensive, so just order some and start finding your sound!

Best regards

Thanks man!

For instance i use:

Carvin Legacy 212
Ibanez s470 sol (BL500XL on bridge position)
Ibanez rg2570 evsl (d-sonic on bridge position) ----> next week i'll test her


Micha

[Dirk]

Hi !

Is it a 5150 I or 5150 II amp that you play ? A big problem with the 5150 is that they have a non adjustable fixed bias and they are running th epower tubes pretty cold. If you get a set of 6L6 which draws more current within this amp you will have a slightly different sound than with a set of 6L6 which draws much lower current. I recommend to build in a adjustable bias into this amp first. This gives you the possibility to adjust the power tubes correctly and correctly adjusted powertubes will sound much better than cold running power tubes - well, in most cases.
Concerning the tubes: the 5881WGC (Sovtek or old Russia) are working pretty good in this amp and I have many customers which are very satisfied with the 5881 in there 5150.

Best regards, Dirk

[teohatecrew]

5150 I! so you suggets to work on bias or on the poweramp rather than the premap?

[mc_guitar]

Hello,

In the MkI a Bias Mod is strongly recommended if you want to have a really different beast! 
I did this myself and the amp had a lot more juice afterwards. The Peaveys really are biased as cold as ice, good for the lifetime of the powertubes, but bad for the sound!

Best regards, Micha

[teohatecrew]

Hello,

In the MkI a Bias Mod is strongly recommended if you want to have a really different beast! 
I did this myself and the amp had a lot more juice afterwards. The Peaveys really are biased as cold as ice, good for the lifetime of the powertubes, but bad for the sound!

Best regards, Micha

I know but nowadays i can't due to money...if'll do by myself my peavey will exploade!