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Tubes! What tubes do I buy?


shaman

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Hi

I need to replace my generic stock tubes in my Modded Epiphone Valve Jr.

 

I have 3 guitars, 60's Goldtop Les Paul, 52 Blonde Tele, American Fender Strat sunburst... :)

 

I have a extension cab with one Celestion G12 Heritage series 16ohm the one made in Britain not China, the Hendrix one used in 1967, and I had another speaker built for me by extraordinaire Charlie Powers 8" 16 ohm, it has nuances of a Jensen and lower mid creamy sounds of Celestion...

 

Im recording in classic rock vibe on guitars...

 

I need 3 new tubes.

I currently have JJ 6V6 tube... Tong Sol 12AX7A 7025... Tesla-JJ EL84 6BQ5...

 

I was thinking without hopefully spending a small fortune more in the price range of 50.00 to 70.00 price range...NOS tubes...

 

What tubes do you like and why?

 

Thank you

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I have to say this forum is really a waste of my time. Hardly no one answers your questions. And when they do you usually get negative goofy comments... I'm out of here for good... I have better things to do with my precious time...

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  • 5 months later...

If you are looking for NOS tubes and really want something special.. RCA is THE CLASSIC tube. Those also usually command a fortune.

 

GE and Sylvania usually sound very nice, and don't command As bad of a price.

 

However, you may find that a tweak on the amp circuit will give more result than changing tubes. There are a few exceptions. On an amp like Blues Custom, you can adjust the gain, but changing out a high gain tube (Shanguang stock) for a JJ 12AX7 for a little drop, a 12ay7 or 5751 for a medium gain drop... it can clean things up a bit.

 

TheTubeStore.com is a good vendor that screens all the tubes they sell, and recommends by amp. Have a look there. If you want old school, I can find them for you... don't go the ebay route just yet.

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I have to say this forum is really a waste of my time. Hardly no one answers your questions. And when they do you usually get negative goofy comments... I'm out of here for good... I have better things to do with my precious time...

 

I didn't see that last sentence. Apparently I was wasting my time offering some help.

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I have to say this forum is really a waste of my time. Hardly no one answers your questions. And when they do you usually get negative goofy comments... I'm out of here for good... I have better things to do with my precious time...

 

Bye Bye...................[scared][blink][omg] ....

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  • 3 years later...

If you are looking for NOS tubes and really want something special.. RCA is THE CLASSIC tube. Those also usually command a fortune.

 

GE and Sylvania usually sound very nice, and don't command As bad of a price.

 

However, you may find that a tweak on the amp circuit will give more result than changing tubes. There are a few exceptions. On an amp like Blues Custom, you can adjust the gain, but changing out a high gain tube (Shanguang stock) for a JJ 12AX7 for a little drop, a 12ay7 or 5751 for a medium gain drop... it can clean things up a bit.

 

TheTubeStore.com is a good vendor that screens all the tubes they sell, and recommends by amp. Have a look there. If you want old school, I can find them for you... don't go the ebay route just yet.

 

 

i agree on the rca tube HOWEVER keep in mind if you have some you know are old military rca branded tubes just dont have any markings other than like 6l6, ecc83, or whatever dont expect to sell them for big bucks because you wont get it. i have found out the hard way with pups, tubes, even instruments that if it doesnt have a well known brand name on it you can only expect to get the chinese junk prices ( which is why all my guitar force rebel fire humbuckers are in a box and my NOS matched RCA tubes are in my amp).

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  • 2 weeks later...

For the 12ax7 in the V1 position, try an NOS Amperex that is marked Gr. Brtn or Great Britain. Your tone is mostly defined in the first pre-amp tube. The EL84 or 6L6 does not color the tone near as much and is less critical than the first pre-amp tube. Military 6BQ5 are a pretty good deal. Almost any NOS 12ax7 made in Europe will do a good job in the V1 spot.

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  • 7 months later...

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