Ill start at the beginning and answer these questions within it...
the most common types of music I play are (what I call) vintage blues & soul (jl hooker, freddy king,johnson & stax), 60s mod (small faces, who, kinks, stones etc.. ), 60s rock (cream, hendrix), ska, 70s bluesy rock (the usual zep, who, free, acdc) and modern rock (foos metallica) along with a rhcp's, fleetwood mac and a bit of rockabilly to boot...
Ive set the amp up so I dont have to touch the settings and can use the footswitch, and clean/crunch blues/heavy settings and the guitars volmue / tone controls to get the sounds I need - the only pedals I use are a wah and tuner.
Previously I thought the tone was great on this thing and would tell anyone that would listen, and most people are impressed when they hear it.. however I always thought the 5w setting was muddy (and the 50w at lower volumes in small venues) - the first thing the tube swap has done has made everything noticeably clearer, almost as though something had previously been muffling the sound. The 5w is now totally useable and clear even at lower volumes (ie 1am trying not to wake my kids up volume), the 50w is just better. I previously had trouble with solos sounding muffled on the crunch and heavy channels with the guitar volumes up, but this has cleaned up and is now really crisp, note definition is so much better.
The only downside if there is one is that the amp as a whole is now a bit more gainy - not rectifier over the top but just slightly more. But and hour turning down the gain slightly and rearanging everything else and ive found my sounds again...
