New tubes for my DC-3...what should I get?

[jzerza]

right now I am using Mesa el84's and spax 7's in all the preamp positions. They have been in there for awhile and the other night while playing I got some serious crackling sounds coming through the amp when I played in the lower register of my guitar. seems to be working fine now, and I'm not sure if it is a tube problem, but I'm still thinkin about doing a little switch up.
I was originally thinking about just ordering some JJ's, but was told they are very mid heavy. I would like to contol my mids a bit and would love any suggestions on good tubes for the DC-3, preamp and power. How to they compare with the one's I am using? Someone said NOS but I have no idea what to look for there???

Also...Monsta-Tone, if your reading this, I have always been thankful for your advice, would love to hear from you and I know there is a certain speaker you have recommended for the DC3, could you tell me again what it is and how it will sound different than my Vintage30?

Thanks

 

[jzerza]

Holy Cow...I just looked on Dougs Tubes and am now completely confused...so many choices. I wouldn't mind mixing up the preamp tubes, but again, I have no clue what to get!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I had a set of Doug's Tubes in my DC-5. It really sounded great, with the exception of his tube choice for V4.
V4 is your Clean channel's 2nd & 3rd gain stages. His tube made my amp sound like ***. I changed it out for a Ruby High Gain and the magic was back!

If you order from him, just make sure to tell him what you want for tones. I told him I wanted pristine clean and he gave me sterile Jazz with no compression or expression.

Don't mention other vendors. If you do, prepare yourself for a barrage of insults toward the other guys and a lot of **** talking. Maybe what he says is true, but I didn't care to be the recipient of his ranting.


As for speakers:
Mojotone BV-30H http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/British-Vintage/British-Vintage-Series-12-BV-30H-Speaker-8-OHM-30W-1-5-V
Celestion Heritage 30 (The new Heritage Series is different. This appears to be closest to the pair of Heritage 30's that I got out of an early 90's Marshall Combo) http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/products/classic/detail.asp?ID=7
Hellatone 30 (I see these on ebay sometimes for ridiculous prices)
Or call Weber and ask them.

I really like the Heritage (G12H30) in my Maverick and loved the Mojotone BV-30H in my DC-3. The Vintage 30's just have way too much of an ice-pick tone for EL-84's. At least to my ears.

Hope this helps.

Other great speakers if you don't want any speaker break up, and great cleans are:
Weber California - Paper Dome - Lightly Doped - Factory Broken In
Celestion Black Shadow MC-90 - well broken in.