Hey all,
Just recently made the switch from the standard Mesa 5U4G rectifier tubes to NOS Tung-Sol 5U4GBs in my Rev G 2 channel Dual Rec. I wasn't really expecting too much of a difference, but was surprised once I fired the amp up.
While the overall tone of the amp did not change, there was a definite change in the way the amp responded to my attack, as well as an increase in note separation and articulation while on channel 2. With the volume knob on the guitar rolled down to about half, picking lightly produced an extraordinarily clear clean tone which my dual rec had never really been able to produce before. At the same volume setting, digging into the strings brought in an extremely articulate grit that had me grinning. Each note was very clearly defined. This difference was maintained with the volume knob on the guitar at full.
This increase in response and articulation was just what I'd been looking for with this amp, as nuances in my high gain riffing tended to be swallowed before making the change. I would highly recommend changing over to NOS rectifiers, especially if you get your clean sounds mainly by rolling back on the guitar's volume.
As a reference, here's what I'm using in the rest of the amp:
V1: Long black plate Raytheon
V2: RFT
V3: RFT
V4: Some cheap Sovtek (I bypass the loop)
V5: Long black plate Raytheon
Winged C EL34s in the power section.
Just recently made the switch from the standard Mesa 5U4G rectifier tubes to NOS Tung-Sol 5U4GBs in my Rev G 2 channel Dual Rec. I wasn't really expecting too much of a difference, but was surprised once I fired the amp up.
While the overall tone of the amp did not change, there was a definite change in the way the amp responded to my attack, as well as an increase in note separation and articulation while on channel 2. With the volume knob on the guitar rolled down to about half, picking lightly produced an extraordinarily clear clean tone which my dual rec had never really been able to produce before. At the same volume setting, digging into the strings brought in an extremely articulate grit that had me grinning. Each note was very clearly defined. This difference was maintained with the volume knob on the guitar at full.
This increase in response and articulation was just what I'd been looking for with this amp, as nuances in my high gain riffing tended to be swallowed before making the change. I would highly recommend changing over to NOS rectifiers, especially if you get your clean sounds mainly by rolling back on the guitar's volume.
As a reference, here's what I'm using in the rest of the amp:
V1: Long black plate Raytheon
V2: RFT
V3: RFT
V4: Some cheap Sovtek (I bypass the loop)
V5: Long black plate Raytheon
Winged C EL34s in the power section.
