changing valves playing at low volumes

piggyboy · Feb 24, 2012

Hi,
i play clean at relitively low volumes, between 9 and 12 on the vol control.
even at low volumes would changing valves have much impact on my sound. or do i really need to crank the amp for better quality valves to sing?
i'm playing a maverick and blue angel combos.
any advice/info would be great.
thanks

Third Age Amps · Feb 24, 2012

Preamp tubes can change the tone quite a bit. Do you use high-gain or low/medium-gain?

For a good high-gain tone I use Tung-Sol 12AX7s in the preamp, a balanced JJ in the PI and Winged C EL34s for power tubes.

piggyboy · Feb 24, 2012

i play pretty much clean all the time. just wondering if its worth buying a couple of other tubes and trying them out or if it doesnt really make much difference.
sounds like my money is better spent on pre amp rather than power amp though?

elvis · Feb 24, 2012

If you're not pushing the power tubes, they won't have much effect. If you can pull a couple power tubes out to allow you to push the remaining tubes harder, then you might have some contribution from them.

piggyboy · Feb 24, 2012

thanks elvis, yeah i'm definately not pushing the power tubes, so i'm not gonna spend my cash on that, theres a couple of other threads about preamp tube ideas i might get a 12at7 & 12ay7 just to try out the different tones.

b0nkersx1 · Feb 24, 2012

you would probably get more out of a new set of pickups or maybe a pedal (eq or overdrive) but tubes can def help

kick6 · Mar 2, 2012

In my opinion, you still get fuller sound when you're at least putting some decent power to the power tubes. If all you're doing is playing low volume clean, you might consider swapping the 6L6's for 6v6's. I believe eurotubes has a mesa-specific kit for this swap.

I, personally, plan on trying this in my roadster.

changing valves playing at low volumes

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