Mini Rec tube life

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nick79

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
78
Reaction score
0
My Mini Rec was born in 2012 and as far as i know the preamp tubes are the ones it left the factory with. I'm beginning to think they might be past their best, its a bit undefinable but lately its not been satisfying me tonally - I replaced the el84's a couple of months back with did make a difference (JJ's, gave it back some punch and sparkle).

I've also noticed just lately that i'm getting a bit of unwanted hiss when using certain pedals on my board which i dont remember happening when i first got the amp - But that could be down to the pedals or power supply.
So my question is to you guys that have retubed your Mini Recs/Rectoverb 25's, how long did your original's last? I know its an open ended question (how long do preamp tubes last..?) but i thought it would be interesting to hear others point of view.

For the record i've gigged it a fair bit in the 9 months i've had it and also lots of loud band practises - It gets a good work out!
 
They should last a long time. You could try swapping one at a time and see if you hear any difference.
 
That's the plan, i've ordered a couple of new ones so i can try them out, will be interesting to see if it makes any difference.
 
I am in exactly the same boat, I picked up a Mini Rec this past summer, and while I thought it sounded good with the tubes it came with, I noticed the label on the power tubes was curling up from the heat. Mine is from 2012, and I did a full retube with Mesa EL84 power tubes, a Tung Sol in V1 (which I've always done in every amp forever), and a set of 4 JJ 12ax7s. It's night and day, the new tubes just kill. The Tung Sol lowered the noise floor as I expected, and the new power tubes gave the amp punch. Definitely retube if those things are more than a couple of years old.

And btw congrats on the amp! I love mine, I'm sure you will too!
 
Glad to hear you are enjoying yours, i wouldn't be without mine - Its fantastic.
So to update the thread, i ordered a couple of Tungsol and JJ's, with the Tungsol in v1 and JJ's the rest it sounds really really good.
Wasn't keen on Tungsol in v2, just didn't sound right to me.

Interestingly i think the original tubes were actually ok, so i've put them back in. It was putting the Tungsol in V1 that made the most difference.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top