Hi,
I recently bought an F-50 for £500 off eBay. The guy I bought it off played in West End theatre shows, so I presume it's had a lot of use. When I asked him about the valves he said that they'd NEVER been replaced, which by my calculations would mean they're around maybe 5-6 years old?
I was expecting to have to fit a new set, but the thing is the amp sounds totally amazing. I was using a Vox AD120VT (digital modelling amp) previously and I'd always thought that was a pretty good sounding piece of kit but compared to the Mesa, well I just can't listen to to the Vox now, it seems so poor in comparison. But it doesn't just sound good compared to the Vox, my mate Dave also has an F-50 and I think mine sounds even better than his.
So the crux of the matter is should I change the valves simply because of their age even though they still sound fantastic?
I play at home and really only crank it up once a fortnight in a rehearsal room.
Whaddya reckon?
I recently bought an F-50 for £500 off eBay. The guy I bought it off played in West End theatre shows, so I presume it's had a lot of use. When I asked him about the valves he said that they'd NEVER been replaced, which by my calculations would mean they're around maybe 5-6 years old?
I was expecting to have to fit a new set, but the thing is the amp sounds totally amazing. I was using a Vox AD120VT (digital modelling amp) previously and I'd always thought that was a pretty good sounding piece of kit but compared to the Mesa, well I just can't listen to to the Vox now, it seems so poor in comparison. But it doesn't just sound good compared to the Vox, my mate Dave also has an F-50 and I think mine sounds even better than his.
So the crux of the matter is should I change the valves simply because of their age even though they still sound fantastic?
I play at home and really only crank it up once a fortnight in a rehearsal room.
Whaddya reckon?