5150 TUBE PREFERENCE

[Gnash]

The amp is in the shop getting the bias mod!!

I've had him put Tung Sols in every socket, and I have a JJ and a Mullard to play with in V1. Thanks for all the input everyone!

 

[ochants76]

With the bias mod...you can always set it colder if you want it to sound stock.

 

[Gnash]

Nice.

 

[nwright]

Love the Shuguangs man. I didn't realize there was a difference between the two versions. I've never tried the 8's though and have always run the 9 gens. Dougs Tubes sells both of them....maybe I should order a set of the 8's and check em out. They are cheaper too.....only $8.00 a pop.

I've always used the 9th gen Shuguang's in my 6505+, as I think they sound a bit smoother and less top-endy than EH's and JJ's. I had a 5150 with the 8th gen.'s as well, and they were pretty cool, but the 9th gen's suit my playing and tonal desires better. My next power amp re-tube will see me adding some tung sol pre's to the mix as well.

For power tubes, my experience so far has me liking JJ's and Ruby's over Sovtek's or the Groove Tubes I had (which I don't even know what their origin was). When I re-tube in about a month, I'm going for some Svetlana's as I heard these rip in the 6505. Power tubes don't make as much a difference as pre's IMO, but there are subtle changes.

I think JJ power tubes sound most aggressive, whereas the Ruby's have a bit more low end...This comparison is what I felt I heard when running the same pre's, too. Sovteks can just suck it.

 

[nwright]

what about groove tubes? they sound awesome in my dual rec.

Groove Tubes are re-labeled tubes. When we reference 8th or 9th gen. Chinese Shuguang tubes, we are referring to the country and factory of manufacture. Groove Tubes take those tubes and basically relabel them and sell them for 3x the price. They do this with a variety of tubes from different countries and factories. Usually they will have letter designations at the end of the tube type that can help identify where they are made. IIRC< the Chinese made Groove Tubes are called 12AXC's or something like that. Just not worth the extra money for a fancy silkscreened GT logo, IMO..Well, they supposedly test them, too, but for my money Groove Tubes are not worth it when you can buy factory tubes for sooo much less from killer dudes like Doug from www.dougstubes.com .

 

[KeithTidd]

The amp is in the shop getting the bias mod!!

I've had him put Tung Sols in every socket, and I have a JJ and a Mullard to play with in V1. Thanks for all the input everyone!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but how did those tung sols sound?

 

[Gnash]

I remember the amp sounding too fizzy stock, with the Rubys. I had so much stuff done to that head. I had my amp tech on the phone with Jerry from FJA mods. I told Jerry what I wanted and the amp tech went to town. haha I still have the Tung Sol 6l6s in there. I've worked em hard for a good six months and they still shit and git! The bias and clarity mods really tightened up that fizz. With the Mesa oversized cab, it's was just a brick fucking wall of thunder! I'm back to the normal sized cab now and it still murders! I've tried everything in V1. I hated the tung sol 12ax7. I remember it being a tone sucker, or a gain sucker. Stay away from that one. I use a JJ in v1 now.