Changing Tubes.....

[wyllie]

I have a line 6 Spider valve and i love it but i was thinkin the other day "what if i switched out the pre-amp tubes and put say mesa boogie tubes in...Wonder if that'd sound any different"

Would it?

*Rather would it have enough of a sound change to warrant switching*

-Wyllie

 

[gorath23]

Changing tubes, makes only marginal difference to tone. Its a contentious issue, but true imo. All improvements, whether it be in brightness, thickness, clarity etc will be small. I mean no offence either, but its even less likely to affect a semi-modelling amp like the SV.

 

[wyllie]

No offense taken man i know its not exactly the best amp on the planet but thru an engl cab it doesnt sound half bad (feels like im allways sayin that haha)

I record with impulses all the time anyway cuz i cant crank it so if it wont be a significant change in the sound then i aint tryin to fix what aint broke!
Cheers bro
-wyllie

 

[Tommy Gun]

what brand of preamp tubes are in the line 6 now?

 

[wyllie]

"(2) 12AX7 preamp tubes, (4) Sovtek 5881 (6L6) power amp tubes"

Thats what it says on the Line6 site.

 

[Metaltastic]

But what brand are the tubes? Yank 'em out and take a look at what's written on 'em (if anything)

 

[wishtheend]

I bet it's only using one of those 12AX7s for tone, I bet the other is just for the FX loop. You could get some JJ ECC83S (one normal, one balanced) and try the JJ6L6GC. I swapped my Mesa out from stock tubes to JJs and noticed a HUGE difference. While the Line 6 is being driven in part by a digital pre, I think at least swapping out the power section will give you a better and tighter bottom end.

 

[Rob Logic]

Based off of my experience, power tubes affect a tone or timbre more than preamp tubes. Preamp tubes are going to affect gain more so than anything. However changing out particular preamp tubes, because different tubes have different purposes in gain staging, can make varying differences in gain staging even more. There is a tube nut at my local shop and he is always trying to get me to drag my head in so we can switch out different tubes so he can try and sell me "new old stock" shiz for like $40 a tube (talking preamp here). Before I digress more, I don't know how much benefit you would get if any at all with only two preamp tubes because of the basic gain staging involved into two tubes and the fact that you use impulses. Changing power tubes may be worth a look if you use this box live though.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Yeah, changing (just) the preamp tubes, especially in that particular amp, probably won't do much. You'll find 12AX7's that don't run quite as hot, or that run a little hotter than what you are used. But, that's got nothing to do with tone, just drive. For the most part, a 12AX7 is a 12AX7, even though I prefer Ruby's. Now... If you truly want to change the TONE of the amp, you'll have to change the Power tubes. My recommendation would be either Ruby's or JJ's (or the hand-picked Ruby/JJ series). Mesa tubes are OK, but you can spend the same money on much higher quality tubes. Mesa buys their tubes from one of the other guys (can't remember who), but I can assure you that they DON'T get first/top shelf/pick-of-the-litter.

As far as the type of tubes... if you want to retain punchy, tight response, with that extra overhead, and dark mid-range (Testament/Nevermore), then stick with the 6L6GC's... If you want it to loosen up on you a little, maybe a little more raw, saturated distortion, and brighter mid-range (Exodus/Carcass), you can switch to EL34's. Mullard-style EL34's are nice for transitioning. They have very "middle of the road" characteristics between standard EL34's and 6L6's.

 

[hellraiser85]

I bet it's only using one of those 12AX7s for tone, I bet the other is just for the FX loop. You could get some JJ ECC83S (one normal, one balanced) and try the JJ6L6GC. I swapped my Mesa out from stock tubes to JJs and noticed a HUGE difference. While the Line 6 is being driven in part by a digital pre, I think at least swapping out the power section will give you a better and tighter bottom end.

Which is the difference between a balanced tube and not balanced (normal) other one? Is it possible to make a balanced tube from a normal tube or are they different valves?

 

[gorath23]

No offense taken man i know its not exactly the best amp on the planet but thru an engl cab it doesnt sound half bad (feels like im allways sayin that haha)

I record with impulses all the time anyway cuz i cant crank it so if it wont be a significant change in the sound then i aint tryin to fix what aint broke!
Cheers bro
-wyllie

Just to clarify, I wasn't beating on the Line 6 at all, I merely meant that because of the nature of the amp (the sound being primarily governed by the digital section) changing tubes will have very little difference. Saying that, once I get some cash together I really want some Winged C 6L6's for my Engl. Just out of interest, is your cab the standard or pro and where did you buy it from? I'm thinking of trying to get one myself.

In a sort of retraction from my earlier post, I just swapped my V1 tube in the preamp to a JJ (from an EH Gold 12ax7) and was pleasantly surprised. I suspect it may be a case of the grass always being greener though.

 

[wyllie]

Just to clarify, I wasn't beating on the Line 6 at all, I merely meant that because of the nature of the amp (the sound being primarily governed by the digital section) changing tubes will have very little difference. Saying that, once I get some cash together I really want some Winged C 6L6's for my Engl. Just out of interest, is your cab the standard or pro and where did you buy it from? I'm thinking of trying to get one myself.

In a sort of retraction from my earlier post, I just swapped my V1 tube in the preamp to a JJ (from an EH Gold 12ax7) and was pleasantly surprised. I suspect it may be a case of the grass always being greener though.

Dude its all good, i feel like im constantly defending line6 so much i may as well work there! haha
I have a standard cab and i got it from guitarguitar for 499 , Hope that helps!