Replacement Tubes

[The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven]

I have a Blue Voodoo 120 head and the tubes are pretty much shot. The amp still sounds good, but the amp is VERY noisy. If you yell into the front it will ring through the speakers pretty bad, which leads me to believe I need new tubes (Oh, they're 5 years old also ). So I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions for the best sounding tubes, or if it even makes a difference. The sound I'm looking for would be very heavily distorted, but relativly noiseless, pretty ballsy, lots of bass and a good amount of midrange. If it helps, my main guitar is some old neck through Charvel with active pickups, a preamp, and a Kahler.

 

[kamikaze]

I like Groove Tubes 'GT' But thats just me. Im sure everyone uses somethin different.

 

[Nate The Great]

I've used Groove Tubes and Sovtek tubes in the past. Both are fine by me.

 

[xenophobe]

Get the Chinese 12ax7s. They're much quieter than the GT (rebranded Sovteks I think) or the Sovtecks themselves... Much higher gain and more musical...

For power amp tubes, I'd reccomend Svetlanta.

go to www.tubestore.com

 

[Sonnenritter]

What type of tubes do Mesa Boogie triple rectifiers come with? I thought about saving up for one, but my friend told me the tubes are very expensive to replace and have to be imported from Russia. Is that true?

 

[Nate The Great]

I'm not completely knowledgable when it comes to tubes in particular amps, but I don't see why you would have to buy specific tubes for a specific amp. Maybe somebody could inform me on this . . .

 

[The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven]

As far as I know, the only modern guitar amps to use expensive hard to find tubes are Red Bear's, but I don't think they even make those anymore. I think they can use either 6L6's or EL84's (The Mesa). As far as Russia goes, I'm pretty sure about 90% of all tubes are made there now.

EDIT: EL84's or EL34's, I always get the two mixed up...

 

[warcorpse]

They can be expensive becase there are so many of them. My triple is a glowing tube monster.

http://store.yahoo.com/mesa/mesboogtub.html

 

[Nate The Great]

Probably EL34's. If that is the case, I still don't see why you would need any special tube for that Mesa. I'd guess you could use any brand.

 

[xenophobe]

Originally posted by The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven
As far as I know, the only modern guitar amps to use expensive hard to find tubes are Red Bear's, but I don't think they even make those anymore. I think they can use either 6L6's or EL84's (The Mesa). As far as Russia goes, I'm pretty sure about 90% of all tubes are made there now.

EDIT: EL84's or EL34's, I always get the two mixed up...

I have a Red Bear.... I'm pretty sure the power tubes are 6L6s, but to replace the preamp tubes, you have to get them rewired to accept 12ax7s, all you need to do is rewire the ground to the extra pin that the 12ax7 doesn't have....

BTW, all of the Mesa tubes are rebranded Sovtek, I'm pretty sure. I know they're russian.

 

[The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven]

Really? I heard they were all really strange and rare tubes that once they go bad, only one company makes tubes for them and they're expensive as hell. Granted, I've never actually seen a Red Bear amp in real life, so I wouldn't know, but that's just what I've heard from some people who have reviewed them.

 

[kamikaze]

I saw one once a long time ago in musicians friend. They were like a cheap russian alternaitve to some of the pricier half stacks.

 

[xenophobe]

Well, they're all hand point to point wired, the components are good and I have ample power. Tone is good, but not enough gain for the metal I like to play.

The tubes AREN'T 6L6's but are supposedly compatible... but the preamp tubes are similar to 12ax7's but have an extra pin... the sockets can be rewired....

The cabinets are fucking AWESOME, built in the USA by Gibson.

They weigh almost twice that of an equivilant Marshall and have tight bottom end from hell.

 

[kamikaze]

They sound pretty darn sturdy. Are the heads built here too?

 

[The ORIGINAL South Of Heaven]

Wow, those cabinets sound like my Acoustic (the brand) cabs lol. These things probably weigh a good 160 each.

 

[Ultima Ibanez Overlord]

Ok, I may seem pretty naive here: I had my Roland Amp repaired and I had the tubes replaced. The engineer is a freelance guy who I found by asking in a local music store.
He told me that you have to replace all the tubes at once, that replacing one isn't a good idea.
That's fine, but it costs a lot.
If one blows, do you really have to fork out for having all of them replaced?
Or is this a little lie to get me to pay to have more work done and pay for parts and labour?