Tube replacement - what's the difference?

[bagman67]

Howdy, all.

So here's the deal: 

I just purchased a Yamaha T100C combo amp.  I really like it a lot, having owned one before.  I bought the current specimen for a very good price, and with full knowledge that there's a little hinky-ness with it.

The symptom I'm hoping to correct is this:  The gain channel is full-blast awesome, operating at the volume level I would anticipate.  The clean channel, however, is kinda wimpy by comparison. Certainly I can annoy the neighbors with it, but it has nowhere near the headroom it should.

Among other things, I know I will be replacing the power tube quartet (4 each 6L6GC's), since they were at least two years old when I bought the amp and the prior owner's recollection of his maintenance habits was spotty.  I'll also probably end up swapping one or more of the preamp tubes.

Now, my question is this:

Assume for the purpose of argument that I'm not Eric Johnson, and my auditory sensibilities are comparatively unrefined.  Is there any reason I should invest in a $100 or even a $200 quartet of tubes, when I can get a set of what claim to be matched Ruby tubes at 50 bucks on Musician's Friend?  I know there is as much religion as scientific fact surrounding this issue, but I'll do my best to sift the latter from the former.

Looking forward to your opinions.

Thanks in advance -

Bagman

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Unfortunately there is a difference and you do get what you pay for when it comes to tubes.

Here are some recommendations:

JJ 6L6
SED 6L6

JJ ECC83 (will help tame the brightness of that Soldano designed amp)
JJ ECC803 (more open sounding tube that I use mixed with the Tung Sol RI in the clean channels)
Tung Sol RI 12ax7 (I really like this preamp tube for the clean channels and/or the V1 location)
Chinese 12ax7 (this is what should have been stock in the amp)

Check out:
Doug's Tubes
NBS Electronics (Lord Valve)

 

[bagman67]

Much gratitude, DbU.

Any thoughts on swapping a 12AY7 into the input buffer position for the clean channel?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Much gratitude, DbU.

Any thoughts on swapping a 12AY7 into the input buffer position for the clean channel?

The beauty of preamp tubes vs. the power tubes is that you can swap and mix up the preamp tubes to get the desired results you want. Mix and match until you're happy with it.

I don't know the tube layout for that amp so I really can't recommend more than I have already.

 

[Superlizard]

Wull, from what I've been learnings here on dis here forums, jes' like wood types don't make no diffrunce in tones,
same goes fer t00bs.  I mean, woods wood an' t00bs is t00bs, right?

The only thang that affects tone is yer pickemups... those square thangs (buckers) or skinny thangs (singles) under yer strings where ya strum.  :icon_jokercolor:

(disclaimer:  the above is a parody and not to be taken seriously)

 

[-CB-]

Just be careful....

companies like RUBY rebadge tubes.  So do Groove, ValveArt, Sovtek etc.....

I'd personally get tubes, after reading all the info over at a place like www.thetubestore.com

BTW, its not that cheap tubes are bad..... nope.  Those Sovtek 5881's are fine, very "Fendery".  Lots of Sovtek and EH tubes are good, also there are good Ruby tubes, you just need to do the research...

And.... you can get alternates to create more or less what you're looking for.  You can put 7581's in any 6L6/5881 amp, for huge clean tone.  You can also put KT66's in those amps for better breakup.  The EH KT-66's are GREAT (big bottle) if you can still get them.  I'm down to two sets from the ones they sent me to evaluate.  Heheheh... they didn't get 'em back!~  Also, they didn't get the 6V6EH tubes back.  Perhaps not the "best" tone, but virtually indestructible.  I ran those at full tilt, playing through my 64 Bassman, for about an hour, in a darkened room, to see if they would eventually melt.  Had the bias set to 50ma at idle, and just beat the tubes as bad as I could with the (highly modded) Bassman.  They never even got red on the plates... something many 6V6's do in a 6V6 amp.  The Bassman is 45ish watts, where normal 6V6's might be good for 25 watts on a good day.  Mike at EH told me they had them put 6L6 plates, slightly modded, in the 6L6 mica, with very close heater/cathode tolerances, so they could get the low heater amperage of the 6V6 and the plate robustness of the 6L6.  Good tubes for lasting... ok toned, but not the best.  Old RCA's are better toned, warmer smoother breakup.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Other sources for tubes that are quick and priced reasonably are the Tube Store, and Tube Depot.  The Tube Store has reviews on the different brands in a family which can be helpful for narrowing down what flavor you are looking for.  Warm vs Tight for instance.  I personally like the Tube Depot because they are comprarable in price and they ship things very fast.  One difficulty with narrowing down the tube brand is that for a specific amp, one brand will work better than another sonically.  This is where a lot of tube snobbery seems to derive from.  I had JJ KT88's and they were "dry" sounding, so I have replaced them with SED KT88's and the SED's are drop dead incredible.  I have JJ KT77's in another amp and I wouldn't change them for anything, just big and ballsy.  Just how it works I suppose.  But it can lead to be all end all statements about tube brands.  

Still, even with that disclaimer, use the resources out there and make an informed decision about buying the tube brands and models that make the sound you like.  If you replace your tubes once a year, or less for a lot of us, spend the twenty bucks extra to get the ones for your preferences.
Patrick

 

[dNA]

What I have gotten out of this thread is that I will probably never understand enough about tubes to ever make my own informed decision on these kinds of things, and from here on out I will just post a "What kind of tubes should I get" thread every time I think about making a change.  :toothy11:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Just read the tube descriptions and pick accordingly to what change you might want, if any in the tone and feel of the amp.