nosajwp Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 It's time to re-tube my Mesa DC-10, and I can't decide which tubes to buy. I'm thinking maybe JJ's from Eurotubes, or possibly Svetlana 6L6's (the real ones!), and maybe EH 12AX7's, but wanted to get opinions from the guys here first. I'm only considering current production, except for some NOS Tesla 12AX7's. Thanks guys!
Guest Buck Dharma Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 I have a JJ 6L6 for my single ended amp and it is too bright for me. The NOS JAN/Phillips 6l6 wgb I got for $25 is much better. For the 12ax7's I think the JJ ecc83s is good but I don't like the ecc803s because it sounds too bright to me. I also use the EH 12ax7. But I recently bought 5 NOS 12ax7's for $50 on Ebay and every one is way better than the new ones. It includes a rebadged Telefunkin and a rebadged Mullard also RCA and Sylvania. They all kick the snot out of the new ones for sound and noise level. My experience is with a small 6 watt tube amp that you can really hear the difference . If you are using a higher gain amp and want crunch it is a whole different story, although they are better for that also just not as big of a difference.
edgar_allan_poe Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 The Svet 6L6s are very nice tubes. IMHO they are the best of the new 6L6s. Some of the new Sovtek 12ax7s are also very good. I really liked the new GT Mullard but it is expensive and it really doesn't sound like a real Mullard. Still a nice sounding tube, but overpriced. The best value for NOS 12ax7s is a Sylvania...they have a wicked bottom end and really aren't that much more expensive than the new name brand tubes.
holLoWskull Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 It's time to re-tube my Mesa DC-10, and I can't decide which tubes to buy. I'm thinking maybe JJ's from Eurotubes, or possibly Svetlana 6L6's (the real ones!), and maybe EH 12AX7's, but wanted to get opinions from the guys here first. I'm only considering current production, except for some NOS Tesla 12AX7's. Thanks guys! This past summer I ended up changing the tubes in my Peavey 5150 head with EH 12AX7's and a matched quad of Svetlana 'Wing C' (I believe these are the ones you're considering?) 6L6GC's. Initially I wasn't thrilled. Even in a "high gain monster" like the 5150, I noticed an immediate change in tone from the Sovteks that were in there. I'm not sure which set of tubes had the bigger effect on the tone, but the amp sounded alot "crunchier" but unfortunately to my ears it also got "colder" sounding as well. Perhaps it was just that I was so used to the tone before, but after a few months (probably helped that the tubes got broken in during that period of time also) of experimenting with knob settings on the amp, I'm now very pleased with the tone of my amp. A good thing I found with the EH/Svetlana match is that it made the amp's distortion noticeably more articulate than before and improved the clean channel sound quite a bit from what it was with the Sovteks in it. The EH/Svetlana 'Wing C' combination results you'd get in your Mesa might differ from my 5150, but it took me some tweaking time and some tube break in to get them to sound to my liking, you may have to do the same.
seeker Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 New ProductionEL-34 SED (they are from the Svetlana factory; New Svets sold in the last 2 or so years are actually made somewhere else and sold under the Svetlana name; some international branding issue)6L6 SEDs work for me, but haven't tried nearly as many as I have EL-34s6V6 - JJsEL-84 - JJs12AX-7; Electro Harmonix for Higher gain, more top end; Mullard reissues for Medium gain, good balance (tames the high end of an overly bright amp), but are imho too, overpricedNOS (reasonably priced)EL-34 Teslas, hands down awesome tubes. Yes, they cose more, but nowhere near mullardsEL-84 Teslas once again. 12 AX7; NOS JAN Phillips. Used to be waaaaaycheaper than they are now (got 7 from Poe three years ago for a ten spot a piece, thanks!). Just as good as the NOS JAN GE, but a bit less. Still pricey though,, but for most applications a very balanced tube. Shame is, they sound like a 12AX7 should, but all new production seems to fall short.
DaveH Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 For new manufacture, I think the SED 'winged C' are the best 6L6 out there, followed closely by the Shuguang 6L6. The Shuguang are quite tough, and are WAY cheaper than SED's, but I believe production stopped on those earlier this year....there should be enough stockpiled that availability won't suffer for awhile.As for 12ax7, in high gain situations I've had good results with both the EH and JJ, with the JJ being a touch brighter in my experience. For lower gain applications, I've liked the GT 12ax7-m, but I've heard of others who've had bad experiences with these....might be some consistency issues in play here. There are also some new ones being manufactured under the TungSol name which are supposed to be exceptional, but I haven't tried any yet for myself.
Scottcrud Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 Is your DC-10 a head or combo?SED ( Winged-C) 6L6's or EH 6L6'sAnd EH12ax7's or JJ EC883 or 803's.As for more pricey stuff: NOS Jan Philips 12ax7's are super hard to beat.NOS GE 6L6's are the best I've ever tried in my Boogie .50 cal.
Lockbody Posted October 31, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 +1 each for the JAN-Phillips 12AX7's and the SED Winged C's 6L6's.I have this combination in my Mk IV and love it.The SED's are a recommended tube over at The Boogie Board as it works well with Mesa's fixed bias and it simply sounds great.
guitfiddler Posted October 31, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 Tung-Sol 12AX7 http://www.tubestore.com/tungsol12ax7.htmland JJ 6L6's
Scooter Posted November 1, 2005 Posted November 1, 2005 JJ's for the little guys, SED Winged C's for the big tubes.
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