Jaded Faith
Well-known member
I was thinking about my rig in practice last night and had a couple random questions I wanted to feel out opinions on. My signal chain was as follows:
PRS Custom 22 > Dunlop Crybaby > Boss TU2 Tuner > ISP Decimator > BBE Boosta Grande > RM100 (loaded with Pete modded Clean/KH2/Pete modded 1086) > Xpression in Serial loop > MTS 2x12 with V30's
Here are a few questions:
1: For those of you who boost on the front end, in what applications do you specifically use it? The BBE is a week in on my signal chain. I have always been an amp distortion guy with nothing in front. I was hoping to slam the front end with this (not looking for a volume boost, for that I would have used it in the loop) and see some great results driving the tubes hard. Really all I am seeing is more compression, which is easy to visualize with the input LED's on the Xpression (ie: not compressed tones tend to have more movement between 2-3 LED's, compressed ones basically peg it out to whatever level I set it up to). I am not a fan of compressed distortion, preferring more "organic" feel to it. I typically run my gains between 12:00 and 2:30 to give you an idea of my settings, never dimed out. I am thinking this technique is better reserved for lower gain modules to push them a bit farther (say Tweed and JTM) rather than on all the time. I sort of dug it with the BBE knob on 9:00 and the gains rolled back on my modules, but not as much as just leaving it off.
2: Opinions on 12AX7's? I have exactly 70 preamp tubes in my possession (3 Randall amp rigs, 12 modules and spare combined) and lean towards the JJ ECC83S. But do the tubes tend to be on the dark side tone-wise? I typically have my Treble knobs at 2:00 - 3:00, which seems high if I was setting them by eyes instead of ears. Presence on the amps are also at noon. Visually, I would think this is a recipe for an icepick to the forehead, but it sounds good (all that matters in the end). What are everyone's spin on current production 12AX7-types? I found the JJ's very pleasing in gain and tone but maybe a tad dark, EH kind of boring and plain, Tung-Sol to be less gain than JJ's and a little more sparkle but unreliable lately, Ruby's I just can't get into (the Eden marked ones are okay though) and Sovtek's have been more enjoyable lately than I would like to think. Interested in those Shuguang Silver Dragons too. Anyone have input on those?
3: Where do you all bias your 6L6's and EL34L's? Running a pair of each in the RM100 and originally I had the 6L6's @ 30 and the EL34L's at 35. Cranked them up to 33 and 40 for the second half of practice. Not sure which I liked better. Preferences? I notice if the voltage is lower the tubes seem to bias lower (using the numbers on the Monster Power Supply in my rack as a reference). Knowing that, would it be wise to bias them right where you want them in a higher voltage room (say 122 Volts like you tend to see late at night) and then you know they wouldn't be too cold when you get into a room where the power is tapped hard (say around 115-117 volts)?
Thanks in advance,
Rob
PRS Custom 22 > Dunlop Crybaby > Boss TU2 Tuner > ISP Decimator > BBE Boosta Grande > RM100 (loaded with Pete modded Clean/KH2/Pete modded 1086) > Xpression in Serial loop > MTS 2x12 with V30's
Here are a few questions:
1: For those of you who boost on the front end, in what applications do you specifically use it? The BBE is a week in on my signal chain. I have always been an amp distortion guy with nothing in front. I was hoping to slam the front end with this (not looking for a volume boost, for that I would have used it in the loop) and see some great results driving the tubes hard. Really all I am seeing is more compression, which is easy to visualize with the input LED's on the Xpression (ie: not compressed tones tend to have more movement between 2-3 LED's, compressed ones basically peg it out to whatever level I set it up to). I am not a fan of compressed distortion, preferring more "organic" feel to it. I typically run my gains between 12:00 and 2:30 to give you an idea of my settings, never dimed out. I am thinking this technique is better reserved for lower gain modules to push them a bit farther (say Tweed and JTM) rather than on all the time. I sort of dug it with the BBE knob on 9:00 and the gains rolled back on my modules, but not as much as just leaving it off.
2: Opinions on 12AX7's? I have exactly 70 preamp tubes in my possession (3 Randall amp rigs, 12 modules and spare combined) and lean towards the JJ ECC83S. But do the tubes tend to be on the dark side tone-wise? I typically have my Treble knobs at 2:00 - 3:00, which seems high if I was setting them by eyes instead of ears. Presence on the amps are also at noon. Visually, I would think this is a recipe for an icepick to the forehead, but it sounds good (all that matters in the end). What are everyone's spin on current production 12AX7-types? I found the JJ's very pleasing in gain and tone but maybe a tad dark, EH kind of boring and plain, Tung-Sol to be less gain than JJ's and a little more sparkle but unreliable lately, Ruby's I just can't get into (the Eden marked ones are okay though) and Sovtek's have been more enjoyable lately than I would like to think. Interested in those Shuguang Silver Dragons too. Anyone have input on those?
3: Where do you all bias your 6L6's and EL34L's? Running a pair of each in the RM100 and originally I had the 6L6's @ 30 and the EL34L's at 35. Cranked them up to 33 and 40 for the second half of practice. Not sure which I liked better. Preferences? I notice if the voltage is lower the tubes seem to bias lower (using the numbers on the Monster Power Supply in my rack as a reference). Knowing that, would it be wise to bias them right where you want them in a higher voltage room (say 122 Volts like you tend to see late at night) and then you know they wouldn't be too cold when you get into a room where the power is tapped hard (say around 115-117 volts)?
Thanks in advance,
Rob