What tubes in which module???

I currently have the clean module, the plexi, the SL+, and the XTC.

In the clean I have two Tung-Sol

In the plexi I have two Tung-Sol

In the SL+ and XTC I have a Tung-Sol in V1 and a Ruby high gain/low noise

I love the clarity of the of the plexi, but it seem to lack a little "life"

The SL+ and XTC both sound pretty good, but are a bit noisy at high volumes/gain.

Any suggestions, recommendations or experiences with different tubes would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

I have new tubes out for delivery today. Do a search on 5751 and you'll see recommendations for switching out the P1 tube for a 5751. This should help with noise at higher gain.

Also don't forget to look at switching out the V1 position as well. Put a good tube into it and it will affect all your pre-amp modules. You'll have to judge whether you like it or not.

I decided against trying to switch out individual pre-amp tubes at first and went with making sure the V1 and P1 tubes were better quality than the stock tubes.

I would love to try the 5751, but I am using an M4, which doesn't have a P1

But it does have a V1 and V2 for input put and output. What tubes would your recommend for M4?

Thanks,

Pete

Frankly i find the whole 5751 in PI a bit overblown. If you use good quality tubes then a 12ax7 would be just fine in either PI or in your V1 and V2.

I use Tung Sol gold pins in all my chassis spots and they work great. I would only recommend going down to a 5751 or 12at7 if you are getting some horrible sounds from your rig that killing some gain would correct. I did this on my Blackface (12at7) and my Mesa V Twin (5751) to great effect.

There are a few threads from people who mix and match tubes in V1 and V2 and they have done a great amount of research. I'd search those threads. Otherwise any good quality tube (preferably from Russia) will work fine.

Peace Joshua

some of us have posted out tubes set-up here take a look and see if any of this helps

http://mtsforum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=9653&highlight=gritty

Putting the 5751 in the P1 position really worked for me. Cut the noise considerably just by doing that. I could go with higher gain and not get anywhere near the noise I was getting.

I then put some Mullard's into my Mr. Scary module and could immediately tell a difference. Even my wife could notice the difference in clarity. Especially when playing chords. I'll probably do that with the rest of my modules as well and maybe try some other brands just to see. The noise was the same.

Forgive my ignorance, but where is the P1 and V1 exactly?
I'm trying to reduce noise so maybe using alternative tubes for these slots will help. How are 5751 work for tone?

The p1 I believe is supposed to be pI for phase inverter. It is usually the last tube in the chain. The 5751 is supposed to reduce gain/clipping a bit before the power tubes. I've never tested this out though so I cannot say from experience.

The V1 (valve 1) tube is the first tube that your signal passes through. It usually has the most dramatic effect on your overall sound. If I am correct the MTS series uses a universal V1 for the preamps. In other amps that I have had a chance to experiment with I tend to prefer a Tungsol in the V1. I believe my RM4 has one in the V1 spot also, I'd have to double check.

sepherus said:

The V1 (valve 1) tube is the first tube that your signal passes through. It usually has the most dramatic effect on your overall sound. If I am correct the MTS series uses a universal V1 for the preamps. In other amps that I have had a chance to experiment with I tend to prefer a Tungsol in the V1. I believe my RM4 has one in the V1 spot also, I'd have to double check.

Click to expand...

Yes and No all at the same time :lol: V1 in a low gain configuration is probably the most important. In a high gain amp the phase inverter will have a much more profound effect on tone with everything else being equal.

fearnloathing said:

Yes and No all at the same time :lol: V1 in a low gain configuration is probably the most important. In a high gain amp the phase inverter will have a much more profound effect on tone with everything else being equal.

Click to expand...

Really? I notice a pretty big difference with V1 with high gain stuff. I actually tend to notice a bigger difference with the gain channels than the cleans. Granted most of the amps I've owned have been known more for the gain channels than the cleans. (5150, 5152, Trip Rec, Rectoverb, etc) The only exception to that would be the VHT Deliverance, which could do both exceptionally well. I've never played with the PIs though.

sepherus said:

fearnloathing said:

Yes and No all at the same time :lol: V1 in a low gain configuration is probably the most important. In a high gain amp the phase inverter will have a much more profound effect on tone with everything else being equal.

Click to expand...

Really? I notice a pretty big difference with V1 with high gain stuff. I actually tend to notice a bigger difference with the gain channels than the cleans. Granted most of the amps I've owned have been known more for the gain channels than the cleans. (5150, 5152, Trip Rec, Rectoverb, etc) The only exception to that would be the VHT Deliverance, which could do both exceptionally well. I've never played with the PIs though.

Click to expand...

Maybe I used the wrong words. V1 is always important, but I think you notice the biggest tonal change on high gain stuff with the PI, but V1 should always be a quality tube.

I bought some new tubes from tubedepot last night after some recommendations from doug at dougtubes and brian at tubedepot (and quite a lot of researching).
This is for my ENGL Blackmore by the way..
Went with a quad of SED Winged =C= 6L6GCs, a tung-sol 12AX7 for V1, some shuguang/sino 12ax7s for V2 and V3, and a matched/balanced sovtek 12ax7LP for the PI.
Hope it works out well for me! My blackmore is currently fully loaded with JJs (6L6GCs in the poweramp, all ECC83s in the preamp).

fearnloathing said:

sepherus said:

fearnloathing said:

Yes and No all at the same time :lol: V1 in a low gain configuration is probably the most important. In a high gain amp the phase inverter will have a much more profound effect on tone with everything else being equal.

Click to expand...

Really? I notice a pretty big difference with V1 with high gain stuff. I actually tend to notice a bigger difference with the gain channels than the cleans. Granted most of the amps I've owned have been known more for the gain channels than the cleans. (5150, 5152, Trip Rec, Rectoverb, etc) The only exception to that would be the VHT Deliverance, which could do both exceptionally well. I've never played with the PIs though.

Click to expand...

Maybe I used the wrong words. V1 is always important, but I think you notice the biggest tonal change on high gain stuff with the PI, but V1 should always be a quality tube.

Click to expand...

I think you could compare this to putting an EQ in front of the amp or in the loop. Clean there will be more effect before and with high gain more effect in the loop.

With your noisy modules like you describe drop a JJ in the V1 of the module. I run pretty high gain rated preamp tubes in my SL+, but I don't run the gain over 11:00 in them anyway -- see signature disclaimer.

I don't use any gold pin stuff.

I even went back to a JJ ECC83S in V1. I found it less noisy.