pre-amp tubes in the mods

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Johnny Wadd

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Hey Fellow MTS'rs,
Is there a "rule of thumb" for preamp tubes (type,placement, etc)
Any brand really make a difference ?
I know the power amp tubes make a difference, just wondering what the schools of thought there are out there on this topic.
 
Hello Johnny,
Different tubes do make a difference. Popular around here is the usual current production stuff like JJ's, Tung-Sol, gold lion, and EH. Also feel free to try 12au7s and 12at7s for less saturated tones in v1. Of course there is the NOS stuff that is pretty killer, personally like EI, Mullard and especially RCA for fender and high gain tones. Best practice is to get ahold of a few different brands and "roll" them to find combos you like in v1 and v2, and remember that just cause something sounds good in one module, may sound sub par in another.
 
One thing I noticed when I was swapping tubes around in my modules was changes in V1 seemed to make more difference than V2. In some modules, the swaps were night and day difference and some were more subtle but V1 was always more of a difference to me.
 
lol sorry, i didnt post that 3 times on purpose.. lol
im jsut impatient and keep hitting the submit button whn it moves to slow... lol
but seriously, thanks for the feedback.

Question - is it common to put a 5751 in the V1 spot on the module? I know people do it in the power amp section.
 
Johnny Wadd said:
Question - is it common to put a 5751 in the V1 spot on the module? I know people do it in the power amp section.

I'm sure people have. My (personal) general rule of thumb is Ruby HG+ 12AX7 in V1 for gain modules.
 
How about clean/low gain ? Is there a preference for you?
I'm just. looking for a starting point, I'm going to buy some tubes and wanted a good direction.
So 12AX7 in v1 for high gainers..
 
Johnny Wadd said:
How about clean/low gain ? Is there a preference for you?
I'm just. looking for a starting point, I'm going to buy some tubes and wanted a good direction.
So 12AX7 in v1 for high gainers..

Again, these are my personal preferences.

If you want a really pristine clean, you can go with a 12AT7. I generally find an EH 12AX7 to work fine in the cleans.

FWIW, I find pretty much any working tube does the job in V2.
 
Johnny Wadd said:
Question - is it common to put a 5751 in the V1 spot on the module? I know people do it in the power amp section.

I don't know how common it is but I have used a 5751 in the V1 spot of modules. Gainy or clean depending on what I wanted to change on the module.

Works great on the cleaner modules to add headroom or to calm a gainy mod for a more usable range on the gain knob or to take them down to a nice mid gain type of tone.
 
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