What new tubes to select?

[Longgone]

I have a Marshall 6101 combo amp that takes 4-EL34`s and 7-12AX7`s. The power tubes were trashed in transit and I`m guessing the preamp tubes aren`t much better. I`d like to replace all of the tubes with some readily available OTC tubes. I`ve read through about 5 pages of threads on tubes and I`m not interested in tracking down NOS Mullards and paying a kings ransom for them. What would be a good quality set of new tubes that won`t break the bank? Winged C``s, JJ`s, Ruby`s, TAD`s, EH`s, Groove Tubes, etc.? I know I may get as many opinions as favorite colors, but if I find one that repeats enough, that will be my choice. Thanks.

[StringSkunk]

I have always bought JJ's when I needed to replace tubes and from what I have found they are very reliable and sound pretty good. Definitely reasonably priced too.

[Stratobuc]

Agree - JJ's for new production.

[Gargoyle]

I lean towards the Winged "C" over the JJ's...

[Ken Moon]

For the 12AX7's, the JJs are a good tube. The new production Tung-Sols are very nice too. I also like the EH 12AX7, which you can usually get for about $4 less each than the JJ or Tung-Sol.

Maybe you could buy 3 of each, and do a little tube swapping until it sounds best :JAM

I like the Winged C EL34 for the power tubes.

[frquent flyer]

I bought a set of NOS power tubes for the two amps that I have and although subtle ,they made a difference. For new tubes ,I prefer Tung sols.JJ's are good in some amps but not in all. They fit the Vox that I owned but not the Victorias.

[Blue Strat]

Winged C EL34s, Tung Sol Reissue 12aX7s.

[Scott Whigham]

I have a Marshall 6101 combo amp that takes 4-EL34`s and 7-12AX7`s. The power tubes were trashed in transit and I`m guessing the preamp tubes aren`t much better. I`d like to replace all of the tubes with some readily available OTC tubes. I`ve read through about 5 pages of threads on tubes and I`m not interested in tracking down NOS Mullards and paying a kings ransom for them. What would be a good quality set of new tubes that won`t break the bank? Winged C``s, JJ`s, Ruby`s, TAD`s, EH`s, Groove Tubes, etc.? I know I may get as many opinions as favorite colors, but if I find one that repeats enough, that will be my choice. Thanks.Welcome to the club :) I have a wonderful 6101 as well :)

I did what you didn't want to do - got a bunch of NOS Mullards for it. I gotta say that it didn't make as big of a difference as I expected. In my Two-Rock and my Pro Reverb it made a massive difference but not as much in my Marshall for whatever reason. I haven't tried the Winged C 34s like Mike suggested but the reissue Tung-Sol 12AX7s sound great in it.

[VanR]

Definitely Ruby EL34B's.

[RackCrew]

1. What guitar(s) are you using?
2. What are your general amp settings?
3. Do you use stomp boxes or other processing?
4. How many hours a week do you use the amp?
5. What type of music do you play?

[Longgone]

1. What guitar(s) are you using?
2. What are your general amp settings?
3. Do you use stomp boxes or other processing?
4. How many hours a week do you use the amp?
5. What type of music do you play?

1. `90 PRS Custom 24
2. 3 channel amp set clean, crunchy, dirty. Master and channel volume is relative to the room usually about 12 o`clock but as much as 3 o`clock. Gain from 12-2 o`clock, EQ generally 10-2, treble generally lower as the amp is quite bright, bass generally higher
3. No stomp boxes but I do use a Chandler rack delay through the FX loop
4. 12-16 sometimes as much as 24
5. Rock, 60`s to present

[RackCrew]

Winged C EL34 & Tung-Sol 12AX7 or TAD EL34B & Sovtek 12AX7.
The Winged C will give you the cleaner sound and the TAD will give you more punch.

[wingobingo]

I recently went with a matched pair of SED "winged C". Initially, they sounded great and were low noise, however they produced mechanical noise after 1 month. I've just ordered a pair of Tung-Sol reissues since I think they have welded plates (is this correct?) Combo amps are harsh on new production tubes.

[Longgone]

While going through some old boxes of my fathers I found several 12ax7s including a Telefunken, 2 Mullards, and 4 RCAs. I also found 2 RCA 6l6s and 2 Realistic 6l6s. I thought I`d play around a little bit with some of these tubes and see what sort of tones come from them.

[Blue Strat]

While going through some old boxes of my fathers I found several 12ax7s including a Telefunken, 2 Mullards, and 4 RCAs. I also found 2 RCA 6l6s and 2 Realistic 6l6s. I thought I`d play around a little bit with some of these tubes and see what sort of tones come from them.


Caution:
Don't try substituting the 6L6s for EL34s. They'll work, but the bias is likely set WAY too hot for them and they won't live very long.

[Doug's Tubes]

RUBY EL34BSTR's!

[Longgone]

Caution:
Don't try substituting the 6L6s for EL34s. They'll work, but the bias is likely set WAY too hot for them and they won't live very long.

No, I`m not going there. I`m just going to experiment with different preamp tubes in the various positions, V1, V2, and phase splitter.

[Longgone]

I installed a set of 4 Winged C`s in the power section and then set about trying a variation of preamp tubes. It`s amazing the difference in tone, color, brightness, harmonics, and musicality there is in different tubes. I tried out a myriad of new and used tubes including vintage Telefunken, RCA, and Mullard plus newer JJ, Sovtek, Electro Harmonics, Ruby, Groove Tubes, and some proprietary Marshall tubes. I finally ended up with a Telefunken in the V1 position, an EH in the V2 positions and a JJ in the phase splitter and remaining preamp positions. The Telefunken in the V1 position seemed to just do everything right, it was thick, musical, and articulate plus rich in harmonics with great sustain The Mullards were also very musical but didn`t have enough "umph" for me. The RCA`s were quite articulate and difficult to make break up. When they did the sound was very dark and seemed to lack upper midrange. The JJ`s were very nice with a lot of clean gain but seem to excel even more in the phase splitter and later gain stages of the amp. The EH was at home in the V2 position as it broke up quickly and remained musical. The down side was that the tubes were kind of noisy, but not so bad that I can`t live with it. The Russian Groove Tube and Sovtek had similar characteristics of the EH. As the amp is outfitted now, channel one produces some very nice rich, clean, and smooth tone with the Telefunken and just enough bite when pushed. Channel two brings in the pair of EH`s and crunch is king. Channel three and things get nasty, as the channels are cascaded the gain is insane. I`ve been amazed at the change in my amp just by swapping preamp tubes. This is something I will likely tinker with for a long time to come. I`m far from done with this amp and I`ve got another one with 5881`s that I can`t wait to get started on.

[Longgone]

I`ve got another amp with 5881`s and I was thinking of going with 6L6`s in it instead. Would I have to change anything to accomplish this?