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Hi Josh , just signing off for the night and saw this coincidentally . I have hundreds of 12ax7's here. My favorite 12ax7's are RFT's and 80's Yugo's .. They sound awesome in here.. I don't remember what the tube positions are as I did this 1-2 years ago , but I thought it told in the manual? RCa's sound great in it as do Mullards, and the above-mentioned tubes. I do remember 1 position (probably the 1st) being very susceptible to microphonics so it had to be a really lo-noise tube. I'm not a huge fan of current JJ, EH, Chinese, or any Sovteks , so I can't really tell you what you'd like better out of those!! I think Roccaforte has posted something similar before, but preamp tube advice on the internet is pretty useles.. EVERY SINGLE PREAMP tube should sound a bit different , and the only way to find the magical combinations is by experimenting.. That said, I still really don't like JJ's, EH's, or Sovteks unfortunately . Best of luck
. Like Eric I also love the old RFT ecc83 -- but only in the last slot and not all the time; it can be a bit too full in some cases. I'm not sure if the Power Amp is using one of the triodes of the last tube or of the 3rd tube, but I'm pretty sure it's the 4th tube. The Power Amp took me a lot of time to get excited about -- it takes time to find the right balance between everything else (at least how I've been using the Pedaltone). But man, I've had a few surprising discoveries with that feature. Just gotta work with it and use it judiciously. Someone in this post said "feather it in" and I think that's a totally acurate way to think about using it.
Hey cool post Shaman. Thanks.. I have too many amps to keep track of all my current tube situations without backtracking. What I've typically done with my amps and tubes is: when I get the amp and decide it's a keeper for me (with no tube planning) , but I know some qualities that some of my tubes will help with , then I'll experiment using my gut instincts. IF/WHEN I find a configuration I'm really happy with , I STOP MY EXPERIMENTING.. These days anyway! I found it can be an ongoing situation turning into neurosis, or once you're really happy.. STOP. That's worked for me for the past few years.... One preamp tube I have NOT owned is Brimars.. Just luck of the draw, as I have loads of others. Have always heard excellent comments on them tho.. I also have never owned (or even heard of Siemens preamp tubes.. I have 8-10 of their el34's though and they're great . Anyway, with that pedal , unless I'm mistaken and there was a guide to which tube did which, I'd pull a tube, try the footswitch and if it didn't work , know that that tube was associated with that switch. No damage caused that way typically when dealing with pre tubes. ........ Shaman , are you a fan of GE or RCA 12ay7's from the 50's and 60's? Though I'm a diehard hi-gain guy 80% of the time, those tubes are just so tasty sounding, so creamy and in certain situations they can help hi-gain amps, or really cream up med-gain situations. Good luck Josh and have funOriginally posted by Shaman
Hey Josh, Eric, et al:
Great to see other Pedaltone users here! I've had mine for almost two years now and couldn't live without it, but I have to say I've used it mostly in front of a VOX Valvetronix and listening through headphones out the VOX. My VOX has gone tits up so over the last few weeks I've also plugged it through a Line6 GuitarPort (with GP's preamp disabled and either one of the cab sims or bypassed). Lately I've even found a great tube combination that works well to get a good headphone sound out the Pedaltone itself (not it's strong out option, but serviceable).
In any case, Josh, to answer your question, the last tube so far as I've been able to figure out is mostly for the last stage out (the master volume I think it's called -- don't have it in front of me and I gave up reading the labels a year ago!
I believe the first slot is the one designated for the low noise tube, no? It's exclusively for the clean channel and that'd make sense you want a low-noise tube in there. But I could be wrong.
Like Eric I also love swapping out tubes, so I've tried probably at least 60 different tubes, mostly NOS (both 12ax7 types and 12at7 types are suitable). However, for slot 2 and 3 (the OD and OD boost I believe respectively) I think Mullards are your best bet. They are NOS and more expensive, but usually no more than the latest GT M's (the Mullard copy) -- last I checked anyway. I have no experience with the GT 12ax7M's. The Mullards are just great when wound up to distort. Perhaps a little warm, so for the Boost I use a NOS Siemens E83CC (a "special" quality 12ax7) -- it's a little clearer and smoother, but doesn't have the growl like the Mullard. The two work very well together.
My current tube compliment: 1 - 1962 Raytheon 12ax7; 2 - 1959 Mullard 12ax7; 3 - Siemens E83CC; 4 - Brimar 6060. The Brimar has been a real surprise -- it's a 12at7 type so the gain structure is lower than a 12ax7, but it has a nice neutral yet dimensional quality to it. The RFT I usally have in pos 4 is ballsy and great for beefing things up; but for a more focused tone (especially w/the OD channel(s)), this Brimar is super cool in the last position.
Sorry for the long post -- I'm just so jazzed about the Pedaltone (still after 2 years). IMHO it takes a lot of time to really master it, but given the right tubes, there's an almost endless supply of varied and cool tones. But most definitely you should swap out the Sovteks. I actually liked the JJ in slot 2 for awhile, and the gold plate EI might go well in the clean channel or in slot 4. If NOS are out of the question personally I'd try the GT M's in either 2, 3 or both -- if they are close to Mullards it'd should be rockin'.
Cheers!
I actually had settled on a good set that worked well in my setup, but then my setup has temporarily changed, and so I decided to try to get a great sound out of just the headphone out of the pedaltone (not it's best feature) for simple/quiet practice, so I dug back into the tube stash. Hmmm. I'd say the cleans are more a cross between Twin and Mesa with a hint of Tweed if you plug it with RCA tubes, while the dirt is maybe more a cross between Marshall and Mesa. But, rather than try to describe it here's a clip that I copped from one of the old Guitarist magazine CDs years ago -- it's the clip that convinced me to buy the Pedaltone. I had emailed the Guitarist reviewer that reviewed it and played on the clip and he said he recalled most of it being recorded direct out with a few of the lead lines running through an amp. Yes, the PT can get these sounds, even running direct, but it sounds great through an amp:Since there aren't many clips of the Pedaltone out there, could some of you owners please describe the kinds of tones you can get from the device?
I've heard that the cleans are similar to a JC-120, and from another source that they are somewhat Ampeg-ish. Which is it (or does the unit do both), and can it also get in the vicinity of a Twin or other Fender clean?
Are the OD tones along the lines of a Marshall, Mesa, Soldano, Dumble, etc (or can it cop more than one of those sounds?) Is it capable of producing a dynamic low/medium gain tone or does it compress too quickly?
Thanks.
