Rotosphere tube??

[Nevada240]

What will changing the AX7 in my H&K Rotosphere do to the sound? Anything I can swap to make it less noisy? Thanks

 

[ruger9]

A 12AU7 will make it a little less noisy, but it also changes the way the effect sounds. I went thru this, testing various tubes, and ended up just putting a good 12AX7 back in, and wished I hadn't bothered- because disassembly is a royal PITA.

If you want the Rotosphere to be less hissy, put it in an effects loop (if your amp has one). Otherwise, deal with the hiss to gain all the beautiful glory that is Rotosphere (I've been thru nearly all the roto sims, and the Rotosphere keeps coming out on top, for me)

 

[lefort_1]

Leading Question:
Q: How high are you turning the drive/output, the way it is now?

If your answer is: "way up", then ignore my suggestion. In this case, you'd want to clean-boost your signal a bit before the Rotosphere. That way you can use less of it's internal gain, and you kind of mimic putting it in an amp's effects loop, as suggested above....note: this could throw off your entire pedalchain gain structure, so you might consider tossing the clean-boost/Rotosphere in a little loop, by itself.

For a replacement tube, you want a very good one with an inherent low noise output.
I'd steer completely away from any budget tubes.
At one time, JJ made some pretty good 12ax7's...not sure what their quality is right now...an old Tung-Sol would be great, or maybe a JAN/Sylvania...I'm not going to recommend a NOS Mlllard or Telefunken or any such corksniffer because that'd not be the right application for those tubes, imo.

 

[ruger9]

Oh yeah- another suggestion:

The drive and level are interactive. Try running the drive up around 1:30 and the level down around 10:30. The hiss comes from the level control. The lower you can run the level (and compensate by turning up the drive), the less hiss you'll have.

I run my drive about 2:00 and my level about 10:30 or so, and still have hiss. If you want zero hiss, you'll need to put it in an fx loop.

 

[ifailedshapes]

I can't say that I've ever read about these being used in a Rotosphere, but I have heard some great things about this tube. Might be worth a try.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...g&matchtype=&gclid=CMvQ5eLinLwCFcp_QgodmWoA6Q

 

[zztomato]

A 12AU7 will make it a little less noisy, but it also changes the way the effect sounds. I went thru this, testing various tubes, and ended up just putting a good 12AX7 back in, and wished I hadn't bothered- because disassembly is a royal PITA.

If you want the Rotosphere to be less hissy, put it in an effects loop (if your amp has one). Otherwise, deal with the hiss to gain all the beautiful glory that is Rotosphere (I've been thru nearly all the roto sims, and the Rotosphere keeps coming out on top, for me)

I will echo this. Tried a bunch of different value tubes and finally put the one that came with it from the factory back in. I'd say don't bother doing it but, you probably will anyway. Have fun. Don't break it- there's a very high chance of this.

 

[ruger9]

Don't break it- there's a very high chance of this.

+100 !!! The guitar/keys switch on the back is especially prone to breaking off. BE VERY CAREFUL!!!

 

[Blue Bee]

Been a while since i tried one...Is it noisy even when bypassed/turned off or just when the effect is active?

A 12AU7 will make it a little less noisy, but it also changes the way the effect sounds. I went thru this, testing various tubes, and ended up just putting a good 12AX7 back in, and wished I hadn't bothered- because disassembly is a royal PITA.

If you want the Rotosphere to be less hissy, put it in an effects loop (if your amp has one). Otherwise, deal with the hiss to gain all the beautiful glory that is Rotosphere (I've been thru nearly all the roto sims, and the Rotosphere keeps coming out on top, for me)

 

[peterdjp]

I went thru this, testing various tubes, and ended up just putting a good 12AX7 back in, and wished I hadn't bothered- because disassembly is a royal PITA.

 

[ruger9]

Been a while since i tried one...Is it noisy even when bypassed/turned off or just when the effect is active?

Only when switched on/active, and only when run into the front of an amp; in an fx loop, it's silent. And H&K suggest running it this way in the manual... but I prefer how it sounds in front of the amp. In front, it has something of it's own going on in the coloration/tube drive... in the fx loop, it sounds more generic to me, like the Lex and Vent. (but alot of people would no doubt like that)

 

[Daka3]

My MKII sounds way better out in front of the amp to my ears as well. Best Leslie sim that I've heard. Traded my Neo Ventilator for the HK.

 

[kurt1981]

I'm kind of looking to try another rotosphere, I had one years ago, an't remember was the bypass really that bad? I know it's not TB but is it really noticeable sucking any tone?

 

[ruger9]

I don't think the bypass is bad; I think it adds a bit of tubey fatness (I think I read somewhere that even when bypassed, the signal still goes thru the tube)...

The bypass thing ("tone-suck") doesn't bother me as much as it used to. As long as I have a buffered pedal somewhere in there, it all seems to work out ok. And I can always add a buffer and get back to "zero tone suckage" LOL. I've done that with the HK and it works fine.

 

[Adagietto]

The bypass goes through the input buffers, then to the output jacks. I think that the bypass sounds good, but it noticeably alters the signal.

I usually use the Rotosphere with a blender pedal (parallel looper). The blender allows me to mix the signal down (which also reduces noise) and adds true bypass -- and adds to the required real estate.