The Budda Rises Again

[Gearaddict]

After a mild trashing of my SD30II, I invested in a total re tube after one of the preamp tubes failed. Ruby 12AX7ACZ HG+ #1, jjEC83 S #2 and #3 and a quartet of jj EL84's. Wow! The amp sounds 10 times better than it did new. The 5u4 rectifier is orig. My amp just sings and finally I have found the true potential of this amp. I am floored beyond belief. Tons more volume and airiness as well as some gorgeous chime and jangle. All that through a single V-30 cab and mim strat with area pups. I am a HAPPY man again!!!!

 

[wolfpack]

What happened to the "design flaw" ?

 

[halfnote]

What happened to the "design flaw" ?

Its on vacation right now... It should be back in a week.

 

[Gearaddict]

What happened to the "design flaw" ?

Still there. jj, ruby and only one other preamp tube will fit. Thats ok, cause this thing screams with this tube compliment.

OK, I'm eating my words..... sorry. It was frustrating that it shipped out with tubes that never fully functioned. Now that it has decent tubes, this thing is a tone beast.

 

[El Caballo]

Still there. jj, ruby and only one other preamp tube will fit. Thats ok, cause this thing screams with this tube compliment.

OK, I'm eating my words..... sorry. It was frustrating that it shipped out with tubes that never fully functioned. Now that it has decent tubes, this thing is a tone beast.

I've never heard of fat tubes before.....Hmmmmm.....you know that it was designed (although apparently flawed) to use Sovtek's right. I've tried just about every tube config out there, I ALWAYS go back to the spec'd tubes........hmmmmm....guess the designer at least knew what he was doing in that aspect.

 

[Gearaddict]

Sovteks will not fit in mine. Check your amp to see that they are seated firmly in the sockets. My original tubes were half out of the sockets. You cant tell with the covers on them. Try the tubes I installed next time you retube. The jj power tubes were a hardness rating of 31. I like the Ruby HGin v1 and jj12ax7 in the other two spots.

 

[buddastrat]

I've used all kinds of tubes in my old SD30 and SD80. EH, Mullards, JJ, Sovteks... Never had any problems. They seemed to fit right.

 

[Ricker]

Sovteks all the way for me too.....I've had Sd18 Sd30 and still got Sd80....They fit perfectly...

 

[playsarobin]

Good to hear you're getting along with it.. Frustration drives us mad, quite literally all too often. This is just what happens when artists take things that hinder the creative process personally.. Heck, most of the threads here deal with this in one form or another.

I'm determined this will be the amp I buy. It's just out of my price range. Haven't found anything other than tones i love online. I just need to play one in person with my guitar to confirm...

 

[El Caballo]

Can you post a pic of your tube sockets......something doesn't add up, or I'm not understanding you and the "fat tube issue". Your particular Budda has circut-board-mounted tube sockets for the preamp, and chassis mounted power tube sockets. They're all built exactly the same.....they have to be. If there is a build issue, (1) yours is the first I've heard of and, (2) you might contact Peavey/Budda to replace it. Furthermore the chassis are all built the same for the holes to match the same spec'd board mounted tube sockets. That means that not only the circut board is messed up, but the chassis would have to be messed up too.

 

[axelfoley]

I don't know anything about the budda but there are definitely fat el84 tubes. Groove tubes wooldnt fit in my badcat. Found that out the hard way when one shattered in my hand.