Re-Tubed my HRDlx

[jazzrat]

I don't pretend to be any kind of amp guru.

I've been using a U.S. made (as opposed to MIM) Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for years.

I bought it new when they first came out and it has served me well.

I hate the drive channel but it has that nice Fender clean going as a base tone to

use with pedals.

 

Recently decided to re-tube the thing. I did not want to mess with re-biasing.

Turns out Torres Engineering has a matched tube set for the Hot Rod series.

Supposedly you don't have to set the bias...same speil Groove Tubes says.

At any rate they sound terrific. Less noise floor by quite a bit and more headroom.

Really lovin' the old amp again.

 

http://www.torresengineering.com/bfotusetfory.html

[GuitArtMan]

Glad you like them and they worked for you. Torres has a list of complaints almost as long as the Edna Romaono guy... My amp tech said he became an amp tech cause Torres fu@#ed up a couple of his amps. Glad these are working for you.

[jazzrat]

Yikes! Guess I lucked out 'cause this is working great.

[212Mavguy]

I really enjoyed reading his book "Inside Tube Amps," a very well written and easily understandable read. Makes confusing stuff simple, written at about a 9th grade level. Great!

[slider313]

Yikes! Guess I lucked out 'cause this is working great.

 

Torres didn't make the tubes, he just sells them at a premium. Those Tung Sol 5881's are my favorite new production 6L6 type. They sound great in almost any amp that uses 6L6 type tubes and sound very close to the original.

[jazzrat]

Torres didn't make the tubes, he just sells them at a premium

 

Yup Tung Sol's and a mix of preamp tubes. The price was a little higher than I could have gotten them elsewhere

but I am no tube expert and it seemed like they did their homework and put together

a nice package. It sounds like a million bucks and is quiet as a mouse

[erictheweasel]

Yup Tung Sol's and a mix of preamp tubes. The price was a little higher than I could have gotten them elsewhere

but I am no tube expert and it seemed like they did their homework and put together

a nice package. It sounds like a million bucks and is quiet as a mouse

 

 

I've always had good luck with Bob Pletka at Eurotubes. Of course, all he sells are JJ's. But he does sell combos for specific amps.

[pushover]

I've always had good luck with Bob Pletka at Eurotubes. Of course, all he sells are JJ's. But he does sell combos for specific amps.

 

Ditto.. I bought a set from him for my Bravo.. and they really make it sound awesome.. not that is sounded bad before. One of the things I like about Bob is that he wants to hear from you about what you play and the sound you're looking for. Then based on that he will try and select a set of tubes to match what you want given the amp. The tubes I got from him were more of a blues set, and it really toned down the outrageous overdrive from the original tubes.

 

Based on this experience, and based on experiences with Erik the Viking I've decided that spending some time explaining yourself to a good amp guy makes all the difference, and can make your amp shine.