What pre amp tubes are you using in your Colonial?

[andyjames]

The title pretty much says it all. I am wondering what kind of pre amp tubes you Colonial users run.

 

I originally purchased it with TAD 6l6's, tung sol 12ax7s in V1, jj ecc83s 12ax7s in V2 and PI.

 

Today I switched biased a pair of JJ el34s in the power section and swapped the JJecc83s into the V1 and stuck the tung sols in the PI and it made my amps tone SO MUCH better. I was considering selling my Colonial, because of the boomy mids and low end. The mood switch just made everything sound fuzzy and was way off. I literally had all of the EQ switches turned down around 11 just so it wouldnt sound ice-picky. Since the change, the amp as a whole is much tighter sounding and has just the right amount of break up. The pre amp swap is what really made the difference though.

 

So I figure since pre amp tubes can affect tone that much, I can make my tone EVEN BETTER by experimenting with diff kinds, which is why I want to know what you run in yours.

 

Thanks,

Andy

 

 

[andyjames]

Bumpadoodle.

[kbp810]

Well, you could get all sorts of different opinions on this; but I think you've already got the right idea - do some experimenting for yourself! Tubes vary quite a bit, and what works well for someone in one amp, might not fair so well for another in the same. If you have the time, patience, and resources to do so, grab a few different sets of tubes and start rolling away.

 

I've lost many an evening sitting at home with a good amp, a glass of scotch, and a stash of tubes

 

As far as what I use; it still varies, and I still roll tubes for each build to get a set that sounds good and behaves best (low noise/microphonics); for modern tubes I find reliability and consistency in Sovteks, I do like the LPS in most amps, and the wa's when I need a tube in a spot that will just "work" and work well. I am also a fan of the Tung Sol reissues. I have personally had bad luck with JJ preamp tubes... too many bad out of the box and/or fails during burn ins. (JJ seems to make solid power tubes though). As far a NOS tubes go... that used to be one of my favorite hobbies; but just keeps getting harder and harder to find tubes stil worth buying, and at what cost. Easy to think your buying gold, only to plug the tube in to find noise, microphonics, week sound, short lifespan, etc... I once had an entire window ledge filled with "good" tubes that didn't make my cut (new and old).

[212Mavguy]

+1