Mixing preamp tubes - Vox AC15CC1

[mkt3000]

I took this amp in a trade over the weekend, and I like it. I know some consider it to be the ugly duckling of the Vox range, but after replacing Power amp tubes with a set of reissue Mullards (no NOS money here) and doing the bright cap mod (removed completely), it's a perfectly fine amp.

Right now it's got a set of JJ's in the preamp, but I've got a few spare tubes in that family at home from when I experimented with my Kustom Defender.

Namely a Sovtek 12AX7, a JJ 12DW7, an EHX 12AY7, and an EHX 12AT7. I might get a set of Tung Sols later and go more traditionally Vox, but for now I want to play with what I have available to me at home.

I was thinking of dropping the 12AY7 into the V1 slot and try to increase the clean headroom, and play around with the 12DW7, since that's just a weird tube, and I'm curious how it'll react.

But if anyone has any suggestions I'm listening

[SGJarrod]

for V1 I would go 5751 for more clean headroom... the 12at7 will cut out some of the mids....the 5751 sounds almost identical to a 12ax7 with just 30% less gain.

I recently put a 5751 in V1 on my TH30 and it has a much better clean and takes pedals well now.....

[Billy3000]

I've never played with a 5751 tube before but I put a 12au7 in place of a 12ax7 in the amp I built and it really added a noticeable amount of clean headroom.

I've been toying with the idea of putting new tubes in my new ac15 as well, I love the amp, but I'm sure I'll be even happier with better tubes seeing as how I usually always hate chinese tubes and that's what it comes with stock. I was considering either the mullard reissues or the JJ's for power tubes, good to hear that you like the mullards!

[SGJarrod]

check the gain rating chart on the rightside of this PAGE.

It shows all of the tubes gain ratings to help pick whats best for you. Obviously less gain = more clean headroom; but in most case these will change your tone too

[mkt3000]

Final Verdict - JJ 12DW7 in V1 and JJ 12AX7 in V2 = the secks.