advice on valves/tubes malarky

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:01 pm

Hi guys

I recently managed to snag a used Hot Rod Deluxe for a good price. It plays awesome and sounds really lush, however occasionally there's a bit of noisy feedback coming through the amp. It's the amp itself, since it can make this noise without guitars/pedals plugged in.

Anyway, i've cleaned all of the pots and what not and made sure they aren't affecting this noise, all ok. After a quick google i found it might actually be the tubes needing to be replaced. Which seems logical considering this is now a 2 year old amp.

If you scroll down to hot rod deluxe, i've been looking at these

but i'm not sure if that's a worthwhile purchase. My local guitar shop stocks groovetubes and mesa tubes, though really i'm just looking for a bit of direction!

thanks!
Paul

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:09 pm

jj are really good tubes IMO. but the sound isn't gonna be massively different either way

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:15 pm

So that Â£51.40 pack from hotrox seems reasonable?

2x 6L6 JJ
3x ecc83 JJ

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:18 pm

try cleaning the pins on the tubes with rubbing alcohol.

tubes can last a lot longer than than 2 years. I have a 40 year old amp with the original tubes. sounds fine.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:42 pm

Yeah, do that- and also try swapping around the preamp tubes- you may have a slightly duff one that will work ok as a phase inverter (normally the preamp tube closest to the power tubes).

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:11 pm

I'll give that a go. The noise is totally bearable and i've went a whole gig without anything.. so it's a non-issue really.

It's not so much the noise i'm looking to resolve here, just my weak knowledge of tubes and valves.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:17 pm

my hot rod does it too, a faint crackly noise on occasion. it's never bothered me particularly, i've played through much worse!

foofoo982 · Post by **foofoo982** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:54 pm

I have a Hot Rod Deville, but they're pretty similar amps. I love my amp with JAN-Phillips 5751s in the preamp section because it smooths out the gain stage a lot more and smooths response. With SED 6L6GC's the amp sounds great.

Dogma Hollow · Post by **Dogma Hollow** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 5:19 pm

I have a Hotrod DeVille as well. It had Groove Tubes in it when I got it, and lacked some of the depth and clarity that I wanted, which has been my experience with Groove Tubes. It's not a huge difference, but it was noticeable to me.

So I got the Normal Clean High Gain Lead package of JJs from Eurotubes. Sounds nice now. But you said you like the tone you have, so no reason to change tubes for tone if you're happy with it, obviously.

For tubes to go bad after 2 years is a little odd, but it's possible there's just a shit one in there causing a problem I guess. Like a preamp tube going microphonic or something. I'd try doing what Mage suggested and giving all the contacts a good cleaning, plus check for any loose contacts as well. If it still makes noise, you can hit up the guys at Eurotubes with the problem and see what they say. Probably they'll tell you to take it to someplace local, but if that's a common tube-related problem, they'll have heard it before.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:19 pm

I'd stay away from GT and Mesa. You end up paying more than you have to for very little. Mesas are fine, but no better than a cheap Sino tube. GTs wear fast (for me, at least).

JJs have an excellent reputation for durability/sound. Sovteks are also reliable and a touch cheaper.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:31 pm

For preamp and effect tubes, I like to buy old radios and tv sets and salvage whatever 12ax/au/at/ay7 I can out of them. I particularly like the old Seimens and Electrohomes. Often, a <$10 purchase will yeild 4 or 5 useable tubes.

For power and rectification, I've always found the Sovtek product to strike a good balance between performance, durability and cost.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:55 pm

SOVTEK 4 EVA

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:37 pm

wow guys, thanks for the response.

I've cleaned up the pins, not noticed a difference really. going to give these tubes a battering for a few more months then look into buying fresh ones.

toez10 · Post by **toez10** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:20 pm

JJ's are a great standard to go by. Not too pricy, and really good quality. No need to spend 300 bucks on NOS mullards.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:30 pm

laterallateral wrote:For preamp and effect tubes, I like to buy old radios and tv sets and salvage whatever 12ax/au/at/ay7 I can out of them. I particularly like the old Seimens and Electrohomes. Often, a <$10 purchase will yeild 4 or 5 useable tubes.

Aaargh!

Please sell me a small mains transformer, 6.3V + 150V and only about 5VA? to drive an ECC83 and an ECH81.

I can't believe how much old valve gear gets trashed in the US. It's like rocking horse shit over here now.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:57 pm

NickS wrote:
laterallateral wrote:For preamp and effect tubes, I like to buy old radios and tv sets and salvage whatever 12ax/au/at/ay7 I can out of them. I particularly like the old Seimens and Electrohomes. Often, a <$10 purchase will yeild 4 or 5 useable tubes.
Aaargh!

Please sell me a small mains transformer, 6.3V + 150V and only about 5VA? to drive an ECC83 and an ECH81.

I can't believe how much old valve gear gets trashed in the US. It's like rocking horse shit over here now.

Theres this old electronics shop in Lincoln run by this 300 year old guy, they have a lot of old stuff in. Someone from my missus's studio went there for some preamp valves and the guy pulled out these NOS brimar and mullard valves that still had the price on them in old money. He bought about two dozen at 25p each or something ridiculous. They had a load of germanium transistors in last time i was there (never thought to ask for valves

), i keep meaning to go back..

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:13 am

NickS wrote:Please sell me a small mains transformer, 6.3V + 150V and only about 5VA? to drive an ECC83 and an ECH81.

Errm, it would have to have a 220 or 240v input tap.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:17 am

Fran wrote:Theres this old electronics shop in Lincoln run by this 300 year old guy, they have a lot of old stuff in. Someone from my missus's studio went there for some preamp valves and the guy pulled out these NOS brimar and mullard valves that still had the price on them in old money. He bought about two dozen at 25p each or something ridiculous. They had a load of germanium transistors in last time i was there (never thought to ask for valves ), i keep meaning to go back..

Hmm, it's a bit of a step from Long Eaton to Lincoln just to see whether he has any suitable transformers, but....