12ax7

[scottmandue]

Just bought one of these to use as a DI for my bass when I play direct into the board.



And as you might have guessed it uses a 12AX7

I know we have some vintage guitar players and bottle heads on the board, any recommendations on tubes to try in this little guy?

I'm thinking the Groove Tube reissue of the original Mullard design might be interesting.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Just bought one of these to use as a DI for my bass when I play direct into the board.



And as you might have guessed it uses a 12AX7

I know we have some vintage guitar players and bottle heads on the board, any recommendations on tubes to try in this little guy?

I'm thinking the Groove Tube reissue of the original Mullard design might be interesting.

I don't think it is going to make that much difference. There is plenty of IC in the way of the signal, so the amount of color you get from the tube is arguable. As long as the tube isn't noisy I doubt you'll notice much of a difference.

My Ashdown has a tube preamp, but it is part of a whole system (eq, power amp, and my speaker cab). My direct setup of choice is a Great River ME-1NV preamp (not tube) into a Summit Audio TLA-50 Tube Leveler (12ax7) then into the board. But I could also run the Great River all alone...I think it sounded better than a tube Avalon 737 (which I sold).

Isn't most everything Chinese these days, with maybe some Russian stuff around? It's been awhile since I was into worrying about tubes (when I had my Bogner, Boogies and old Fenders) but even 15 years ago Groove Tubes were just relabeled Chinese stuff.

[WolfeMacleod]

Telefunken
Mullard
Electro-Harmonix
Amperex
Tung-Sol

[FrayAdjacent911]

I scored a set of NOS Sylvania 12AX7 tubes a few years ago. Didn't make too much of a difference on the tone...

In the future, I plan on building a completely tube preamp and power amp... probably 18W, run it through a nice 1X12 cabinet with a nice Celestion Vintage 30 in it...

[IROC]

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

Telefunken
Mullard
Electro-Harmonix
Amperex
Tung-Sol

I'd kill for an NOS Mullard 12AX7 (ECC83). Very pricey. For new production stuff, I like the Tung Sol reissues and, believe it or not, Electro-Harmonix.

I really doubt you'd see much difference, though.

[Sonic dB]

I dont know that much about different tube brands.... however I had
some Svetlana's 6L6 in my 93 Fender Tweed Deville... and they were way too
squeeky clean, totally killed the amps sound...

So I replaced them with GTs and the sound is now totally back and the amp
rocks.... It was amazing what the tube change meant to getting this amp
back to the way Fender designed it.

Scott how do you like the presonus mic preamp? are you happy with the sound?

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Sonic dB

Scott how do you like the presonus mic preamp? are you happy with the sound?

Don't know yet, I ordered it online and it is being delivered next week. I'm going to plug my bass into the preamp, also ordered the the Presonus compressor COMP16 that I will feed with the preamp (had a built in compressor on an Ampeg amp and I loved what it did for the sound of the bass) send the balanced output of the COMP16 out to the board and the mono out to a Presonus headphone amp that I will use as my monitor.
My keyboard player teases me that my 70s vintage Fender Jazz bass sounds to twangy (says it sounds like I'm playing the ukulele ). The preamp/compressor/ headphone amp will also double nicely as an silent (to my neighbors) electric bass practice rig.

Originally Posted by nostatic

Isn't most everything Chinese these days, with maybe some Russian stuff around? It's been awhile since I was into worrying about tubes (when I had my Bogner, Boogies and old Fenders) but even 15 years ago Groove Tubes were just relabeled Chinese stuff.

Haven't kept up with the tubes either for several years but heard the same thing. Although last time I checked in on tube world I seem to remember that whoever builds GT's tube does so to there spec. they are not just relabled off the shelf tubes.

So my plan is to plug my bass into this:



Plug that preamp into this:



Send the output of that to the board and to this:



And no I don't work for Presonus, just heard good things about their product.

[nostatic]

This is the *****:



http://www.summitaudio.com/tla-50-amplifier.htm

And I like this better than any tube pre I've played through in awhile:



Not cheap though. The TLA-50 is worth every penny imho. The GR is less bang for the buck, but I use it as a mic preamp and also as a direct box for bass and guitar.

[stuartj]

i use good ole EH. As i understand it just about everything Chinese amde these days, and the boutique guys are just re-branding. But I could be wrong...

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by IROC

I'd kill for an NOS Mullard 12AX7 (ECC83). Very pricey. For new production stuff, I like the Tung Sol reissues and, believe it or not, Electro-Harmonix.

I really doubt you'd see much difference, though.

I Danville, VA, there is a small, almost decrepid electrical parts store what has boxes and boxes, 1000's of VERY old tubes of all types.

I think they're called "State Electronics" but I'm not sure...

Last time I was there, I made a few good scores.