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Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 8:17 pm
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25 years from now, I wonder if tubes will still be around for the common folk. Just think, Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH: price $199, 2 for $375. I would probably have to go solid state, plug a solid state device in the hole where a 6L6 tube used to be. Oh well, probably be too old to play anyhow.


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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 6:52 pm
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rjake wrote:
25 years from now, I wonder if tubes will still be around for the common folk. Just think, Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH: price $199, 2 for $375. I would probably have to go solid state, plug a solid state device in the hole where a 6L6 tube used to be. Oh well, probably be too old to play anyhow.


Well I'll agree with you that at the current rate of inflation of valve prices they will be high, really high. We can stop it now. All we need to do is educate a few people.
All any company wants us to do is to not discern between what they tell us and what our ears tell us.

Why is 80's gear getting such a good rep all of a sudden? I was there and it was bloody horrible then. Has it matured over time? No there were a few good things that have been dissected to infinity so everyone can say well we use blahh blahh component that was used in yadda yadda to give you that sound. It's utter nonsense. Just because a pedal, amp or guitar used a certain component there were a million other things contributing to the overall sound too. You can buy as many old Brimar's as you like, your never going to get a peavey to sound like a super group 100. The fabled JRC chip that green overdrive pedal owners everywhere rave about and say it's the source of their drive sound. Dont realize that Vox were using the same chip for their Chorus pedals too, as well as phasers and a million other pedals. All it did was process a set of commands fed into it by other components better than anything else that was around at the time. Not saying it didnt work, it did. But why?
We as players need to get away from falling for popular misconception and falling for advertising slogans and get back to trusting our ears as to what sounds good. After all thats what our predecessors did when new stuff was released.

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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 7:12 pm
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Good point Niki. No matter how old or "classic" they get, I'll still hate 3 bolt Strats.


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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 3:29 am
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Groove Tubes did not make any tubes but they test and select best tubes from all company.

It's worth the price.

Because quality controls are very poor on new tubes today.

Mesa do about the same on their tubes.


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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 6:14 am
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When Groove Tubes first entered the scene, I thought it was a great idea to get pre-tested tubes. It was tough to find one of those old tube tester machines that you used to see in grocery stores. Last one that I used was at a Radio Shack in Washington State when I was in the service in the early 80's. I cross-trained into electronics about the mid 80's and the only tubes the USAF was using were NOS in their HF radio.

My experience with Groove Tubes hasn't been all that great. It could have been just the era, but GT have been the only power tubes to completely fail on me. This has happened several times. I also have had crappy sounding and microphonic GT preamp tubes. The extra few bucks that you pay for them was to eliminate or lessen this problem I thought. I would love to try their 6L6GE tube but with past experience and the availability of other company tested tubes, I haven't pulled the trigger on their premium price. I still use their preamp tubes if that's all I can get and need a quick fix, but there are less expensive alternatives that have been consistant for me that I try to keep in my stock. I also have a single ended EL84 amp with one 12AX7 preamp tube that I use for testing the sound of the preamp tubes I buy.

Guess it's still a crap shoot.


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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:38 am
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rjake wrote:


Guess it's still a crap shoot.


Absolutely. No two are absolutely identical, no matter who makes em. I think that a modern amp's other components make much more difference than the valves. How many amps are there being made now that rely solely on a 12AX7 for their drive sounds? Not many, I'll bet.

My main problem is that I get a valve I like the sound of, then wont use it. Now ok theres a whole process of elimination that valve has to go through before it becomes top dog. When it does it sits on the shelf looking valvey until some other challenger usurps it. Then it gets used.
Or if theres a bit of recording to be done it goes in for a day.
How analy retentive eh??? :oops:

I think this is something we should aspire to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-QMuUQhVM

If he can do it, why cant any of us.

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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 9:02 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Groove Tubes did not make any tubes but they test and select best tubes from all company.

It's worth the price.

Because quality controls are very poor on new tubes today.

Mesa do about the same on their tubes.


No it's not worth the price. You can buy matched sets of tubes from most major manufactures. I buy matched sets of JJ's from Eurotubes at less than half the cost of Groove Tubes. Actually, the QC is pretty good on major manufacturers. It's more the Chinese stuff made for private label you need to watch. JJ's make their own tubes and I've had lots of luck with them. If the big boys had such bad QC I don't think they'd be around so long.

Groove Tubes has survived on hype, pure and simple. Fender owns them and recommends them, puts them in their amps then says if you replace them with the same grade GT's, you don't have to bias. If you care about your tone and longevity of your tubes, you always check the bias voltage. The sky will not fall and your Fender amp will not implode if you use a different brand of tubes. In the case of my HRDlx JJ's improved the tone quite a bit.

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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 9:21 am
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Quote:
My main problem is that I get a valve I like the sound of, then wont use it. Now ok theres a whole process of elimination that valve has to go through before it becomes top dog. When it does it sits on the shelf looking valvey until some other challenger usurps it. Then it gets used.
Or if theres a bit of recording to be done it goes in for a day.
How analy retentive eh???


I feel your pain Niki. I have a 12AT7 RCA that I take out of the box and look at every once in a while, occasionally putting it in an amp to verify it is still the best p/i ever made. haha! Since I have gotten older though, the old tubes come out and play alot more often.

Great video! Wish I had the talent. Maybe you could talk Ceri into a transfer??


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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 2:13 pm
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63supro I don't agree with you. Many companys can matched their tube. But Groove Tubes is almost ( or only one ?) to select for tone and matched and as you say give a grade to keep the same bias ( when you replace your output tubes).

Any other company do those tests except Mesa (I think).

Yes, you can use any company in your amp and it won't explose. But we don't talks about that.

I think if you believe it what Groove Tube said and do, it worth the price.

If you don't believe in Groove Tubes tests, it's up to you and it' ok.


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Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 5:16 pm
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stratele52 wrote:
63supro I don't agree with you. Many companys can matched their tube. But Groove Tubes is almost ( or only one ?) to select for tone and matched and as you say give a grade to keep the same bias ( when you replace your output tubes).

Any other company do those tests except Mesa (I think).

Yes, you can use any company in your amp and it won't explose. But we don't talks about that.

I think if you believe it what Groove Tube said and do, it worth the price.

If you don't believe in Groove Tubes tests, it's up to you and it' ok.


Stratele52

It's largely the responsibility of the shop to supply matched sets on requirment. Every valve shop here does. You could specify a unmatched set, but why would you do that unless you want a challenge when trying to bias a modern marshall thats trim pot is a balance control rather than a bias control. I honestly have no problem with groove tubes and dont see what all the fuss is about. The whole colour coding thing is just a cheap way for fender to get out of building easily biased amps. Their kind of saying 'buy our valves and you wont have to worry about bias', but not telling you that it's a fair old game to bias a modern fender amp. Atleast with a marshall's balance pot you can listen for correct bias, or even (shock horror) check the balance on a multimeter, thanks to groovetubes plug in gizmo.

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Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 8:22 pm
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Wow. This is all good stuff! And all I was really wondering was if it'd really be worthwhile changing out my tubes for a tone improvement. Like I said I got a lot to learn.

Anyways I pulled the plug on a JJ 6v6 for my Champ 600 so I'll be interested how that little sucker goes when it arrives.

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