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Post subject: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:21 pm
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And I'm still waiting on my strings in the mail :/

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:53 pm
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A Valve Junior! Those are amp experimenter's heaven. Get the soldering iron out, quick google search and start modding!

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 1:15 pm
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More or less getting it because it can get really saturated and nice with the right effects/guitars. However, my friends will be the ones playing it mostly, as I'm a far better drummer than a guitar player, so I've secured my band place with my friends

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 6:16 pm
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This is interesting, the tubes aren't stock...

A NOS pair, a Sovtek and a GE.

How odd.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:28 pm
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EL84 tubes can sometimes fade pretty quickly. Maybe because they're used in single ended Class A amps more than EL34's. That little EL84 tube is conducting significant current even at idle.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:57 pm
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I already know I'm getting an MXR 78 Distortion. That pedal was made for me, and I don't even like pedals.

Also picking up a reverb pedal, not sure what.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:59 pm
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And tell me more about tubes. I'm considering swapping them, though I don't know. The amp on its own sounds great. I pulled the Strat's strings from the trash and slapped em on the Guild (beefier block doesn't let me use em on the Strat again, I'm a bit sad, but oh well)

It sounded just saturated with lo-fi, high treble dirt and I loved it. I played it on my closed in porch during a thunderstorm and I dimed the sht outta it.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:28 am
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Cool!! I've been thinking of getting one of those in the future as well. There's even a kit you can buy to turn one into a tube reverb unit.

As far as the tubes go, you have a lot of options there. Not sure what kind of GE you have in it, but GE tubes are probably the most underrated NOS tubes. In my opinion, a GE long plate 12ax7a has bass tones that are top of the NOS world.

Here are my thoughts some of the different NOS preamp tubes.

GE, Sylvania, Tung Sol, Raytheon: Clear/Clean Bass tones, heavy chunk distortion, darker side.

RCA: balanced clean, early breakup, high gain chunk distortion, slightly darker side.

Mullard, Telefunken: Smooth midrange, creamy distortion, balanced tone.

Amperex, Phillips, Valvo: Clean sparkly treble, sizzling high treble distortion, bright side.

RFT: Very early breakup, ultra high gain balanced distortion.

For el84s, I don't have as much vested in experimentation with them yet. I've tried Mesa, Sovtek and Shuguang. The Sovtek and Mesa sound pretty much the same. Beware of Shuguang. Mine came with pins that are too narrow and won't work in my amp. Yen Audio has informed me that they will stop selling Shuguang and VA tubes for the same reason. Which is too bad, because they were actually the best sounding of the bunch before the amp started freaking out due to the narrow pins.

My next experiments will be with Gold Lion or Russian 6p14p OTK.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:50 am
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Buxom wrote:
And tell me more about tubes.


All you need to know in the short term is don't ever insert them incorrectly. And always make sure you're not mixing up the 12AX7 and EL84 sockets. Although the sockets are the same, the tube internals and pinouts are very different and bad things may happen if you get them mixed up.

Oh yeah and DON'T change tubes with the amp powered up. Tube amps have big capacitors in the power supply that can hold a charge for days. Break the glass envelope while you're putting a replacement tube in and your fingers can slip onto an anode at high voltage.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:06 am
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I'd also say that before you go throwing money at expensive top of the rage tubes have a listen to the EH, Tungsol and JJ tubes. This especially applies to the Golden Lion tubes which are twice the price and really more suited to tube stereos.

Also don't believe "manufacturer" hype about tubes. The truth is there's a very small number of factories worldwide still manufacturing tubes and various companies simply rebadge them. Sure they sometimes do matching pairs and quads which takes a bit of testing but that doesn't apply to your amp with single tubes in each stage.

Avoid Chinese made tubes at all costs. They sound horrible and they're not particularly durable.

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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:36 am
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I've had good success with Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH preamp tubes. No experience with their power tubes but they do make an EL84.

I have used the 12AX7EX for about 3 years. I first became interested in them when I found them to be stock in Vox amps. They have some unique characteristics like very low microphonics. I also liked the vintage NOS type RCA 12AX7 but they go microphonic in a hurry. The downside is to the EH brand is they tend to work perfectly then just fail out of the blue with no warning at all. They work fine, you turn the amp off and then the next time you fire it up, nothing. They tend to last about 18 months at the most under moderate to heavy use. Even with the "no warning" failures I still prefer the EH version over about any other 12AX7. Since they are current production they are affordable too. While made in Russia, probably by Sovtek, they are different from the garden variety Sovtek 12AX7 having a shorter plate, which is probably why they are less microphonic.


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Post subject: Re: NAD, tubes
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:11 pm
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To be fair brother Dave, going microphonic isn't really a common trait of RCA. USA NOS tubes were some of the most durable in the world, particularly GE, and they prided themselves on that. I had 2 RCA tubes in my old Mesa for 8-years without incident. Just like anything else, there are times when for whatever reason they go south.

In the long run, you get more value, a more durable tube, and a much better sounding tube with many NOS 12ax7 brands. You can still get 5+ years out of good used ones.

If you're really looking for quiet ones, RCA 7025 tubes are about as good as it gets and very durable. I'd take one of those over any current production tube without blinking.

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