Post by redtele on May 27, 2021 4:40:07 GMT -7
Decided to have some fun 'tube rolling' with my Z Wreck Junior today...
i'll refer to them as tubes as even though they are called valves here in the UK, maybe no one will understand what i'm talking about! If you look closely at the handwritten stuff on the side you will notice it actually says 'HEAD' on my combo chassis (plus 'Peach' which is the store I brought it from), so it probably felt right at home resting on top of the cabinet while I swapped tubes in and out!
Anyway, these were the tubes I had to play with, that i'd collected over the years for my Vox amps, so i though that some of these might sound good in the Wreck...
From left to right we have a Siemens E83CC, a Tesla E83CC, JJ ECC803S, Tung Sol 12AX7, Mullard ECC83, Ei 12AX7 and a Telefunken ECC83. The reason for trying out some different tubes was to slightly tame the ragged overdrive and give it a bit more clarity, as the Tung Sol tubes are fairly aggressive in their breakup and I wanted to stray more over to the vintage end of the spectrum.
I liked the Tesla and Mullard both equally in V1 as these opened up the sound a little more, giving the amp a more vintage sound in the way it was bright but not piercing with less artefacts around the notes, more pure somehow compared to the Tung Sol. The JJ803S was not that far behind in the added clarity stakes, and it had a little more body to the sound, so if I didn't have the Mullard or Tesla, I may have decided upon this tube to be honest. The Tung Sol was best for V2 as this gave the amp some more body and character after clearing things up with the Mullard and Tesla, as the amp lacked 'balls' for want of a better term with vintage tubes in V1 and V2 at the same time. The Telefunken was great in V3 and really added another dimension to the sound, giving me clarity and sparkle like i've never heard, and I swapped the tubes in and out a few times before settling on the Tesla in V1 as it had the sparkle but ever-so-slightly more mids than the Mullard which gave the amp a fuller sound.
I thought I was done, as the sound was amazing and the natural amp distortion was so smooth and pure, but I had overlooked one aspect of my testing conditions...
I had a new-to-me Tone King Iron Man II Mini hooked up throughout so I could drive the amp a little harder at home volumes, so I could really test how the different tubes sounded breaking up, but despite how 'transparent' this attenuator claims to be, they always have some effect on the tone when engaged and hence having to run the treble up and bass cut when I have this in the circuit. When I removed the Iron Man attenuator from the circuit, that clarity and sparkle became too bright and thin, I had lost the aggressive mid range roar I loved and the amp lacked the fullness and warmth I was used to. Luckily V3 is easy to swap in and out without removing the chassis from the cabinet, so I reached in and replaced the Telefunken with the original Tung Sol and the amp was back producing it's magic! These Telefunken tubes are quite pricey nowadays, so it just goes to show that expensive doesn't always mean better, and maybe the man who designed this amp knows what he is doing!!!
So that was the results of my experimenting, and the small but noticeable change the Tesla E83CC in V1 has brought has improved the amp to my ears, but I imagine if you just want pure rock power then the Tung Sol may be the better choice for you and there's no need to change anything from stock. One more thing, if you are interested, the Iron Man fits nicely into the back of the cabinet if you were ever wondering about this, but this attenuator deserves a whole thread to itself, so 'to be continued....'
i'll refer to them as tubes as even though they are called valves here in the UK, maybe no one will understand what i'm talking about! If you look closely at the handwritten stuff on the side you will notice it actually says 'HEAD' on my combo chassis (plus 'Peach' which is the store I brought it from), so it probably felt right at home resting on top of the cabinet while I swapped tubes in and out!
Anyway, these were the tubes I had to play with, that i'd collected over the years for my Vox amps, so i though that some of these might sound good in the Wreck...
From left to right we have a Siemens E83CC, a Tesla E83CC, JJ ECC803S, Tung Sol 12AX7, Mullard ECC83, Ei 12AX7 and a Telefunken ECC83. The reason for trying out some different tubes was to slightly tame the ragged overdrive and give it a bit more clarity, as the Tung Sol tubes are fairly aggressive in their breakup and I wanted to stray more over to the vintage end of the spectrum.
I liked the Tesla and Mullard both equally in V1 as these opened up the sound a little more, giving the amp a more vintage sound in the way it was bright but not piercing with less artefacts around the notes, more pure somehow compared to the Tung Sol. The JJ803S was not that far behind in the added clarity stakes, and it had a little more body to the sound, so if I didn't have the Mullard or Tesla, I may have decided upon this tube to be honest. The Tung Sol was best for V2 as this gave the amp some more body and character after clearing things up with the Mullard and Tesla, as the amp lacked 'balls' for want of a better term with vintage tubes in V1 and V2 at the same time. The Telefunken was great in V3 and really added another dimension to the sound, giving me clarity and sparkle like i've never heard, and I swapped the tubes in and out a few times before settling on the Tesla in V1 as it had the sparkle but ever-so-slightly more mids than the Mullard which gave the amp a fuller sound.
I thought I was done, as the sound was amazing and the natural amp distortion was so smooth and pure, but I had overlooked one aspect of my testing conditions...
I had a new-to-me Tone King Iron Man II Mini hooked up throughout so I could drive the amp a little harder at home volumes, so I could really test how the different tubes sounded breaking up, but despite how 'transparent' this attenuator claims to be, they always have some effect on the tone when engaged and hence having to run the treble up and bass cut when I have this in the circuit. When I removed the Iron Man attenuator from the circuit, that clarity and sparkle became too bright and thin, I had lost the aggressive mid range roar I loved and the amp lacked the fullness and warmth I was used to. Luckily V3 is easy to swap in and out without removing the chassis from the cabinet, so I reached in and replaced the Telefunken with the original Tung Sol and the amp was back producing it's magic! These Telefunken tubes are quite pricey nowadays, so it just goes to show that expensive doesn't always mean better, and maybe the man who designed this amp knows what he is doing!!!
So that was the results of my experimenting, and the small but noticeable change the Tesla E83CC in V1 has brought has improved the amp to my ears, but I imagine if you just want pure rock power then the Tung Sol may be the better choice for you and there's no need to change anything from stock. One more thing, if you are interested, the Iron Man fits nicely into the back of the cabinet if you were ever wondering about this, but this attenuator deserves a whole thread to itself, so 'to be continued....'