review of tubes for VH tone

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:36 pm

Ok, so some of the wine tasters are going to think I'm nuts. But thats ok, I'm old enough to have no shame.

I recently bought one of George's 12 series amps. The day I went to his shop to pick it up it had a squeal problem so we ended up taking th new sensor mullards out and put in jj's. I was not that excited about the amp at this point. But at the end of grueling few hours of gettign the amp to work, he put the new sensors in and I went AHHH thats better.

I just finished doing a taste test of comparing the new sensor mullards, NOS xf3/4's and NOS siemens. With all the money I spent on the nos tubes its hard to admit this. I like the new sensor mullards the best for the VH tone. They are the closest in my opinion. There is one thing the mullards have that the new sensors don't. They are very smooth when you turn your guitar volume knob down. The new sensors are more ragged. But when you do balls to the wall the new sensors nail the tone we've been looking for. I emailed George and told him this and he told me thats the reason he's using them.

My 12 series is slightly different than stock because I had him put in a mercury output trannie. I'm playing a prs custom 24 that is very loose and vibrates very well with a custom custom duncan pickup. I'm playing the amp on 400 volts thru a dr. Z airbrake attenuated down 4 notches. The speaker cab is a marshall 4x10 from the eighties with celestion g10l35 speakers. I'm sure the tone would be even better thru a good 4x12.

So the jj's sucked. The real mullards are great but the frequency response just isn't right for VH. The siemens are very cool too and have a compression and wildness that are nice, but again it doesn't get VH. The new sensors are so close; its within the margin of error.

I emailed George and he said that the amp that David Szabados tested had the new sensors. And he said this amp had the VH magic. unfortunately one of them broke on its way to George Lynch. Very unfortunate indeed, because for this amp the new sensors seem to do it.

Wes

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:49 pm

thanks for that, texwest.

Mark

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:32 pm

Mark

Yeah, that might help you out because your amp is so similar to mine. Mine has the mercury ot and real mustards too. I really can't believe that I like the new tubes better. One thing I didn't do was test the nos mullards with nos preamp tubes. I have the new tung sols in it. I should check that.

5150loveeddie · Post by **5150loveeddie** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:17 pm

what is your b+? Anything above 460 good luck you will sound like vh for about 15hrs max then you will sound like crap

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:25 pm

I just put a tungsram in v1, and ei's in v2 and 3. Wow, that really opened up the nos mullards. This is an awesome sound out of this amp, but its still not quite VH. The tone is bigger, louder and tighter with these pres. The single notes are fuller and punch out better. Its pretty scary this way. The new tungsols didn't match well with the nos mullards.

Final verdict. The new tungsols with the new mullards do VH pretty well. George really did his homework or he got real lucky with this combo of tubes.

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:26 pm

5150loveeddie wrote:what is your b+? Anything above 460 good luck you will sound like vh for about 15hrs max then you will sound like crap

The b+ is 400

Do you think they will last at this voltage?

5150loveeddie · Post by **5150loveeddie** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:15 pm

Yeah that should be easier on them.........

I tried few quads (3) a year ago and they did sound really nice but all failed (melt down...) around 15 hrs at 495 on the B+. maybe New Sensor fixed the problem, if so they would make very nice tubes indead!!!

Let us know if they hold on, at that price they should last at least a year or so (1500hrs not 15...)

rtcook · Post by **rtcook** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:29 pm

...but its well known Eddie used Sylvania 6CA7's big bottles and GE 6CA7 big bottles. Those will even produce a different tone.

Roger

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:07 pm

rtcook wrote:...but its well known Eddie used Sylvania 6CA7's big bottles and GE 6CA7 big bottles. Those will even produce a different tone.

Roger

I know! I guess I'll have to try those too.

rtcook · Post by **rtcook** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:11 pm

If you try them, let us know.

Roger

texwest · Post by **texwest** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:01 pm

rtcook wrote:...but its well known Eddie used Sylvania 6CA7's big bottles and GE 6CA7 big bottles. Those will even produce a different tone.

Roger

Hey Roger

I was just searching ebay for sylvania 6ca7. I notice you got quite a nice deal on some. Have you tried them yet? How do you like them?

rtcook · Post by **rtcook** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:08 pm

No. I have not. I do not have my amp built yet. Still collecting parts. I picked up this quad with 4 extras. The main 4 tubes check out fine and the other 4 are ok. I also have a quad of GE 6CA7's I'm going to try as well. I really need to get the amp done!

Roger

mightymike · Post by **mightymike** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:11 am

I have clips comparing the New Sensor to Siemens, and the Siemens were smoother and less harsh. I also tried some GE Fat Bottles and found them to record harsh like the New Sensors Mullards.

but this was done with a 4 year old 1960ax Reissue checkerboard cab with g12m.
What seems harsh with them and checkerboard, might be perfect with
Quad of g12H from 1972 I just bought fopr a Basketweave cab.

I like Sylvannia wa pre and Mullard Blackburn Pre

nitro · Post by **nitro** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:01 pm

JJE34L tubes are very close to the old van halen sound and what you have to take in account is the overdrive/distortion unit that he used in front of the amp we are taking about the van halen 1 sound i hope.No vintage plexi or reissue plexi or a plexi clone amp will achieve that sound the amps are to clean you need to push the front end . Go to my JOSE ARREDONDO thread. Even if you crank a plexi its still not the van halen 1 sound its to clean. Listen to van halen 1 and then compare it to a cranked plexi , its not it. Ive owned and played many amps on the market you name it i played it ive owned vintage and reissue marshall plexis stock and modded the closest ive came to the van halen 1 sound and the amps that i play today are the VHT 100CL head and the VHT 50CL head they have what i call a clean distortion very punchy you here every note they project very nice, not muddy at all very clear and not all tangled up if you know what i mean.When i listen to van halen 1 thats what i here its edgey and raw and distorted put you here every note thats the tone i achieve using the VHT 100CL AND THE VHT 50CL PITTBULL HEADS THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.........

nitro · Post by **nitro** » Sat May 20, 2006 8:51 am

Has anyone compared the new mullard EL34 to the JJE34L tubes . I have been using the JJE34L tubes for a very long time and to me they are the closest to the old van halen sound but i have been hearing some good things about the new mullard EL34 tubes any opinions thanks.........