JVM Forum

Hey guys it's me again,and I'm going to change my tubes because the V5 tube has died and since I bought my amp used,I think I'm going to take it to guitarcenter and have them retube it for me.What tubes do you guys suggest,I really don't know much about what the different tubes sound like because I'm only 14 years old and I'm very new with tube amplifiers.What do you suggest??
Thanks,
Justin

Funny enough, I first recommend you don't take it to Guitar Center to have it retubed. They don't always carry the best tubes and only God knows what their "techs" are like-If they even have any. However, you can use them as a resource. I called them and found out who they use for any repair work on Marshalls in my area. Given the agreement they have with Marshall, they have to use a certified Marshall tech and they should willingly give you the phone number for a tech in your area. Also, check the Marshall website and search to find service centers for your amp.

For tubes, SED winged C EL34 for the power amp. For the preamp, it's kinda a personal choice thing. Many people on this forum like different tubes. I use mostly JJ 12ax7's in mine. Although, I recently tried a Groove Tubes Gold Series 12ax7 in the V1 position and like the result. In truth, it's not a huge difference for me from the JJ to the Groove Tube but there are many other manufacturers that could give you a more definative difference in tone, feel, brightness, etc.

Good luck, and read through this forum, there's a boatload of info in these pages on tubes and what they do/how they sound, etc. In the end, you just have to buy some and try them out.

If your into aggresive sound, metal and shit, give the TungSols a whirl. Granted, you can kiss smooth, round bluesy tones goodbye, but changing the PI doesn't make that much of a difference in tone, it's more the amps feel.

Right now i have this set in preamp:

V1: Tungsol 12AX7
V2: Tungsol 12AX7
V3: Sovtek 12AX7 WA
V4: Red coloured Marshall ECC83 VLVE 00067
V5: White coloured Marshall ECC83 VLVE 00055

I use Rocktron Intellifex in the loop, and this combination is very kicky, tight and it has quite nice definition.

Yeah, Bryanman is right, no reason to take JVM and give it to music store techs for this operation;
Just go & buy 5-10 different (Mesa, JJ, EH, European Philips, Shuguang, Sovtek, Tungsol etc.) preamptubes and start checkin´ them out. When you find sound that YOU like (check out every channel, of course), write that setting up and stay in that?

My suggestion is this:

V1: Tungsol 12AX7
V2: JJ 12AX7
V3: Sovtek 12AX7 WA
V4: Shuguang 12AX7
V5 (PI): Tungsol 12AX7

This sounds pretty nice with Rocktron (And i believe that with T.C too) At least it gives many opportunities, and i believe, that is the "main" thing?

With this pre-amp set, i found many different things. With OD1 Orange there´s sound which Lukather uses is "Luke" Album etc. Of course it needs some effects, but still...

Anyway. This preamp set if very, very nice one for me IMHO.

Try this with T.C or Rocktron XPression.