Preamp tube to tame the rasp....

cvogue

cvogue

Yes, that's Oolong. :)
So I've got a Blackstar HT-40 and I've upgraded the speaker in it (creamback) to get away from the shrill (to my ears) 70/80. There's still a raspy tone on the overdrive channel that I'd like to get rid of. I've got a 10 band EQ in the loop which helps but the rasp is still there.

Any suggestions for preamp tubes to try? There's only one for the overdrive channel (so there's some solid state gain going on there too... might be part of the problem). I saw in a posting on Reverb.com that the GE 5751 can tame a "raspy" overdrive.

I've tried EH, Marshall (basic Chinese tube), GT Chinese version... maybe JJ, although I thought JJ's were too dark/muddy sounding in an old Peavey Classic 50 I had.

What's a nice smooth but gainy preamp tube? Thanks for any suggestions!
 
When I had that amp my solution was to not use the overdrive channel. I just used the clean channel with pedals. Vintage mode does sick fuzz tones if you blast it with a Muff or Fuzz.

Of course, having to use pedals and crank the volume was also why I sold the amp.
 
I'm a fan of NOS tubes for the V1 slot. Mullard, RCA and Telefunken all top my list.
Some amps need volume to really sing.
My Quickrod is fizzy at low volumes too but once you push it a little that's all gone.
You may need one of those $20 volume boxes that runs in your fx loop. Then you can turn the amp up loud and bring the overall volume down at the box.
 
gtrjunior said:
I'm a fan of NOS tubes for the V1 slot. Mullard, RCA and Telefunken all top my list.
Some amps need volume to really sing.
My Quickrod is fizzy at low volumes too but once you push it a little that's all gone.
You may need one of those $20 volume boxes that runs in your fx loop. Then you can turn the amp up loud and bring the overall volume down at the box.
Click to expand...

Yeah I saw some Mullards on the Tube store's website for 25 bucks... a little more $ but might be worth it?
 
gtrjunior said:
You may need one of those $20 volume boxes that runs in your fx loop. Then you can turn the amp up loud and bring the overall volume down at the box.
Click to expand...

That’s no different than just using the master volume on the amp. It cuts the preamp volume before it hits the power amp, but that just makes the power amp run at a lower volume.
 
jp_nyc said:
That’s no different than just using the master volume on the amp. It cuts the preamp volume before it hits the power amp, but that just makes the power amp run at a lower volume.
Click to expand...
Correct, it isn't an actual attenuator. But for $20 I figured why not?
 
jp_nyc said:
That’s no different than just using the master volume on the amp. It cuts the preamp volume before it hits the power amp, but that just makes the power amp run at a lower volume.
Click to expand...
Correct, it isn't an actual attenuator. But for $20 I figured why not?
Im not familiar with the panel layout on this particular amp.
 
cvogue said:
Yeah it's a reissue... :(
Click to expand...
Look at some RCA tubes both black plate and grey plate. They are both excellent tubes.
Matsushita is a Japanese tube made on the same tooling as Mullards. I've never tried one but they can typically be bought cheaper than an actual Mullard.
RFT also excellent.
 
GilmourD said:
I'd try that JJ ECC83S first.
Click to expand...

Hey GilmourD, thanks for the suggestion, I ordered a JJ ECC83S and another EH tube from Doug, EH worked OK and then I slapped in the JJ and I was very surprised, in a good way! My only experience with JJ preamp tubes was in my old Peavy Classic 50 head... sounded like muddy crap but this one in my Blackstar had plenty of gain, it brightened it up like I wanted with some nice bite.

Thanks for the suggestion! :thu:
 
cvogue said:
Hey GilmourD, thanks for the suggestion, I ordered a JJ ECC83S and another EH tube from Doug, EH worked OK and then I slapped in the JJ and I was very surprised, in a good way! My only experience with JJ preamp tubes was in my old Peavy Classic 50 head... sounded like muddy crap but this one in my Blackstar had plenty of gain, it brightened it up like I wanted with some nice bite.

Thanks for the suggestion! :thu:
Click to expand...
Different tubes for different amps. The ECC83S works beautifully in blackface and silverface type Fenders but not so much in tweeds and Marshalls. The Peavey Classic 50 is a whole other thing, kinda tweedy, kinda not.
 
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