Today I decided it was finally time to swap the tubes and see what a difference it made. I had some old JJ 12au7 tubes lying around so I pulled the Sovtek 12ax7 tubes I had in the amp out.
The amp definitely has a lot more head room. I also feel like it sounds warmer. I’ve never disliked the tone from this amp, but it has also never blown me away. With my Rickenbacker plugged in and these tubes it definitely sounded quite nice. I also tried it with the stereo out and the bridge pickup into the gain and the neck into the clean channel; gave it quite a bit of body and a lot of options for sound with mixing them.
For a simple amp I do like the sound of this one. I don’t get to play it as often as I’d like with a two year old around, but I like having it for when I can. These amps get a lot of bad raps, but I think for their price you get a lot of amp. They do have a good sound, it’s just not “Fender” tone that comes to mind for me.
