Fender or Marshall Tube amps!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Paleolith54

...I find it extremely difficult to believe that you can get such radical changes by swapping out pre-amp tubes. I'm not completely without experience in this, and I can say I have never heard the kind of results you're describing. It sounds like you're saying you can take a cheap Bugera, sub a couple of pre-amp tubes, and make it sound like a voltage-starved Marshall or a Boogie Mark-series. Is that actually what you mean to say?

Your doubt is quite understandable, as I too found it a bit hard to believe that supposedly "identical" tubes could have such radically different characteristics. That said, you might want to start by reading some of the reviews on the following site - and while I have a certain amount of experience in this area, these guys are not only the real experts but in my experience their assessments are 100% on the money:

http://www.thetubestore.com/

FWIW, I agree that it's also far more than a simple question of one-for-one tube swapping - please refer to my earlier post regarding tube selection, BTW - and I'm sorry if my point was misconstrued. Since you do have some background I'm sure that you recognize that which preamp tube, with which electronic/sonic characteristics, in which position, can have a significant impact on your overall tone; add to that the same variables in your power tube selection, as well as your preferred bias points (not to mention the sneaky pentode/triode switch on the back of my V22's chassis ), and I think you begin to see how profoundly your signature sound can be tailored by these little glass bottles (a technique, BTW, that most of those golden-eared/platinum-fingered players we all try to emulate use to cop those tones that make us drool ) - and that's before you even take speaker response characteristics into consideration. Right now I've got it in my preferred configuration - identical preamp tubes with matched triode sections across the board (really smooths out the tone at both the pre and driver levels), high-headroom power tubes with a mild rebias, and an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker; nets me those Ampeg "key club" fat/clean tones with a nice bluesy raunch from the OD when I need it, and the option of pre-Top Boost Vox-style tones if I drop it into triode mode - and should I choose a different flavor-of-the-week it's a simple trip to the parts box away...

If you have a "project amp" in your stable (the very reason I bought my Bugera, BTW) try it - you might just stumble upon the tonal mojo you've been after...

[choucas09]

My Bugera V22 stayed bone stock, I really liked it's straight out of the box sound, sweet, articulate, but also gentle and a wee bit forgiving. It has it's own character and it charmed me whether clean, crunchy or dirty. I still have it, but it hasn't been played for a couple of years since I went over to the dark side (Kemper). I still rate it though..... Amps, guitars, pedals etc all very subjective.

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Your doubt is quite understandable, as I too found it a bit hard to believe that supposedly "identical" tubes could have such radically different characteristics. That said, you might want to start by reading some of the reviews on the following site - and while I have a certain amount of experience in this area, these guys are not only the real experts but in my experience their assessments are 100% on the money:

http://www.thetubestore.com/

FWIW, I agree that it's also far more than a simple question of one-for-one tube swapping - please refer to my earlier post regarding tube selection, BTW - and I'm sorry if my point was misconstrued. Since you do have some background I'm sure that you recognize that which preamp tube, with which electronic/sonic characteristics, in which position, can have a significant impact on your overall tone; add to that the same variables in your power tube selection, as well as your preferred bias points (not to mention the sneaky pentode/triode switch on the back of my V22's chassis ), and I think you begin to see how profoundly your signature sound can be tailored by these little glass bottles (a technique, BTW, that most of those golden-eared/platinum-fingered players we all try to emulate use to cop those tones that make us drool ) - and that's before you even take speaker response characteristics into consideration. Right now I've got it in my preferred configuration - identical preamp tubes with matched triode sections across the board (really smooths out the tone at both the pre and driver levels), high-headroom power tubes with a mild rebias, and an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker; nets me those Ampeg "key club" fat/clean tones with a nice bluesy raunch from the OD when I need it, and the option of pre-Top Boost Vox-style tones if I drop it into triode mode - and should I choose a different flavor-of-the-week it's a simple trip to the parts box away...

If you have a "project amp" in your stable (the very reason I bought my Bugera, BTW) try it - you might just stumble upon the tonal mojo you've been after...

Thanks 😀 Thanks 😀

There, that should be ten characters.

[pfflyer55]

I still am in a learning stage and am only looking for an amp that sounds good stock out of the box with basic eq. and reverb. The Blues Jr. has all I currently need, (that is for now), and later on I will tinker with the speaker, tubes, and the guitar pickups. Stomp boxes may be in the immediate future as I progress into my style of play and what I am seeking in quality of sound. All of that is subjective after I start taking lessons for both acoustic and electric, and my level of progress. I am 60 years young and am on an adventure in learning.

The Jr. is more than I currently need, but wanted something I could potentially play into. Not a bad place to start IMHO. Fender matched with Fender is a safe place to start!

[Trillian]

Steve you know more about what's out there for tubes than I am likely to know soon. I usually trust tube selection to the Amp guy and am never disappointed. It wouldn't be a bad thing to become more educated though.