Would you make the trade?

[Strayslack]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Most players don't realize that supposedly "identical" (electronically speaking) tubers often have radically different tonal characteristics in practice, and can be used to advantage depending on their placement in the circuit - something the pros have been using for years to obtain their signature tones; I'm using a Mesa SP-AX7 in the V3 position of my Bugera V22 with similar results...

Speaking of which, can you give a quick review of your Bugera. I've thought about giving the V55 head a spin. Worth a look?

[myersbw]

[QUOTE=pieterh;4806425

A friend of mine who is a tube amp wiz likes the Peavey but recommends modifying so that they don't run as hard - [/QUOTE]

I will agree with your friend and I'm also a tube amp builder/modder. I've been in an HRD for a repair. If your HRD is the series where you pull the chassis and see lots of gray ribbon cable...sell it as fast as you can! The circuit boards are a thin...thin traces that almost melt by you looking at them. They don't withstand years of heated tubes without some major issues. I don't like them at all....tone or no tone.

Yes, you can re-bias that Peavey and mod it and it will hold up well. But, personally, I never have liked Peavey. I'd opt for a used Carvin...like the BelAir or V50 or so...then have a tech mod it. WELL made amp and it flies so far under most folks radar you can get them for a song. (pun intended!) :P

My 2 cents anyways... all the best!

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Strayslack

This will be no surprise to many of you who are much more knowledgeable about such matters, as well as the fact that this information is readily available online, but it was a revelation to me. I replaced the JJ 12AX7 preamp tube in the V3 phase inverter position with a Mullard 12AT7WA CV4024. It's absolutely fantastic! Mind you, the difference on the already great clean channel is nil (though I may hear a difference when I find my earplugs and push it to breakup), but my drive/more drive channel sounds 100x better. It's not an in-your-face difference, but it just changed something in the tone, from a gritty, icepick in the ear, blast of distortion to a smoother, much more musical quality of drive. I'm wondering if it changed the clip at all - it sounds much rounder. I mean, I NEVER used the more drive before the switch in tubes. Now, I can't stay off it. My Distortron is feeling very lonely right now.

The tube you changed is presumably not used on the clean channel. It doesn't surprise me now that you say so that swapping out the tube for a lower gain tube actually gives you a better sounding overdrive when you crank it up. I've been thinking of swapping out the preamp tube in my little Vox AC4tv for a 12AT7 - I like the sound of the AC4tv but it would be nice to have a bit more headroom before it starts to break up.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Strayslack

Speaking of which, can you give a quick review of your Bugera. I've thought about giving the V55 head a spin. Worth a look?

Plenty of info around here - just type "Bugera V22" into the Search box below - and if I didn't already have a couple of higher-powered combos I'd probably own a V55 right now, based on my experience with the V22...

Couple thoughts:

• Unless you're a "gotta have a head" kinda player, I'd spring the extra $50 or so for the combo version - powers down to 27W for at-home clean playing and/or pedalboard support, and it'll easily drive a 4x12" cab
• These little tone boxes are exceptionally responsive to DIY mods - and with the new Infinium self-monitoring/self-biasing circuitry there's a world of possibilities in terms of plug-&-play tube swaps
• Although they've upgraded the speaker from the earlier OEM Celestion clone, things really came alive when I swapped in an Eminence Swamp Thang; my 22-watter has the cojones to hang with my '65 Super RI (45W) and Frontman 212R (100W) - do the same with the V55 combo and you may never need to haul that stack around again

Hope this helps...