Premier Rock Forum

ok so i pluged a bass into my bitchen pig nose tube guitar amp.
turning the pre level almoast all the way down and the power all the way up as not to distort the pre as much. it sound fucking sweet. i new it would.
but some notes, combination of notes, low notes ect... saturate the tubes to a point of no return. wich sounds really cool if thats what your after.
now to the Q. do different tubes have different saturation levels? kinda like tape operating levels? like right now it has 6L6s in it. can i find a tube that might be more optimum(?spelling?) for the bass. i relize its a guitar amp but still. is that a good Q?
thanx. ike

Look at the preamp section first. These tubes have everything to do with the gain characteristics of your amp. I assume there's a few (1-3) 12ax7 tubes in there right now.

Preamp Tubes (hot to not):
12AX7: 100
5751: 70
12AT7: 60
12AY7: 45

Using a lower value will present the next stage with less gain, thus a "cleaner" sound... so changing out the 1st (aka: V1) 12AX7 for a 5751 or a 12AT7 would be the first thing I'd try. If this seems to be an improvement, but you still have too much gain, change out the 2nd (aka: V2) tube for a lower value.

Make sure you fully power down and unplug the amplifier before changing the preamp tubes unless you want to hurt or kill yourself and/or the amplifier.If you are in doubt, have a tech change the tubes for you.

Changing the preamp tubes won't require bias adjustments, and they're cheaper than power tubes...so you save.

Power Tubes (lower "wattage" to higher):
6V6 (Fender Champ, Deluxe Reverb, etc.)
6L6 (Fender Twin Reverb, Bassman, etc.)
6550 (Ampeg SVT-II, etc.)

6L6 tubes should be able to handle just fine. I'd guess that changing the preamp tubes will do a lot more for you than messing with the power section. Changing power tubes (usually) requires a bias adjustment that is best performed by an experienced tech. Your amp contains deadly voltages that can kill you.

Lastly OR Firstly:

The speaker... How big is it? How much power can it handle?

PS: 12AY7 tubes are sometimes not interchangeable with 12AX7, so I'd probably avoid this tube without consulting a tech first. No matter, the 5751 or 12AT7 should do the trick...

thank you for the great info! the speaker is a 10inch but has two speaker outs at 4 and 8 ohms.

yeah theres supposed to be 12AX7's. x 3

have i said how much this forum board rocks!

any info on why these dont always work?

zywot66 wrote:(?spelling?)

Funny that the word you thought you misspelled was one of the few words you actually spelled right. Since you asked, here are some others you missed:

- bitchin'
- almost
- sounds
- knew
- etc.
- which
- that's
- you're
- realize

I'll ignore "kinda", since that one's close to achieving word-tenure at this point.

electronaut wrote:

zywot66 wrote:(?spelling?)

Funny that the word you thought you misspelled was one of the few words you actually spelled right. Since you asked, here are some others you missed:

- bitchin'
- almost
- sounds
- knew
- etc.
- which
- that's
- you're
- realize

I'll ignore "kinda", since that one's close to achieving word-tenure at this point.

i must disagree. he did indeed spell bitchen properly.

the speaker is a 10inch but has two speaker outs at 4 and 8 ohms.

Ok, so the speaker is probably not the problem. Leave it alone, just try changing the 1st and/or 2nd 12AX7's for a lower value tube.

any info on why these dont always work?

These what? Nutz?