I'm going to re-tube my ENGL Powerball soon, any suggestions?

I'm looking for something that will maybe help the amp sound a bit less compressed...give more clarity without sacrificing much.

???

Solis state behringer is the way to go. Fuck tubes. They have shitty tone.

Telefunken NOS or Mullard tubes. You have an ENGL so don't plead poverty.

please don't use groove tubes. groove tubes = no clarity (but I'm sure you already knew that :-P )

I love passerby... he makes me laugh, because a nice set of tubes will cost more then anything by behringer.

I was thinking JJ's, but people on Harmony-Central have been saying that they've found them to be muddy and dull. They're recommending Electro-Harmonix. I'll take a look at what you're suggesting Goat.


and yeah...groove tubes...woof

"Telefunken NOS or Mullard tubes"


is there anything more you can tell me about these?

I have Sovteks in my 5150... I need to retube mine though.

whoa.....$125 each...I may have an ENGL, but I'm not rich, man.

sheesh

do you need EL34s or 6L6s?

here's a decent price on the EL34s
http://thetubestore.com/mullardel34.html

6l6's sadly

damn, well, I tried!

I'm surprised that you need 6L6's, I always was under the impression that the 6L6 gave a more bassy sound then an EL34... maybe I misunderstood...

I'm a tube noob. Is it not a big deal to switch from 6L6's to EL34's? For some reason I thought that I could only use 6l6's in the Powerball...guess I have no real reason to think that though.

6L6 does give a much more bottom heavy sound than EL34's... EL34's are a little bright but thats not to say 6L6 cant sound bright and vice versa...
I like amps that have a combination of both tubes but there aren't meany that I know of...

5150, Dual Rec's etc = 6L6
JCM's, DuoTone, etc = EL34

right, I know that much. But i just don't know whether or not you can go from 6l6's to el34's in an ENGL.

You can use el34's in Rectifier's...I've actually heard that they make them a lot better.

brian_dc nli said:

NOS stands for "New Old Stock", which means they were manufactured as far back as the 1950's, but are tested as "new". obviously this makes some types very rare, hence the high-cost.

be prepared to spend a lot of money on NOS tubes. esp. tele's and mullards. mullards are generally characterized as being darker sounding. telefunken's, along with JAN GE military type tubes, are generally considered more articulate and detailed sounding.... clearer. Amperex is another NOS tube that is supposed to be more of a middle-of-the-road type.

one thing you could do is get a couple of NOS tubes for the pre-amp section. they'd be slightly less expensive, and you can mix and match a bit til you find what works best for you.

another note about NOS tubes, should you decide to go that route, they can be pretty noisy when you first put them in, so it's a good idea to burn them in (leave your amp turned on) for 48 hours or so (sometimes longer) to get them working up to their full potential. that'll give you a better idea of how their supposed to sound.

i'd look at Electro-Harmonix. from what i've read (i've never used them in my amp) they're the best of the newer manufacturers. i own 2 different tube microphone pre-amps that both have EH tubes, and they sound fantastic. i've also heard good things about J.J.'s.

i have groove tubes in my head now, and they sound good to me. LOTS of low-end (which i need).

for the love of god don't be anything MADE IN CHINA.

good luck!

-ryan

alright, sorry i took so long. your heart can stop beating so rapidly.

personally, im big on JJ 6L6s in my 5150 II because they can darken up an overly bright amp. I think they would also be a good match for the powerball as well, but don't count out ruby power tubes as well. theyre another really popular tube in the powerball.

two other really popular 6L6s in high gainers are the TADs and SED winged Cs. i just ordered a new set, and it was down to the JJs and the TADs for me because of their tonal relationship to the 5150 II. but the SEDs get fucking CRAZY hype over at the HC forums. i settled on the JJs for me. for you i think you should try either the rubys or the SED winged Cs.

for preamp tubes, a really popular option for high gainers has been tung-sol 12ax7s for their all around musicality. i actually decided to go this route this time as well, as i ordered a tung-sol for the v1 stage and JJs for the rest (to keep the presence of the II at bay). i think a tung-sol 12ax7 would be your best bet as well. you can grab more, but since the v1 stage is where 85% of the preamp tone is shaped, i figured that 1 would be fine (not to mention they're like 4 bucks more a tube).

as far as telefunken and mullards are concerned, to me they are overpriced tubes for overly snobby vintage purists. the telefunkens deserve their praise, but mullards certainly do not.

switching from 6L6 to EL34 is possible, but not always reccomended. you can just swap them out in your dual rec if you wanted (boogies have a swtich in the back that adjusts the bias for the tubes, although a little cold to really get them sizzling), but to go that way in your powerball, youd have to have a pro get at it. IMO though your powerball will be waaaaaaaay better off with 6L6s, it probably wouldnt even sound that much like a powerball without them. rectos however ive heard great things about switching over to EL34 (although ive never tried it).

oh yeah, order from http://dougstubes.com and check out the FAQs there and at http://eurotubes.com if you need to get a little schooling.

JJs

There are no other tubes.

TUBEFREAK.COM is where i got my info. The guy has the same gear as me (Mesa Quad preamp & Simul 295 power amp. 20 tubes between the two)

tubefreak is another good site as well.

by the way goat, you have a wonderful rig yourself. what do you rock for tubes?

ok, after doing my research and having a few people metion the Winged C's, I'm going with that for the 6L6's.

My only hesitation on the preamp tubes is looking at my manual it has for the V5 spot an 12AX7 FQ selected
V6, V7 a 12AX7 selected
V8 a 12AX7 standard.

Should this FQ selected, selected, and standard business concern me? If not I'm going to go half Tung-sol, half Electro Harmonix.

thanks, blue. the mesa tubes that were in the power amp when i got it a few years ago were just tested as "good" over the weekend and the preamp was retubed with JJ's under a year ago

brian_dc said:

regardless, its all 12ax7s in the preamp. it appears that your v5 is your phase inverter though, so get a balanced one for it.

and go tung sol for in the first two gain stages, youll get too much raspiness if you throw the EH in the beginning.

hmm, do you think the EH's are a bad idea?

and im picking up my new set of tubes at the post office and throwing them in for practice tonight. thank god, my amps been sounding like a freaking AM radio lately.

brian_dc said:

not a bad idea, just not anywhere in my top choices for preamp tubes.

I don't know, so many people recommended them but no one really told me why. So I'm not 100% sold on them, that's why I ask.

thinking maybe the tung-sols would be best for all the preamp tubes

thanks for all the help, duders

ok, finally ordered the tubes

got 4 SED Winged-C's
2 Tung-sol 12AX7s (one balanced) and
2 JJECC83s

so

my question. Where should I go to get this thing re-biased? I have a feeling that there aren't a whole lot of places that I should trust with a Powerball.

Suggestions quite welcome.

nobody wants to help me....saaaaaad

I'm just going to keep on bumping this until I'm not sad anymore.

Any retailer of quality tube amps would be able to bias it for you, it's a pretty simple oppertation. Preferably go to a dealer of another euro-made amp (like splaun, orange, Bogner, etc.) because biasing them is different from domestic tube amps like mesa, diezel, etc.

I would offer to do it for you, but euro tube amps are a different language to me.

does anyone know any area dealers of euro amps?

There's a shop that most of the local stores in massachusetts send out jobs like this, your best bet is to contact them direct and not go through a shop. I can't remember the name off hand, but Mark Richards knows I believe. and Also Kinslayer would know, as I think the guitar center he worked at send their work to the same place.

mmm, this information would be quite fantastic.

ugh, bump

well, are you talking people in your area? if not, i reccomend aztech electronics in watertown.

it's only an hour drive from Franklin, that's within my range. Thanks man, always coming through for me and my tone.

not to be a dirty braggart, but i saw TUBES being appreciated here and was too lazy to search for the 'post your rig' thread

http://returntothepit.com/view.php?formid=37760