airluis

So I bought this Hughes & Kettner tube 50 top to go with my Harley Benton cab. It sounds great. But a bit dark for my taste. Does the sound clear up a bit with new tubes? Or different tubes? Or has anyone else some experience with this amp.

Kind regards,
Ronald

ps. I payed 100 euro's (130 dollars +-) for this amp. It seemed to be a very reasonable price but I had no comparisation. Any thoughts?

R45VT

What preamp tubes are in it?

Might want to get a Tung-Sol.

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Perverockstar69

Tung-Sol preamp tubes will make it brighter

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airluis

oh wow, fast responses. And very helpful ones.

Thanks a lot guys!

airluis

The current tubes are Svetlana Electronics el34. Really know nothing about these, probably cheap tho.

airluis

You suggest these right http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/T.../Tung-Sol-EL34B ?

I can only find the 'b' version.

Dave_Mc

i think they mean the preamp tubes (though could be wrong). I've only tried tungsol preamp tubes, not the el34s. the preamp tubes (the smaller ones, 12ax7s) are on the brighter side of things.

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airluis

Ah. I could only see those 2 big ones. The smaller ones are hard to reach for some reason. But thanks for the clearification. Almost bought the wrong ones. Those powertubes have not much influence on the brightness or darkness of the amp?

Perverockstar69

not that much, just buy 2 tung-sols (preamp) and experiment with them on different positions.

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Fender PA100
Laney LC15R
Orange PPC212OB
Gibson SG Standard
LTD Viper-500
Jackson DKMGT
Catalinbread Ottava Magus
Jim Dunlop CFH
MXR Carbon Copy
Visual Sound Liquid Chorus
Ibanez TS9DX (mods)
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airluis

I'll defenetly try them. Any suggestions for cheap european distributeurs?

Dave_Mc

I'm not sure, actually. it's one of those things, it depends on a variety of factors. I put a tungsol 6v6 power tube into a fame tube 5 (glorified fender champion 600) and it was way darker than the stock JJ 6v6 (so much so that i took it out again )- so power tubes can definitely affect the brightness etc. too. But the main thing is that I have no idea if tungsol el34s are bright or dark- tungsols are normally described as bright, but as i said, i think it's the preamp tubes people are talking about when they say that. As i said, the tungsol 6v6 was on the dark side of things.

EDIT: dunno about distributors, but tubetown in germany has a decent selection of tubes at reasonable prices. depends on where you are in europe, of course.

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airluis

Are fender pre amp tubes bright or dark?

Robbgnarly

Fender does not make tubes at all. They use Grove tubes for the most part and Groove tubes does not make tubes either they rebrand tubes from other mfg

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airluis

I had "Fender" tubes in my Twin Reverb. Apperantly they are just Russia's Sovtek products.

Does any have an idea about birght Power Tubes. I have EL34's.

Thanks you all for the help so far. You've been very kind.

Greetings from the Netherlands,
Ronald

Robbgnarly

You want bright power tubes, I suggest looking at Tung Sol EL34 and JJ EL34's. EL34 tubes are naturally brighter than 6L6 tubes.

You will see the biggest change in tone when you change the Preamp tubes though. Tung Sol are pretty bright 12ax7's when compared to most any other brand. Electro Harmonics 12ax7 are a bit brighter also.

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2002 PRS CE22
197? Sanox Sound Creator LP clone (GFS Fat Pat)
2009 Epiphone G-400 (SH-4)
Marshall JCM2000 DSL100
Krank 1980 Jr 20watt
Krank Rev 4x12 (eminence V12)
GFS Greenie/Digitech Bad Monkey
Morley Bad Horsie 2
MXR Smart Gate

Cathbard

Sort out your preamp before thinking about power valves.

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airluis

Any knowledge about Luna Tubes? Can get my hands on a cheap pair.

Robbgnarly

Never heard of them. We have told you the tubes to look for, and in the scope of tubes they are pretty darn cheap.

Tung Sol 12ax7's run all of $15-20 each. You could get some NOS Mullards like are in my Marshall for only $125+ each.

__________________
2002 PRS CE22
197? Sanox Sound Creator LP clone (GFS Fat Pat)
2009 Epiphone G-400 (SH-4)
Marshall JCM2000 DSL100
Krank 1980 Jr 20watt
Krank Rev 4x12 (eminence V12)
GFS Greenie/Digitech Bad Monkey
Morley Bad Horsie 2
MXR Smart Gate

airluis

Damn. They may better last a long frikkin' time. Ye I'm out to buy the tung-sol. Just have to wait for my salary.