If you've had your CCV awhile, pop in some new preamp tubes.

johnpace2

johnpace2

Well-known member
I have a pre-production era CCV and I always thought it sounded great. However, more recently, I noticed myself being less excited about playing it. The amp has new Winged C power tubes, but I guess I just never thought about the preamp tubes that were in it. I always meant to look, but never got around to it.

Anyway, a couple of long-time CCV owners mentioned that I should pop some new tubes in there. I finally got around to it last week and holy heck what a difference! :rock: :rock: :rock:

The amp now sounds WAY better across the board. I was amazed at how much of a difference it made and I don't think my ears are nearly as good as some of you.

I didn't use any special tubes, just 9th gen Chinese down the line.

:rock:
 
johnpace2":29pn8pql said:
glip22":29pn8pql said:
V2 Cathode follower takes one hell of a beating in these amps.
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Good to know. How often do you think the preamp tubes should be changed?
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Pretubes usually last good long while. I would use only Chinese in the V2 slot. I would change that slot once per year unless you can test them.
 
My current preamp setup: (V1) NOS TESLA, (V2) NOS RFT ECC83, (V3) Ruby 12AX7AC5 HG+ (V4) Tung-Sol RI 12AX7/ECC83 gold pin, and (V5) TAD 7025WA High Grade. Tonally, I could have easily went with either of these for V2: 12AX7EH, TAD 7025WA RT080, NOS Electrohome 12AX7, TAD 12AX7A- C RT001, RCA 12AX7 blackplate, Ei ECC83 pre-war grey plate or Ruby 12AX7AC5 HG. You might consider just sticking with new production chinese tubes especially in V2 as glip suggested or an EH.

I ran my CCV with stock JJEL34's then replaced the JJEL34 tubes with SED =C's= EL34's as a few CCV owners have suggested trying different biasing levels which was an improvement . Weeks later, I tried a quad of TAD EL34B STR's in it finding the "optimum" biasing level for that tube. Sounds even better over the SED's too adding more bass overtones and clarity to the amp. PV, screen ratings, and tube data I have been told by multiple credible sources are not a problem for use in the CCV. TAD EL34B STR's are the ticket in the power section of this amp for me.
 
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