Tube recomendations for Peavey XXX

Cenotaph

Cenotaph

Active member
What are some of your fave pre & power tubes for the XXX? Heard some horror stories with E34L's in these but wondering since I upped the values of the screen grid resistors (from 100ohm to 470ohm) it'll be ok? I do love the E34L's. Or maybe try the 6CA7's from JJ.

For the preamp tubes, I think I want something with a bit less gain at least in V1. I love the voicing of the amp but I have the gain on like 3.5 and thats on the crunch channel....just a massive amount of gain on tap I'll never use.
 
I used an NOS GE JAN 5751 in V2, not V1. You'll notice a difference on both channels, but it'll have a more distinct effect on the gain of channel 3, which is the one that's really in need of taming.

For some reason, JJ KT77's absolutely rule in that amp. Same with the JSX. I hated 6L6's in both. They definitely, (to me anyway), sound more aggressive and pissed off with EL34 flavors.

My preamp cocktail was:
V1 Tungsol 12AX7
V2 GE 5751
V3 JJ ECC83S
V4 , (PI) Sovtek 12AX7LPS (Balanced).

Also, crank that Master to about 10 o'clock, and use your channel volumes. Let the power amp breath.

I love that amp.
 
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napalmdeath said:
I used an NOS GE JAN 5751 in V2, not V1. You'll notice a difference on both channels, but it'll have a more distinct effect on the gain of channel 3, which is the one that's really in need of taming.

For some reason, JJ KT77's absolutely rule in that amp. Same with the JSX. I hated 6L6's in both. They definitely, (to me anyway), sound more aggressive and pissed off with EL34 flavors.

My preamp cocktail was:
V1 Tungsol 12AX7
V2 GE 5751
V3 JJ ECC83S
V4 , (PI) Sovtek 12AX7LPS (Balanced).

Also, crank that Master to about 10 o'clock, and use your channel volumes. Let the power amp breath.

I love that amp.
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awesome advice, I will have to get a quad of KT77's been wanting to try them in an amp anyway, luckily Eurotubes is literally 5 mins away from my house. I have an old GE kicking around here too, will have to experiment. this will be a good chance to play with some one off tubes I have kicking around from old amps I've swapped tubes in, or sold etc. Mullards, Phillips, GE, Sylvanias I even think I have all those preamp tubes you mentioned on hand minus the Balanced Sovtek.
 
Cenotaph said:
i heard a few people say this, what did it do?
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Blow the SGR's. But since you upgraded yours, you might have better luck.

I would be wary, though. Yes, they're fat-sounding, but they're not the only good-sounding EL34 type out there to make them worth taking the risk.

I liked the amp better with 6L6's, anyway. I just cranked the bias knob when set to 6L6 mode. It still ran cold, but I honestly like my Peaveys running a bit cold. Otherwise, I feel they start getting bloated in the low mids fast.

Other than that, I didn't think it needed a lower gain tube in the first stages. I never tried it, it could've been useful, but I could do just fine by just keeping the gain below 10:00. Then again, I never played anything where I needed a low-ish gain tone. But I guess if you want the Crunch channel to actually do crunch, you might have to.

I ran all Chinese AX7's in the pre and then an LPS in the PI. Pretty standard stuff. But the amp is voiced so well, I didn't think it needed anything fancy.
 
Rex Rocker said:
Blow the SGR's. But since you upgraded yours, you might have better luck.

I would be wary, though. Yes, they're fat-sounding, but they're not the only good-sounding EL34 type out there to make them worth taking the risk.

I liked the amp better with 6L6's, anyway. I just cranked the bias knob when set to 6L6 mode. It still ran cold, but I honestly like my Peaveys running a bit cold. Otherwise, I feel they start getting bloated in the low mids fast.

Other than that, I didn't think it needed a lower gain tube in the first stages. I never tried it, it could've been useful, but I could do just fine by just keeping the gain below 10:00. Then again, I never played anything where I needed a low-ish gain tone. But I guess if you want the Crunch channel to actually do crunch, you might have to.

I ran all Chinese AX7's in the pre and then an LPS in the PI. Pretty standard stuff. But the amp is voiced so well, I didn't think it needed anything fancy.
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Yeah, mine was a little cold on the 6L6 side but you can switch it to the EL34 setting and set the bias low to get it into range. I have mine sitting at about 35ma with 6L6’s on the EL34 setting. Sounds really good! Going to try some KT77’s as suggested above.
 
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