Paul power/pre amp options

shane1713

Member
Looking for suggestions for power or pre amp options. Looking to make it a little more “squishy”/more give...plays a little stiff for me. Specifically channel 2 and 3. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
What's your bias set to? If it's too low, it can make any amp sound a little more stiff than it should.

What power tubes are you using? Personally, I'm a big fan of KT77s, but EL34s might be a little softer.

What preamp tubes are you using? Preamp tubes are easy to play around with, since they don't require re-biasing. There are several types that are directly interchangeable with 12AX7s and not insignificant differences between the various makes and models of 12AX7s.

Are you looking for more compression? Then a higher gain tube should give you some. If you're looking to open the amp up a little more, then a lower gain option might work well.

What guitar/pickup are you using? Pickups can have a bigger impact on how an amp responds than many tube changes can.

What kind of tone are you going for? What kind of music are you playing?

Sorry for all the questions, but without knowing more, it's difficult for anyone to make any specific recommendations.
 
Thanks for your help. I am not necessarily looking for more gain just a little more “give” if you will when I play it. I have custom custom’s, a Jalen Franky, a a Jalen 78 and a Wolfgang in my guitars. I’m an 80’s guy at heart so the modded Marshall thing is where I like to live. Maybe a bit more saturation would help. It’s going into a diezel rear load d 2x12. Tubes and biasing are what it came with from the factory. Tone wise, th classics for me (evh (early), Lynch, DeMartini- I know these are nothing new to most); additionally I’m really digging Eric Steckel.
 
Hmm, I feel like you can definitely adjust the settings to make the Paul sound tight and focused, but it never sounds stiff at all to my ears. Not even a little stiff. In fact, I find it to be quite the opposite. I am running the stock tubes. If you're into the modded Marshall thing, maybe try these channel 2 settings:

Presence and Middle all the way up.
Bass at 10 o'clock
Treble at 11 o'clock
Gain between 9 and 10 o'clock
Deep: 0

I like to get the Channel 2 volume and Master volume to at least noon. It sounds like a different amp when you give it some volume.
For best results, I like to run both volumes full out. There is no loss of clarity when you push the Paul hard, even if you max the channel and master volumes.

For reference, here's a clip I made with the settings above. SM57 on a V30. No post eq.


https://app.box.com/s/tynp69yp37kq4v6c8hajam0gzt6wxziu
 
Cool... I'm an 80's guy at heart, too. It seems like you're right where you need to be with most of your rig. Just a little fine tuning ought to get you the rest of the way there. Based on your comments, I think I'd start by trying some EL34s. They're a little softer than KT77s and have bigger mids, slightly more rounded highs, and a little less low-end. A lot of those 80s tones were EL34s and although the KT77s are pretty close, they are a little different. I think rolling a few tubes through the pre might help, too. I'd try either a Sovtek 12AX7LPS or a JJ ECC803 in the PI slot. For the rest of the positions, you might want to try either the regular Mullard Reissue 12AX7 or their CV4004, possibly some Ruby 12AX7 AC5 HG+ (which may be what's in it now, or at least a variation of the Chinese 12AX7B). I know Peter uses the CV4004 in some amps, too, and I've had good luck with all of these tubes in various amps. If you can get your hands on some NOS glass, it would definitely not be wasted in the Paul!

FWIW, I'm slightly jealous of your Paul. It's one of those amps that I'd love to at least play, someday. Every clip I've heard, it just sounds so sweet. Definitely one great amp! I've been playing a Herbert for the past year+, and I just put in an order for a VH4... that'll be here Wednesday. Diezels are addicting!!
 
EL34's for sure! That's the first thing I did when I got my Paul and for me, it did exactly what you're looking to accomplish.
 
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