Looking for input on retubing my PEAVEY ULTRA PLUS 120

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ashesofathena

ashesofathena

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Recently bought the Peavey Ultra Plus 120 Head. Turned my Amp on one day to find my volume had drastically cut down! So i gutted the tubes out and found out i have 12AX7A Tubes- 4 Power Tubes, 4 Pre Amp Tubes. It had SOVTEK Power tubes & Groove Tubes for the Preamp Section.

This is my first TUBE head. Being my first, this is all new to me. I have a few buddies who own Tube heads. They have there recommendations.

I play a HEAVIER Modern Rock/Alternative/Metal type sound. Very versatile. I like High Gain at times. I run a floor board/rack through my effects loop which consists of:

MY Rack Case:
Furman Power Conditioner
BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer
ISP Technologies DECIMATOR ProRackG
Behringer Rack Tuner

My rack is chained to my "MONKEY BOARD" :rock: floor board where i have a Loop Master that i can operate 2 signal chains independently which have my Boss Super Chorus and Digital delay.

I have a Ernie Ball Volume Pedal,Dimebag Wah and MXR Wylde Overdrive for my boosts.

Before my "tubes" went i would operate my reverb from my Amp footswitch. When the effects loop was plugged in i would have the reverb on the ULTRA set to about 7-9 o'clock and i would hear this high peircing feedback. So i had to turn the Reverb down on the amp to about 3-4 o'clock.

Anyone Ever hear of such a problem?
Any Recomendations on what types of tubes i should go with?
Any types of Special Mods i could do to my amp as well?

I would appreciate all Feedback from all users! Thanks!
 
Well, I'm not sure if your problems are tube related, but I can tell you what I use in my Ultra 60. I have JJ6l6 for power tubes, two RFT 12ax7 in V1 and V2, and tung sol 12ax7 in the rest.

If you think the problem is tube related then just get one 12ax7 and one 6l6 and replace one tube at a time and see if it fixed it.
 
Thanks for the quick response Mudder!

What style of music do you play?

How would you best describe your amp tone?

I will be replacing all my tubes. Just to be sure and see how much life expectancy i can get out of them.

1 more question: Are the Peavey Ultra Series Fixed bias? Meaning i don't have to get the head Biased everytime i retube?
 
I play mostly classic and modern rock. I really like strong mids to help open up the tone a bit and add clarity. My Ultra covers that in spades. I run treble at 3:00, mids and bass at noon. Then I plug into the low input and run on the ultra channel with gain set around 3:00 and it just growls. I like the low input because it avoids the fizz and compression of the high gain input, and you can still boost the front if you wanted.

I think the bias is fixed, in that you can swap any 6l6 in and not worry. In reality every tube is a bit different and the amp could use a bias mod, but I'm happy right now. Plus I'm hesitant to spend money on options on an amp that's so cheap to buy.

Killer amp for the money, I wish the clean channel was a bit brighter on the low input, it's really good on the high input though.
 
ashesofathena":1j3odytm said:
Before my "tubes" went i would operate my reverb from my Amp footswitch. When the effects loop was plugged in i would have the reverb on the ULTRA set to about 7-9 o'clock and i would hear this high peircing feedback. So i had to turn the Reverb down on the amp to about 3-4 o'clock.
Click to expand...

I have this problem as well, it kinda sounds like a buzz saw that gets louder as the reverb level is increased so I just ripped the reverb tank out. It must be an issue on the circuit board because there really isn't anything that could foul up in the tank besides the wiring, which in mine looks fine
 
there fixed bias.. you can put other 6L6 or 5881 in the output section. and as for pre.. get chinese 12ax7 for v1-3 and a sovtek lps for phrase inverter tube.. this amp sounds killer with those.. and JJ,tad winged c in output section.. i loved this amp and will own it again.. get all around amp, can do it all..
 
@Destrokhan & ashesofathena - I know this is an old thread but I had the same reverb issue with my Ultra Plus and it took me forever to figure it out. I was getting the random squeal and noise for years until one night at practice I stomped the reverb switch while it was happening and it was gone. I never used much reverb before and now I don't use it on any of my amps. I've replaced tubes a few times and that definitely didn't fix the problem.

I wish there was more info out there on these amps, I've had mine since 2002 and it is a freakin' tank. I've got a DOD eq in the loop and it sounds killer. I'll run a TS or an SD-1 in front sometimes but this amp really doesn't need much of a push like a Marshall does. I'm running high-gain JJ's from Eurotubes in the Power and Preamp and I've tried Sovtek's, EH's which all seem to work great. The JJ's are warmer and the Sovtek/EH's are a little sharper/solid state sounding. Never tried any Chinese tubes in the preamp - what brand would be good to try on this beast?
 
I need some help with this squealing issue. I guess it's the reverb tank? My son's Ultra Plus just developed this problem. We retubed it today, but it still squeals. I can just disconnect the reverb? Can I buy a new reverb tank? Can anyone direct me to a thread with a fix in it? Thanks in advance for any help or input.
 
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