Rebel 20 got a tune up-a full retube and review

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thickwood

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I thought the aggressive nature of the pre amp could be tamed for smoother breakup .
The power tube overdrive notion had me choose the RI Mullard el84 pair and the tungsol 6v6gt duet.
The creamy overdrive these particular tungsol 6v6gt on reviews was correct.
The mullard el84 do not have the the jj tesle hard crunch but a unique overdrive.
Add a 23watt bitmo attenuator for load to get your master volume up high and with the gain at noon it completely changed its character too a huge bottom end and midrange ive never heard so much depth there before,the strident highs were now smooth round tones ,sustained all day long begging for blues ,i ablidged.

I played awhile and reached for my Way Huge green rhino my fav OD pedal and realized it was off,i thought it was on as usual.
It has a bass adjustment pot so i was gonna back off some,what a pleasent surprize.
I now know this amp has a big blues tone inside,full thick as fudge notes,whew
No preamp distortion at noon on the gain,my opinion of the REBEL 20 ,its a sleeper til pushed then a big mean huge growl comes out,i mean all the notes were thick and the midrange control didnt make any difference?
So power tube overdrive was all it needed,i had no idea it had this thick midrange .
Note also i had the watts control on 3 about.
I didnt think it would overdrive with the watts down,this thing needs to be cranked up live.
A possible studio jem for recording ,i had a Nova Delay and Hardwire reverb in the loop running,astounding was my opinion.
Speaker 2-12" eminence Wizard and Tonker.
The preamp tubes are 2x tungsol gold pin 12ax7 and the phase inverter is a sovtek lps 12ax7
I spent $135.00 on tubes,but you gotta have spares right.
 
I also really like the Tung Sol 12AX7 and 6V6, hard to beat for smooth/creamy blues tones, good choices. Of course the Mullards are nothing to sneeze at either, but I haven't experienced their EL84.
 
The tungsol 6v6 gets breakup earlier than others and holds up,certain amps will redplate these TS ,fender and a possible budda if they make a 6v6 amp,budda has a knack of high plate voltage.
I cant remember which fender amp it was.
I was kinda dissapointed in the 12ax7 mullard,it is low gain and hifi like,but warmly nice.
 
Thank you for the review. I completely agree with your assessment on the Tung-Sols and the Mullards. I loaded up my Rebel 30 head with basically the same tubes. However, I popped an RCA 12AX7A grey plate into V1 and a balanced Tung Sol 12AX7 into V5. The tone is amazing and the overdrive is aggressive yet very musical.

My question is... Do the gold pins really make a difference? I'm also thinking about the long plate 12AX7 as the phase inverter. Does it seem to add to the bass and mids? Thanks!
 
The gold pins aren't what makes the tube special, the gold pins just basically mark the tube as special, whether selected for low microphonics, low noise, or something else special about the tube. Too many think that it's the pins themselves that are touted, and it isn't the pins being coated with gold that makes the tube special. So if you hear "gold pins are for suckers", or "gold pins aren't worth it", look past the pins to find out why the tube is special enough to get the gold pins.
 
Once a tube is produced testing is the next step at the factory,parameters are set and above average and below average tubes are identified.
GP tubes must meet or exceed certain criteria,it makes sence too me to not buy 10 average or below average tubes,but 5 very good tubes,i can hear the difference during swapping tubes.
Why waste money buying inferior tubes i will not use.
Its up too you,set your prioritys and budget and shop well,Yen audio in Arizona and Cryoset are the top of my vender list on e-bay,Yen has the best overall price vs quality,Cryoset has nothing but fabulous tubes,IMOP.
Another great tube is the RUBY 12ax7 ac7 HG and RUBY 12ax7 ac5 HG tubes,these tubes sing,great sweet highs.
MY favorite is the GP Tungsol 12ax7 and also the JJ tesla ecc803s GP inferior JJ tesla my lack some highs so again gold pin selected is best for me.
Sovtek 12ax7 lps for phase inverter .
Ive not tried penta but a very warm tube is sovtek 12ax7wa for brite amps like my laney vc30
 
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