she's hot naked...

[geetar_geek79]

haha. got ya, pervs.
...though it is hot and it is naked
i was referring to this

i'm actually in the process of retubing the whole thing and they should arrive tomorrow. it currently has 4 ruby el34, 2 ruby 6l6 (outer pair), a bunch of jj front end, and an EH 12AX7 (the one that doesn't seem to glow at all) :?

i realized a couple of days ago that i'm not an el34 guy eventhough i've had them in the herbert since i bought it 3 years ago. sorry, i know a lot of guys like el34's but not me. i'm not saying it sounds bad, just not my sound at all. remember, i was able to live with el34s for 3 years so it must've sounded good to me in a way. i removed all four 6l6 from my dual rectifier and put them in the herbert in place of the el34, so i was running all 6l6 in it just to test it out. wow! i really liked it.

i have been researching different tubes for about a month now even before i really decided to replace the tubes, and it came down to two sets of power tubes. i was either gonna get a set of SED "c" 6550 or a set of KT88. i have no experience with 6550s whatsoever, and the only experience i have with kt88s is when i tried a vht (fryette) deliverance in a guitar store. that amp sounded really raw but in an awesome way, hence the kt88.

after much googling, i decided to go with 6550 because from what i learned, they're more similar sounding to 6l6 just with a higher headroom. the kt88s were mostly described as similar to el34s, again only with higher headroom. i'll be putting 4 SED 6550 and 2 SED 6l6. i'm keeping the outer pair as 6l6 so i can still get that classic 6l6 sound. for the front end, i decided to go jj all the way. i'll update you with how it sounds when i get the tubes tomorrow.

any of you have opinions on 6550s or kt88s?

 

[arkame]

I use kt88 and the sound is very different as with the el34.

 

[MourningEngine]

Personally I wouldn't use JJ preamp tubes because they tend to get very noisy and have a strange sound in any Diezel amp I tried them. Ruby 12AX7 all the way

Of course it's just my opinion.

 

[kayman121]

I'm partial to KT88s myself

I ran mine like that too when I was retubing. I'd have kept it that way for the cool factor, but I was OCD about the innards being exposed on the underside.

Some NSFW Herbie thread this is turning into

 

[SwampDonkey]

Personally I wouldn't use JJ preamp tubes because they tend to get very noisy and have a strange sound in any Diezel amp I tried them. Ruby 12AX7 all the way

Of course it's just my opinion.

That's odd, I have JJ pre's in mine and find it to be very quiet. Same with my ENGL SE and several other amps I ran JJ's in. Very quiet tubes in my experience, and the Herbert actually runs quieter without a noise gate than the SE did with the onboard noisegate engaged.

I have been wanting to try the Ruby 12ax7HG's though, just to brighten things up a bit. I have a very good sound dialed in with the JJ's, but it's still just a tad dark for my taste.

 

[PaulyPanacea]

i personally dig the 6550s in both my Herbert & VH4. I used to be a EL34/6L6 combo guy for years...but i tried the 6550s and wow!! They are awesome. Woke the amp up IMO.Again, only my opinion. I just like them alot more than the others.

as for Pres..i have had tons of luck with the TAD pre's. Sound great all the time & take a lickin. I also have the new Rubys & dig them too.

 

[gbsmusic]

haha. got ya, pervs.
...though it is hot and it is naked
i was referring to this

That just what I was hoping to see. I just finished myself off as soon as I saw her!!

 

[prsdiezel]

I'm partial to KT88s myself

I ran mine like that too when I was retubing. I'd have kept it that way for the cool factor, but I was OCD about the innards being exposed on the underside.

Some NSFW Herbie thread this is turning into

BEEFY!!!!