Stock preamp tubes on Armageddon?

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K-Bizzle

K-Bizzle

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Just curious if anyone knows what the stock preamp tubes are in the Armageddon?

I bought mine new from GC a couple months ago. It was a floor model so it was a little beat up but was sold to me as new.

The other week I replaced two of the 6L6s with EL34s and I LOVE them which made me want to consider preamp tube options.
When I checked what was in there I was surprised to find a mix since most companies usually just put all the same tube in their amps stock.
Tubes were as follows:

V1 Electro Harmonix
V2 Tung Sol
V3 Tung Sol
V4 Ruby
V5 Ruby
PI Ruby

All the Rubys and Tungs were Egnater labeled so I assume they are stock but the EH is not. Just curious if this is stock or not.
Honestly I think the amp sounds great and don't really plan on changing anything at the moment but it'd be nice to know if it were original or not.
 
K-Bizzle":1dqxznal said:
Just curious if anyone knows what the stock preamp tubes are in the Armageddon?

I bought mine new from GC a couple months ago. It was a floor model so it was a little beat up but was sold to me as new.

The other week I replaced two of the 6L6s with EL34s and I LOVE them which made me want to consider preamp tube options.
When I checked what was in there I was surprised to find a mix since most companies usually just put all the same tube in their amps stock.
Tubes were as follows:

V1 Electro Harmonix
V2 Tung Sol
V3 Tung Sol
V4 Ruby
V5 Ruby
PI Ruby

All the Rubys and Tungs were Egnater labeled so I assume they are stock but the EH is not. Just curious if this is stock or not.
Honestly I think the amp sounds great and don't really plan on changing anything at the moment but it'd be nice to know if it were original or not.
Click to expand...


I have the Vengeance head and those are the same pre tubes I had in mine stock, except for the EH.
Mine were all Ruby except for the 2 Tung Sol.
The Vengeance and Armageddon are very similar with Arm having a couple more features and maybe a bit more gain.

The Tung's have really good high gain and that's why Egnater is using those, but they also tend to be kind bright and a bit raspy.
I've been it up and right now I'm running Sovtek LP's in V3 and V4, which is the high gain channel tubes.
V1 and V2 are the clean channel pre's and of course V1 feeds V3 and V4.
V5 is effects loop.
For the PI I have used Sovtek LPS and they work great in that position.
Currently using Sovtek 7025 in the PI and it's great too.

My power tubes are SED Winged C's, just a pair on the outside because I mostly run in 60 watt mode.

BTW, have you experimented with the ODS and ODV settings that are switched with a small toggle right behind the transformer on the right side as you're looking at the back of the amp.
If you look at Egnater's tube layout diagram you'll see a switch labelled ODS and ODV.
From the factory it's set to ODS.
ODS is "over drive solid state", and ODV is "over drive valve".
ODS is an analog solid state circuit for the high gain. Your amp will still play even if V1 tube is blown, because ODS takes the place of it.

ODV is all valve/tube and uses only the pre tubes for gain.
Try both positions and hear what you like better.
I prefer ODV as I can hear better harmonic content and a richer tone.
ODS seems to have a bit more gain, but ODV depends on which tube you're using as well.
ODV changes gain as you change to different tubes.
ODS stays the same as it's solid state.
 
Hey thanks for the response!

Good to know, maybe I'll play around a bit with the tubes I have on hand to see how I can get it sounding.

I have messed with the ODS/ODV switch a little (thanks to the info Bruce posted in another thread on here) and I'm still not sure which I prefer.
Still have to spend some time with it to decide.

How do you compare the sound of the OD channel between the Sovteks and the Tung Sols?
 
K-Bizzle":3jqkxav5 said:
Hey thanks for the response!

Good to know, maybe I'll play around a bit with the tubes I have on hand to see how I can get it sounding.

I have messed with the ODS/ODV switch a little (thanks to the info Bruce posted in another thread on here) and I'm still not sure which I prefer.
Still have to spend some time with it to decide.

How do you compare the sound of the OD channel between the Sovteks and the Tung Sols?
Click to expand...

To my ear, the Sovteks have a smoother distortion and overall tone, and pretty much the same gain, nicely high.
The Tung's have great gain too, but are brighter and depending on the guitar and tone settings can be a bit brittle.
Both are nice sounding tubes and it really depends on personal preference, the guitar, and speakers you're using.
The Vengeance and Armageddon tends towards a darker tone so I'm sure that's why Egnater chose the Tung's to help brighten it up.

On my Vengeance pushing the Presence to at least 3pm and higher gets a great tone and brings the amp to life, even with the Tung's and Sovteks. With the Sovteks it seems I have better and/or smoother response from the treble and presence controls.
BTW, this is about the Sovtek LPS, which I like more than the 7025's. The 7025 Sovtek works great in the phase inverter position as does the LPS.
 
Just to update after switching to my NOS Sylvania 12AX7 I really prefer ODV to ODS.
Difference isn't HUGE but its definitely there. ODV is clearer than ODS with my set up.

I forgot which was which when doing my testing so I had to look up to see if the one I liked was ODV or ODS.
 
K-Bizzle":3qgcqet1 said:
Just to update after switching to my NOS Sylvania 12AX7 I really prefer ODV to ODS.
Difference isn't HUGE but its definitely there. ODV is clearer than ODS with my set up.

I forgot which was which when doing my testing so I had to look up to see if the one I liked was ODV or ODS.
Click to expand...

When you get a good sounding tube in the V1 position, ODV is the way to go.
It has richer harmonic content and a bit less fizzy fuzziness, not that there is a lot on ODS.

BTW, if you V1 tube every fails you can switch to ODS and the amp will still work. :)

I've gone through so many amps over the past 9 months, and right now I have 4 heads.
The Vengeance that I bought a few months ago, and a Bugera TriRec Laney Ironheart 60, and Randall RD45.
The Vengeance wins and the other 3 are going back.
The others have high gain, but the Ven has more and it's smoother with more growl. Plus, the clean and semi clean Egnater tones can't be beat. The only other amp that has rival clean is a Fender, but Fender's clean is brighter and I prefer the warmer cleans of an Egnater.

There is only one more amp I want to get and try out, the EVH 5150 III mini. I've played it a couple of times and really liked it.
I want it in my space so I can really test it against the Vengeance.
 
I have a black one with 212 matching cab and covers im gonna sell
 
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