VH4 with Kt77

  • Thread starter Thread starter Edoardo
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Edoardo

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Hi
my name's Edoardo,Im from Italy and new to the forum.I just bought a Diezel VH4 used and i got a few questions:the previous owner equpped it with 4 KT77's power amp tubes..is it a good choice?the pre-amp tubes are a huge mix..chinese,Mesa,JJ...a mess!I like my tone,but i would like to have more gain,and more mid/high..the tone now is a alittle somewhat dark,not enough sustain,a lot of hiss..i need help how to change the tubes to get a richer tone,please give me some tips! :) thanks.
(my equipment is DiMarzioEvolution-equipped guitars,Mesa REctifier cabinet w/V30's,neutrik cables)
 
Welcome Edoardo !

V1 ..... 12AX7A-C Highgrade
V2 thru V7 12AX7A-C Selected
Power tubes ..... EL34B-STR

If the amp stays dark, You can send it to me.

Peter
 
How do you know if a tube is "high grade"?

Best wishes,

Bullseye
 
danke dir Peter! but I have 4 JJ's KT77's,i have ever seen this kind of tubes in a guitar head;i add a picture.the bias is EL34 selected,is it everything ok?i dont wanna have probles with the transformers..also:Am i getting the best tone from the amp with this tubes?I think i m going to change them..but I dont really know what tubes choose..EL34's or 6L6's?which are better for extrem high gain tones and in the same time clarity of playing?thanks
 

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Dear Edoardo !

I see You have an older model. They sound darker than the new ones.
Are You interested to send the amp to Germany ?
I will do the latest mods for free and will retube it.
 
he,at the moment i cannot,because im leaving home for a few months (season-work... :( ),but I think im going to send to you the amp in september.
anyway..do you prefer the EL34 to the 6L6 in this amp?which are the difference?and with KT77's?this tubes that are on now..i dont' know,i dont feel good with them,they looks very..hi-fi stuff :D or am I just getting crazy? :)
thanks for the help,I m very proud of this amp and i want to get the best i can from it!
 
Edoardo,
Your power tubes are JJ KT77s. Currently I am using JJ KT77s in my VH4 and I really like them. It is true like you Edoardo stated that they are a bit more HiFis than i.e. EL34(L)s. On a general level all I would say that all of the KT type of power tubes are relatively "HiFi" sounding, but personally I prefer them because they are so clear sounding - Well, I am using very low tunings (8-string territory).

Edoardo,
Have you tried your KT77 equipped VH4 with higher master volumes? At least for me it does the trick in i.e. Ch3 with channel volume approximately 12.00 (o'clock) and master around 11.00 (o'clock).

Peter,
Where is the "line" between dark and not so dark VH4 models?
Mine is 06 and I assume that it belongs to the not so dark family. Still it is rather dark, which I actually hapen to like, because I can "push it" a bit more without getting harsh sounding (esp. with Celestion V30s).
 
hi im back :)
thanks for the answer I.ak..but:do you think that with KT77's i could have a little..lack in the gain section?did you try the head with 6L6/EL34 tubes,if yes,what difference did you hear?thanks
 
Lack in gain. Honestly, absolutely no. I do not need to turn the gain over 1 o'clock. (Did I mention that I play metal most of the time.)

I would say that you have "problems" in your preamp section if you do not have enough gain. Or are you meaning that you would like to have more saturation in your sound?

Have you cranked your amp?

I had Ruby EL34 tubes, which were really good. They just were not exactly my cup of tea. I prefer the KT77s over EL34(L)s, but next I will try KT88s.
 
ok I had the opportunity to crank the amp in a few gigs..let me show my impressions.
first gig:the pub was quite little,so i couldnt push it very loud..anyway,i decided to set the master volume (so the power amp volume,right?)at 12 o clock,and keep the single channel volume at almost 9 o clock..damn,i think it was an error..maybe i should balance the two volumes better,but i thought,as it worked with the previous amps I've had,the i should choose to crank first the power amp,then the pre..the sound was pretty,but not what i expected.
second gig:ok big area,so i managed to crank the amp very very loud...ouch now it kick ass!but the other guitarist used a Koch Powertone 2 with 6L6's..man,it was amazing too!i think im going to put the 6L6's too instead of KT77's,i dont feel good with them.I just felt that i have a little lack of sustain and a little less volume in the channel 3..is it probably a 12AX7?which tube should I change of the 7?thanks!
 
I also changed some 12AX7's yesterday.. I changed some Sovtek that put the previous owner :doh: with some ElectroHarmonix,then i put a Tubetown(chinese selected)in V1 and.. yeah,I obtained much more gain on channel 3,and less bass in channel 2 as I wanted.but now there's another problem..the clean channel(1) isnt clean anymore..it suonds like you use a bridge humbucker all the time even if I use a single coil in the middle position..what did I do wrong?help!thanks :D
 
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Edoardo":262b9 said:
..but I dont really know what tubes choose..EL34's or 6L6's?which are better for extrem high gain tones and in the same time clarity of playing?thanks
Click to expand...

Hi Edoardo, you can find literally thousands of posts on various forums across the www. comparing EL34 vs 6L6 tubes. The only think I'd add relating directly to the VH4 is that your amp is already relatively dark and the 6L6 is darker than EL34. Ultimately I believe it depends mostly what guitars and pickups you use to make your decision. Clarity of playing starts with the fingers that is then translated by the guitar to the amp. Channels 1-3 of VH4 can amplify and maintain clarity very well (with the right settings tweaks of course) I believe with either output tubes, but the darker it gets the more difficult it becomes for the notes to be defined. I personally am still struggling with gaining (pun intended) control of Channel #4 with any of my guitars and settings :confused: :doh: :cry: ... but apparently it's doable (as evidenced by the success of others) and I look forward to achieving this someday! :thumbsup: LOL

Since I play 3 guitars pretty much evenly across the board: a Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul, PRS triple soapbar and a Strat ... I just about cover everything in the tone dept (single coils, humbuckers and P-90s) and use 6L6 tubes with an exotic :eek: combination of NOS preamp tubes to get my very wide palate of VH4S sounds. Perhaps if you do have your amp modified to be less dark you may find 6L6 a worthy choice (as I have), but otherwise me thinks EL34 would be the better choice right now (and perhaps you'll also prefer them afterwards too). Ciao bella!
 
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