Groove tubes or Mesa(sovtek)

[11miles]

I am between changing preamp tubes!

I used Tesals Ecc83 in my ada mp1!
Pretty good, but did not have the punch i wanted especially at the down/mid range!
It sort of lost the power when played lower tones. Especially when tuned in normal dropped-d tuning!

So am looking for some new stuff that would get me more power on the low tones!
I really do not need those high gain characteristic with the tube!
The problem is that Teslas i now use are pretty hgh gain therefore my output level on ada is never further than 1/2 and my mesa 50/50 is more 15/15, if you now what i mean!
Anyway i have a lot more gain to spare so i dont need those high gain tubes!

Was looking at some mesa boogie tubes(sovtek actually) and then saw cleveland hated them!
Why exactly?

Anyway my 2 choices now would be sovtek 12ax7(mesa brand)
or groove tubes!

Whhat should i go for!
Remember i need my bas tones to be boosted and powerful!

Cleveland, which tubes are in a rocktron voodoo?
Or in a triple rec?
Thanks

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Re: Groove tubes or Mesa(sovtek)

Mesa has this one tube which is pretty nice. Costs a bit more than the others they sell but I like how it sounds. Its a monster of a tube. It's the SPAX7A. I think thats the model number. I wish my local music store would carry more of them.

I'm sure if you go to the Mesa site you can read up on their different tubes.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Groove tubes or Mesa(sovtek)

The Voodu Valve actually comes with a GE JAN-5751. These are interchangable with 12AX7, but have like somewhere around 30% less gain. A regular 12ax7 is way too intense and distorted in a Voodu.

In my CAE, the 5751s seem to have a subtle weird warbley tone to the leads that I seem to hear when using them in the high gain stages, and that freaks me out a little. I used the GE JAN 5751, maybe I shold try a different brand in the CAE and see if it's different. The GE JANs sounded perfectly fine in the voodu. Some amps just react differently to different tubes.

Seems I've heard about using possibly a 5751 or maybe like a 12at7 or 12au7 (I can't remember which of those last two)in the MP-1 and that is sposed to let you crank the gain higher, bring out a lot of tone in them and keep them quieter. Maybe someone can comment.

As for 12ax7 tubes, I prefer the 80s vintage Chinese "cheese grater getter" NOS tubes. You can get them on the bay for like $6 a piece usually.

I went through 16 of those SPAX MES tubes at a friends store once to get a non microphonic one, so I don't have much faith in them at all.

The reason I don't like Sovtek preamps is because I find them harsh and non-musical in the distortion characteristics. Personally, I would not spend a dime on a sovtech tube.

My CAE preamp really displays tubes sound a lot and you may or may not notice the differences in some amps.

I would look mostly at the previously mentioned NOS chinese, or the current chinese that are available from say the tubestore.com (you do get some bad ones though, beware). Ruby, and Tesla are also making decent stuff too that many people like.

I'd really look into trying a lower gain tube in that MP-1 and see if it sounds better at higher gain settings. Lotsa people seem to do that.

Good luck.

[ May 26, 2003, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: Cleveland Metal ]

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Re: Groove tubes or Mesa(sovtek)

From my experience with the MP-1 and the mesa tubes. I really think the SPAX7-A would help you along with what you are looking for. Thats just my opinion though.

You can read a little on the tube I am talking about here SPAX7-A Info