Research, Blues Tubes?

[ShikePoke]

Greetings all, I am new to the forum. I have heard only good things about George and his following.

I have been doing some reading about tone on these forums, most referring back to AC/DC, angus type tones. Just doing some reading this morning on tubes and characteristics, and more reference to angus. Although I cannot speak with authority about angus, I have a question I need answered in some fashion.

Are there tubes that lend themselves to more of a cleaner brighter tone, with plenty of bottom as well(I also realize the speaker choice helps here, along with proper guitar setup)?...as I tend to play in the middle of the "breakup" spectrum, leaving some clean underneath. Using an American strat...

The first song here: http://www.myspace.com/shikepoke" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was recorded with a Marshall AVT50 and univibe for the verses, no univibe for the lead. This is the type tone I am after. Looking to get a 412 cab with greenback/vintage 30 mix, and of course the '67 100 watt kit.

Looking to build my live rig...woohoo! I'm excited and I haven't even ordered yet!

Thanks,
Poke

[basile865]

Hey man. I like the tones you get on those clips cool stuff.

I'm not the best guy to answer your question but from my understanding EL34's have the least headroom meaning theyll break up earlier at lower volumes before another type tube like a 6550. Still though, on my plexi, it gets pretty loud before starting to break up and it has EL34's. If you want to plug straight in and get natural overdrive I'd select an EL34 type tube. If you use an overdrive pedal for your gain then maybe a 6550?

Also as you know, it depends on how hot your pickups are and the type of speakers you use.

Other more knowledgeable dudes will chime in for you though. Hope that helped at least a bit. If not nice clips anyway!

[ShikePoke]

Diggin on that "Leavin" tune...nice work. Thanks for the insight, I'll check em out!

Poke

[demonufo]

Also in the pre-amp, you can experiment with using ECC81's instead of ECC83's. Especially in V3.
This can help with headroom. Works wonders in my 2204, when I'm in the mood for a little less raucousness.

Just about all tubes sound different, radically in some cases, although there was a lot of rebranding going on in the past.
Of course changing the type of ECC83 won't change the sound of that AVT at all though! They don't seem to do a lot of tone-shaping in the valvestate series.

[basile865]

Thanks bud, that was done on the jcm2000 a long time ago.

[ShikePoke]

My luthier suggested looking into "ruby tubes". Says Carlos uses them. Anyone had any experience with them?

Poke

[jcs]

ruby tubes is just a rebrander,nothing wrong with their tubes as they do screen them well,but i use the good old production tubes mainly.

sylvania big bottle 6ca7/el34 are great for more bottom end and a bit less mid push with plenty of top end,more of a 6l6gc meets 6550 flavor than say a typical el34.