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Topic: New Tube in Blackbox |
Mitch Adelman
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2007 4:40 am |
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I bought one of Brad's wonderful Steel guitar BlackBoxes the first month they came out. I was very happy with it for about a year but it slowly lost its tight bottom and became 'saggy". Eventually, my Carter started to sound distorted and I had to take the BlackBox out of my rack. I contacted Brad and he told me to take out the JJ AU7 tube out and put in an ElectroHarmonix AU7 and see if that cleans things up. Wow! What a difference! Beautiful "airy" "sweet" tone with a tight bottom.The best my steel ever sounded, even better than when I first got the Blackox. It might be worth 12 bucks to get one of those EH tubes and try it in your blackbox! Its back in the rack for keeps now!Thanks Brad!!
Mitch |
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Rick Nicklas
From:
Verona, Mo. (deceased)
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Posted 12 Mar 2007 11:20 am
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| Mitch ... Where did you get this brand in the AU7. I tried Radio Shack and he just grinned at me and said he hasn't seen any tubes in years. Maybe a TV store or online? |
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Bill Miller
From:
Gaspe, Quebec, Canada
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Rick Nicklas
From:
Verona, Mo. (deceased)
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Posted 12 Mar 2007 6:00 pm
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| Thanks Bill... |
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Mitch Adelman
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2007 4:19 am New tube for Blackbox
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Rick,
The tubestore link shown is where I got mine too! They have all different brands but Brad said stick with the Electroharmonix AU7. Great company. I bought many sets of tubes (power and preamp and rectifier)from them for all my amps and the tubestore has always been quick, reliable, and the best quality and service! The preamp tubes are cheap and certainly worth ordering a EH AU7 for at least a spare for your blackbox!Best buy more than 1 to make the shipping cost worthwhile!! |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2007 6:25 am
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Regarding new tubes, I've had the best success in the past year or so with the EH (Electro Harmonix which is owned by or owns Sovtek/New Sensor) 12AU7, but don't be afraid to try any NOS (New Old Stock) American or European 12AU7 tubes. The Sylvanias and GE's sound great. The RCA's I tried were a bit harder sounding, but still good. A Mullard or Telefunken would be very hard to beat. But for new tubes, the EH seems to be pretty good quality for the new Russian makes, and they do sound good. For a while I was using JJ, and sometimes I still do, but last year I had trouble with a batch of JJ's that were unreliable. A few of them turned crackly and noisy within a couple of months. The EH's have been much more sturdy for me recently. I generally don't like the Chinese tubes. The EI brand was also a downer last time I checked. JJ has a new tube called an ECC802s. It's sort of their clone of a Telefunken long-plate 12AU7. Great sounding tube. No report on reliability yet though.
Also check out NOS 5814 or 6680 tubes. These are variations on the 12AU7 and work great if you find a good one. Some of these tubes are often microphonic. That means that you can hear them when you tap on the glass. If they're really microphonic, sometimes the music can feedback into the tube acoustically and create some unpleasant resonances. I have to hand select every tube for low microphonics. Sometimes it's a crap shoot when you order just one, but some of these better tube dealers can pre-test for microphonics. By all means feel free to experiment with various 12AU7 tubes. The NOS tubes from the '50's and '60s will very likely be high quality, reliable, and long lived because back then tubes tended to be manufactured to military spec's, or at least higher spec's than today.
Brad |
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Joe Savage
From:
St. Paul, MN
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Posted 13 Mar 2007 10:37 am
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Hey Brad, I'm noticing distortion, as well. The tube in mine is an ECC82. Should I find a AU7 somewhere?
Thanks. |
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Rick Nicklas
From:
Verona, Mo. (deceased)
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Posted 13 Mar 2007 5:31 pm
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| I ordered the Electro Harmonix AU7 Gold. There was two options and I chose the $14.00 hoping for the best quality. There is nothing quite like the Black Box when you keep it healthy. |
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Henry Nagle
From:
Santa Rosa, California
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 8:10 pm
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| I have a friend who is a fairly well known amp builder. He recently opened up a Black Box and had nothing but nice things to say about the build quality and the tone. I've been meaning to get one for a long time. |
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Joe Savage
From:
St. Paul, MN
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 8:20 pm
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| Got an EH 12AU7 replacement yesterday. Looks like they are one and the same as an ECC82. Don't know much about tubes. But love the way they sound. I rarely play without the Black Box. |
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Al Sato
From:
Texas Hill Country
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Posted 15 Mar 2007 11:55 pm
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Say, Brad, any experiences with NOS 12AU7 tubes? Not that my Black Box sounds bad, but I have a line on some of these puppies...
Thanks.
Al
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So many stringed instruments, so little time... |
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