All 12AX7s are interchangeable. If you need NOS assistance, a great guy is Mike at www.kcanostubes.com [/quote]

Thanks very much for this Myles-I`m busy with audio and visual projects at the moment but I will contact Mike-hopefully I can get something going before jumping back into the studio in April.

Myles, I'm considering buying A Hot Rod Deluxe and I live in China. I need a voltage transformer, the one I'm looking at is a 350 watt transformer, will that work for me.

The power consumption of the Fender HRD is 180 watts. 350 watt capacity for a voltage conversion transformer would be quite sufficient.

The details are in the HRD owners manual which you can read here:

http://support.fender.com/manuals/guitar_amplifiers/Hot_Rod_Deluxe_manual.pdf

Hi Myles,
I have a Germino Masonette 25 (watt) amplifier. I want to use an attenuator and I'm currently looking at an older Weber MASS cone-less speaker attenuator (rated 25 watts) as opposed to a resistor based attenuator.
Can you give me any advice regarding the wattage?
Both the amp and attenuator are rated 25 watts. I do not plan on diming out the amp - just pushing it harder than I can without an attenuator.
Any relevant information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Myles!!

The Weber unit will work fine.

There was some concern that a 25 watt amp needed a 50 watt+ attenuator. Apparently not the case.

Thanks for your input Myles, much appreciated.

In the past, the first "100" watt Marshall plexis really put out close to 170 watts at times in some of the higher plate voltage amps. Their 4x12 at the time used 4 30 watt Celestion AlNiCo speakers. Yes, there were always cases of blown speakers but most players found the setup to work just fine and dandy.

Bottom line, the odds are in your favor. I see many more blown amps than the attenuators they are driving.

I'd love to have you chime in on this:

Leo Fender's Boat-thread

These are lovely boats. The M40, 42, 43 and 45 were all great and are all still great.

Cap'n Leo's fleet!

Hey! That's the one I use for my e-mail, only I also set it to bold and italics.

You might ask GPF Moderator Craig Brophy, aka A-String, about this...

If it's not in preferences it probably does not exist.

Greetings, Myles,

I'd appreciate some help choosing among three different tube amps, mostly in terms of reliability & repair issues, and of course, the cost of re-tubing.

Among the offerings are a Laney VC30 212, this Fender Deluxe VM or this Marshall. The Laney is local, and the two Ebay listings are from a local shop, so I can test out any and all of these Amps, IRL. As all of them are used, I expect a re-tubing in the near future. Any info, opinion, suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, WP

There are many factors that are very important that are not listed above to consider. The Fender BF stuff is iconic in many ways, the HRD series not so much. That new Fender stuff like the link, is pointless to consider on many levels. Marshall JCM2000 DSL TSL are some of the most unreliable amps and not much fun to repair when needed, the combos even more troubleprone than the heads.

In the end, it is really personal preference, but again, I know nothing about your rig, ability, touch, taste in music, style, etc.

At this point the question is sort of like me asking you .... What do you think I should have for lunch

But ... steer clear (my opinion) of any DSL / TSL / JCM2000.

Maybe try looking for used Rivera combos. Well built, reliable beyond belief, and have a wide tonal palette. They can also do great cleans and work great with pedals. If an amp can't get a great clean tone I won't even consider it as viable.

Thanks for that info Myles! +1 on the amp must get a great clean tone or I'm not interested!

Thank you; I realize the question is very generalized, as I'm still looking more within a price/power range. Your point on the Marshalls, and the recent Fenders is much appreciated, and well-taken. That answer alone will have saved me a lot of money, and possibly even more in aggravation, never mind the time it would take to audition a bunch of amps at my FLMS.

Long-time player, Prog/Fusion influenced, playing SG's w/HB's, my main dirt pedal is a Quantum Drive. I fell in love with the sound of British tube amps long ago, but never invested in one, and never saw any point to those little "tube" amos with one 12AX7 in the Pre-Amp section. I'm looking for a thick, Clean sound, any dirt I can add with pedals. I'll keep an eye out for Riviera, in the meantime, what's your opinion, or experience regarding the Laney VC30 212's?

There are many amps that fit in the price, power, point of the amps you mention. In the end it is personal taste and preference.

The Laney VC30 has it's roots in the Vox camp. The other two amps do not. The Laney is a cathode biased amp and the others are not. They will respond and act differently. A 30 watt cathode biased amp will be just as loud as the other amps as a side note.

The Laney is much more reliable than the Marshall. The Laney will be more responsive and touch sensitive than the Fender.

Two points in its favor, already. Many thanks for the helpful response. FWIW, another Forum buddy suggested I look at something in the Vox camp.

BTW, it might amuse you to know, I found myself in a Gear Forum full of Englishmen, who didn't think much of modern Marshalls. They feel that over here in the U.S., we're paying big dollars for the Marshall nameplate, but not getting much else for our money.

Thanks again, and Happy Weekend!

As far as Marshalls .... I love the JTM45, the plexi era or aluminium four input Marshalls such as the 50 and 100 watter. To me, and I am biased for sure, the JCM 800 was tolerable but a decline. Actually, when the four inputs went away and/or when a master volume came on the scene, things declined. The JCM 900 was even worse and it was downhill from there. Again, just my personal taste

Izzatt a tube-amp tech joke... ?

Not really tube amp realated but ....

The switching system I'm having done is taking all my buffer bypass pedals into true bypass mode. I run quite a bit of cable especially if I off-stage amps. I need to place a dedicated buffer into the front-end of my board. I was just going to place the $50 True Tone (Visual Sound) Pure Tone buffer on my board. My Tech is a boogie dealer and he likes the Mesa buffers. Mesa propaganda says they filter RF and such. I play Teles and P90s depending on the gig.

Anyone thoughts on simple dedicated buffers? I'm wondering if there is a real advantage with the Mesa RF filtering claims.

Any thought anyone has on dedicated buffers would be appreciated. My Tuner sits first in the chain but I like Peterson tuners and they are true bypass.
Thanks!

It's really a personal preference issue. Some folks love them and others could care less.

Keep in mind that they are really pretty simple devices and the cost of components may be less than the box it comes in. You also want as little coloration in the circuit as possible ... simple is better ... less components in the signal chain. BUT .... RF in your effects chain is pretty much a buzzword claim as the devices (pedals) themselves make a lot of noise in many cases and are not shielded themselves. Anything that gets rid of other noise, such as P90 pickup noise, is nothing more than a filter and is taking away other things, not just the noise. Not a good thing.

I'd recommend trying one if a friend has one and see if the difference is clarity, level setting, or if it just sounds different rather than better due to something more in the signal path.

Thanks a lot Myles. Much appreciated Sir!

You are very welcome

Hi Myles, I just got a Line 6 Spider Valve 112 amp, and I'm told I should replace the tubes, which are apparently of a disreputable Chinese make. Got any suggestions for 12AX7s and 6L6s that would work better in that amp than some others?

Actually .... save your money and go out for a nice meal.

The Chinese 12AX7s are some of the best on the market today (and have actually been for years. They are smooth and linear. They are also very reliable.

As far as the output section .... those 6L6s ..... The Line 6 stuff develops it's tone from many aspects of the overall circuit design and one can actually use any reliable 6L6 in the amp. Unlike a simple, basic, traditional amp of the past, these amps have a much wider tonal palette and what is desired in tube characteristics is neutrality.

I have many friends who are Mesa Boogie amp owners and users. When they see I used Sovtek 5881 WXTs (just a generic 6L6 that is stuck with a 5881 printing in it by Sovtek) in my own Mk. 1, they comment at times .... "with the great tubes you have available why do you use one of the most generic and cheapest tubes around"? Same reason as I gave you for the Spyder Valve. The Mesa gets it's tonal character from the front end, not from the output stage. It is a pretty basic amp, actually, much less complex than the Line 6 Spyder Valve. Then again, almost have a century and a lot of technology separates the two designs.

So .... in the end .... keep your money and enjoy your amp. The tubes in the amp are about as good as it gets ... linear and reliable.

Happy playing

I'm in the market for a new amp. I just heard an amp I really like the sound of.

The power tubes are two 6973s. Would this be a risky purchase. I've never had an amp with these tube. I wouldn't want to buy and amp and not be able to get replacement tubes in a few years.