funky hot grits

Hi Myles, A while ago, I asked you a question about retubing a blue angel head. You mentioned your preference of 12AX7R3's in v1-v4, a SAG-AX7-MPI in V5. Two questions: Can you describe the vatious applications of v1 to v5 in a blue angel. Am I right in assuming that v1-4 are for general preamp duties and v5 is for driving the reverb? Or is the SAG-AX7-MPI you use in V5 being used for a different application? -looking at the blue angel manual, there is no specific info on this matter. Also, can you recommend a selection of tubes for my preamp with maximum clean headroom and warmth as the main goals? -I have access to EHX, GT, sovtek and mesa tubes. I read on the GT site that 12AT7s can be substituted for 12AX7s for more clean headroom. Do you recommend this,and for which spots? Also a simple one: If I'm looking into the back of my angel (6v6s to the left), am I right in assuming that v1 is the furthest left of the preamp tubes? thanks in advance, Martin Sutcliffe

Hi Myles, first of all thanks for your answer regarding replacing the tubes in my blue angel. When I was in my local shop ordering replacements I had a chance to talk to a local repairman, and he told me that a 6L6 can be retrofitted directly into a 6V6 socket with no problems resulting. Do you have any opinions/warnings regarding this practice? -I'm interested in trying it out not only as a possible way to gain extra clean headroom for certain applications, but also to deliver a different tone if required...

Hi Myles, I gig with a mesa Blue angel head into a mesa duo bin with celestion v30s and a closed back. I've been unhappy with my sound over the last few gigs, and I'm wondering if the (original mesa)tubes are getting a little long in the tooth. I'm wondering what to replace them with. The angel runs 38 watts class a, with two 6v6s, four el84s and 5 12ax7s, plus a rectifier tube (can't remember what kind). If at all possible, I'd like to maximise clean headroom available, as sometimes my setup can't quite stay clean enough in certain rooms. Is this possible through tube choice, and are there tonal tradeoffs? If it's unlikely that I can't get any more clean headroom, what possible avenues for modification can I pursue? an extra power stage that I can switch in and out if needed would be great, but am I right in assuming that would need an extra transformer? thanks in advance, Martin