This thread may ave been done before, I don't know. I just bought a Peavey VTM 120 and it has 4 6L6GC tubes, and 4 smaller ones. The gain and distortion sucks. I figured you guys are good this this kind of stuff, I want to know what tubes will fit in place of the 6L6GC's and have alot of gain.

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Its the 4 small ones u replace if u want more gain.

yeah, 6l6's are power tubes, the only way you get any good distortion out of them is to crank your amp to 10. so if you want more gain you want to replace the preamp tubes(12ax7's). even then the difference in the sound of your distortion won't be huge. but it will help. also if you want more gain, hi output pickups and/or some kind of tubescreamer o.d. pedal(for a gain boost) will help you drive your amp harder.

btw, why the hell did you buy that amp if you don't like the distortion?

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get some selected preamp tubes, if you want high gain, get the latest Sovtek 12ax7LPS's, highest gain there is, I have them myself and I can guarantee they've got loads of gain, but do get the selected ones, they select them on gain levels and microphonics, which do cost a bit more but is well worth it

MXR 10 BAND EQUALIZER is nice if you want some gain, use high gain input also.

Thanks, Doctor TUBE.

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hey, thats a good one 'Doctor Tube'

def when hes 45.. http://eurotubes.com/

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hahahha fuck yeah!

that has got to be the coolest 5150 i've ever seen!

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Hell yeah man, JJ's rule. Is it possible to put KT88s in a 5150? If so does it take major modding? I want to try them cuz they are supposed to be some of THE bad-assed tubes.

\m/

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it would require a mod

http://eurotubes.com/euro-k.htm look down the page

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It doesn't really say what needs to be done. I mean I'm not in the market for a 5150ex, I just wanna pump mine up.

\m/

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The only mod you will need is abias switch, they are about $50.

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or like 3 dollars of parts..
http://eartraining.home.comcast.net/5150biasmod.pdf

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Yeah but you really should know quite a bit about high voltage electronics before doing anything to a tube amp. Even unplugged, you risk deadly ammounts of voltage. I'll pay $50, not my life.

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I did the bias mod fine, but i was VERY careful. I let the amp drain for 2 days, and i made sure not to hit the caps with the soldering iron... if i did then i would have some problems.

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Yeah, I know my electronics good enough to do it, but giving out the advice to try this yourself on this board (we dont exactly have the brightest people in the world) would probably end up in a few deaths. Just look how many posts there are about how to install an EMG!

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lmao! ok let me say one thing..


DONT TRY TO PERFORM ANY MODIFICATIONS ON YOUR AMPLIFIER UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO TAKE YOUR LIFE INTO YOUR OWN HANDS

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I still dont think that is enough of a warning for people, specially as when mentioned about all the god damn EMG installation threads

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Most people here probably think the term 'pot' comes from it looking like a pot.

"Derrrr, how do i put in a emg81 for super metal tone becuz every1 uses it! its not like it came with step by step intructions of schmatericserdohas!"

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every moron can install EMG's, even without the instructions.

most kids take it to the store and pay 200 bucks for it though.

who the hell would want EMG's anyways

People who want EMGs are the people who don't know how to install them. I'll stick to my Duncans.

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That guy at Eurotubes is really good. He hooked me up with some matched JJ's for my 5150 with a tube biased for the phase inverter. The sound was a night and day difference. He ships quick too.

haha, because stupid people like emgs doesn't mean that emgs are stupid. I installed my own EMGs and I'm currently building my own guitar, i know my way arund this stuff, so therefore i contradict your statement. (Duncans are good too, getting some in the guitar after this one i'm building, which is getting dimarzios).

\m/

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shame you don't know your way around tone

ah snap! thems is fighting words

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Its called sarcams you dumbass, I wasnt actually saying everyone who has an EMG is electronicly retarded. But yes EMG tone is awful.

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EMG's are pretty much without tone variation, but the tone I get out of mine are great.

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who's a dumbass?
emg's sound fine, if they actually sound awful, you just need to learn how to work your shit.

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No, I know how to work my shit. Shit my Dad is a mechanic and wires shit everyday, I don't think he showed me the wrong way. I'm very sorry I dislike sterile, undefinded tone. Maybe I should put IMO after everything I say because the fact that I'm stating something which deals with personal taste isn't selfevident that it's opinion or anything.

Not being able to detect sarcasm is dumbass quality, disliking generic cold tone, is not.

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i wasn't calling you a dumbass, but okay...
me and millions of other people can get good tone from emg's even from less than pro amps.

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EMG and tone??? why are they in the same sentence together

I like EMG's just for a raw metal sound... but for versatility EMG's are no good.

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thats right, they're good at one thing, and thats the same overall tone. though they can sound pretty brutal, thats all they can do, I'de rather get some Di Marzio tone zone's, Bill Lawrence's or SD's.

with a crap amp emg's will still sounds shit xDx, ever tried playing an ESP horizon with EMG 81/85 set through a marshall AVT? (hell anything will sound like shit through that)

with a crap amp anything PU will sound like shit.....

i have played an esp horizon with an 81/60 set but not through an avt. but i sure as hell wouldnt blame the emg for shit tone in that situation. although i could get decent tone out of an avt as long as it's at a reasonable volume.

my guitarist has a gibson sg loaded with an 81/85 set through a 5150 with a crate bv412 loaded with v30's... his setup sounds great.
good guitar with good pickups + good head with good tubes(sovteks & JJ's)+ good cab with good speakers = good tone.

i myself don't do the emg thing, but i wouldnt complain if i did because i like the way they sound.

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Wow, I would have never guessed that!


QUESTION!-
What is 'sterile' tone? What makes it sterile?

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I have no idea how I could explain it in English, but active pickups sound less 'alive' the passive ones, like theres some 'heart' in the sound missing.
Active ones sound like a straight line, whilst passive's don't, but thats the best bit about them IMO, if everybody would use EMG's there wouldn't be any guitarist with a recognisable sound.

''me and millions of other people can get good tone from emg's even from less than pro amps.''

well everybody has its own taste, but I wouldn't ruine my rack setup with emg's (see attached pic)
I can't get a decent tone from AVT's, not at low volume either, even the clean channel sounds shit.

I don't like the distortion on most marshalls though, a lot of them lack gain, but the JCM900's are pretty neat, plus their clean's sound tubey like they should.

anyways, no EMG's for me, I'll stick to the less populair but better sounding passive pickups

edit: resized pic, looks crap, marshall cab has some rock'n'roll spots from giggin, gator flightcase is ace, I love it

Yeah, most bands I know that use EMGs have a generic tone. Another thing I like about passives is that you don't have to waste a battery on it every month or so.

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hey def.. whats that blacked off part??? Hiding somthing from us??

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yeah, the top of my penis sticked out and got into the camera's view, so I though I'de better edit that, you know.

I am gonna buy new power tubes sometime soon, I have read that EL34's are better than 6L6's for distortion. True, not true? If the EL34's are better, do I need to get my amp modified to fit the 34's? Any help/suggestions would be very appreciated!

EDIT: Sorry for so many freaking questions guys, but I have seen Svetlana and Sovtek EL34 tubes both for sale, which are BETTER?

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i find that i like el34's better in most cases... they have an earlier and more extreme breakup point than 6l6's which is better for mega poweramp distortion. thats why jcm 800's sound the best cranked. while amps like rectos(come stock with 6l6s) and such have tones of preamp gain so they don't need to rely on poweramp distortion as much and using 6l6's allows them to have more clean headroom... either way a power amp will distort if pushed to the max. you really just have to decide which you like the best...

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Thanks man!

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they are too high maintenence

restrain yourself from posting silly comments if you don't know jackshit about the subject skcoffan.

Screw off ,retard , ive had bad experiences with tubes
it burnt my house down

Hahahahahahahahaahahahahaha


OH CHRIST THATS FUNNY!!!

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it really is

rofl, he holds a grudge against tube amps

Let's hear how great your tone is. You got any clips?

Its porbably nice and warm, full of tone. And not generic.

WHY?? Because hes using passives not EMG's like every other dumbass who knows jack shit about pickups and just instantly thinks EMG's are the best cause theoir active, when infact they have NO idea what active means.

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i'd blame all warmness and non generic tone on his amp, not pickups.

you knock emg's too much, play some in a really nice guitar with a nice amp... then you'll realize they're just fine.
just because you have active pickups doesnt mean you'll have generic tone....
just because they're active doesnt mean they sound exactly the same in all guitars. that's just ignorance.
your anti emg rants are almost as stupid as those kids saying emg's are the best because they're active.

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it's really funny because it wasnt even a tube amp.. he said it was a peavey xxl, which isnt a tube amp lol... he's just a retarded poser black metal/nu metal kid.... he has no idea what the hell he is talking about... he even claimed his line 6 sounds exactly like the amps it models.... it's a spider II.... hell even the top notch line 6 amps don't really sound like the amps they model... i'll eat my own semen if his spider II ever sounds exactly(hell, even resembles) like a mesa recto or any other amp it models...

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I have a decent guitar with EMG's, and i play it through a 5150. It tightens up the low end of the 5150, but so does my eq..

i just really dont like the sounds of EMG's i moved on, and it bugs me when people are hell bent on buying EMG's before trying out some other pickups, i used to be like that.

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I know nothing about the tone he get's but I gotta say that's a pretty laughable assumption you give..

well, i beleive dead plays a 5150 combo... but i could be mistaken.
anyways, i think he's more likely to have a more generic tone simply because he has a 5150... because the 5150's have pretty much become the standard for most metalcore & hxc, even quite a few black metal, death metal, nu metal, screamo and grindcore bands are using them...

when alot of people use something, it becomes generic. alot of people use emg's.... so i guess they can be pretty generic, alot of people use jb's, so i guess they can be considered generic as well.

by no means do active emg's suck, anybody that says that has no idea what they're talking about. maybe in a certain guitar they wont sound great, or through a certain amp or pedal they wont sound great. but that's not the pu's fault.

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Yes, ALOT of bands use the 5150's ranging from Steve Morse to The Haunted to Arch Enemy. The 5150 like and Active EMG is good at what it does, but not much else. Active pickups are just missing something IMO, nothing can ever beat a Instrument built of quality tonewood's with a Passive Pickups. I also like passive pickups MUCH better for leads. The Dimarzio Tone Zone and Paf Pro's just have this awesome sound to them, like every notes kinda wah's i love it. No EMG will ever be able to obtain that effect with me. I will admit, EMG's can GREATLY enhance the sound of a crappy guitar, but when you put an EMG in a quality guitar like a Les Paul (Take Zakk Wylde for example) you just get that extremely noticeable EMG sound.

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i too do enjoy passives, that's all it got.... but my friends lp and my guitarist's sg both have emg's.... they sound great, and *gasp* different.
my guitarist is changing back to passives though, not because emg's suck, but he just wants to try new things.

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Good for him

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well, he thinks he wants a dimarzio super distortion bridge + 59 neck setup, but we'll see..... i'm trying to get him to trick out his 5150 first.

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If he already has EMG's he should just mod his 5150, JerryP does great work

FJAMODS.COM

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I have emg's and they sound like supershit. The difference between emg's and passives is like straight distortion out of a boss pedal compared to tube amp distortion. Well it seems like that to me anyways. Too bad I'm too broke to buy better crap.

whoa... what kind of emg's? in what guitar? through what setup?
more than likely it's not the pickups dude.

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Yeh even i have to admit that emg arent that bad...

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81/60 in a jackson js30 through 2 diff lee jackson gp1000's to a behringer for the power amp and speakers. Emgs are impossible to get a good bluesy or classic rock sound out of. And they are sterile to me. The 60 can have a decent clean sound sometimes and they are high output but thats about all that i like about them.

well, there we have it... the js 30 isnt exactly the best guitar... not to shitty, but i don't like em.....that behringer "poweramp & speakers" is part of the problem, for sure. the gp 1000 isnt too bad though....
your setup has bigger problems than emg's... if emg's can even be considered a problem.


they arent that "high output".... i think the 60 is a wonderfull neck pu for cleans.... and that jackson isnt exactly a bluesy/classic rock guitar... nor is an 81 a bluesy/classic rock pu. you might have better luck with an 85 in the bridge....

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Behringer??? AHAHAHAHA

yeh the EMG's are sure causing the crappy sound......

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Instead of making a new thread, I thought I'd just post this here,

I was playing for about 20 minutes yesterday, and my amp started buzzing real bad, like I unplugged my lead or something. So I walked over to the back of my amp and the power tube all the way to the right was red hot in the middle. What the hell? Are they shot or something?

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sounds like a bad tube to me.. i've seen them go bright ass purple before...

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Purple Fucking hell! That must thing must have been about to go into a super nova thermo nuclear meltdown and create a black hole in the amp. I could just see the thread now, "My amp tore a hole in space/time and I need help PLEASE"

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haha, yeh, in a fucking old ass fender combo.... he was all "hey check it out!" i was like "gad damn!"
it made a godawful noise and a crazy layered sounding tone which was kinda "cool" but then a fuse blew or something, cuz it wouldnt turn back on.

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I would think it's tube burning a hole into the crust of the Earth might cause that amp to never turn back on again Hopefully a fuse blow out first.

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More of a Bluish tint.. which is perfectly ok for a tube.

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i'm not sure i follow...

the blue tint you speak of... if you dime a tube amp like your 5150(per se) and you turn off all the lights, everytime you strum or pick your guitar the tubes will turn blue-ish... i think that's what you're talking about...

this was like an unusual fucking purple-ish glow, like a neon light or some shit. it was only one tube, he had it looked at by a tech and just ended up having the tube replaced(actually all of them for the hell of it) and a couple other little things...
not sure what caused it. but it was kinda funny...

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Ahh

Ok maybe thats not so good

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If a tube is blue when you turn the standby on does that mean it needs replacing?

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Duh, anyone?

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No, some tubes have slight blue tints in them.. its fine.

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My tubes are all warm and orange .

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I have 2 sets of tubes, one Peavey and one Svetlana, is it okay to mix and match them in my amp?

Someone also said that if you take tubes out it reduces the wattage, without hurting the amp. True?

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If their the same type of tubes then yeh i guess you can mix and match... but most likely the biad wouldnt match.

And certain amps you can remove two tubes and make them run at half the power... but dont try it on your amp until you ask peavey.

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Biad?

When you but tubes you buy them 'matched', is that what you are referring to? They are all 6L6GC's.

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i think he ment "bias"

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Yeh I meant BIAS, and no, when you buy tubes they arent always macthed...

unless you buy them from Eurotubes or Dougstubes

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Uh needless to say I still dont know what that means.

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what would be some good tubes to put in my tsl 100? right now its just running whatever the hell it came with( i opened up the back but didnt see any logos or #'s on the tubes but i also didnt turn them around cause i didnt want to short them somehow..)

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then my answer to all your questiosn is now "NO"

You buy a matched quad of JJ's and have you BIAS set.

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?

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