"Hotter" tubes?

VellaJ

So I recently bought an Ibanez TSA15H, used. The previous owner has replaced the tubes with Electro Harmonix variations, scrapping the originals. At the moment I'm running my overdrive flat out, and it seems to be strangely lacking in distortion.

Now I'm fairly happy with my sound personally (I'm more of a bluesy player ? ) but have been told by my band mates that they want to hear more drive for the music we play. I could use my valve boost pedal to get it up there, but it means running more cables and stuff, I like the "plug 'n play" setup.

So, to the reason for my story. Are there certain tubes that produce a meaner dirty sound? I tried out one of these amps before buying this one, stock standard, and was not struck by the lack of distortion... Suggestions?

Psean

Dude, that amp sounded sweet to me at your Rumours gig...
But the TS's are relatively clean, I've played two of them and they stayed pretty clean even when cranked. What tubes are in them? (types, not brands - i.e. 12AX7's etc. not Electro Harmonix, TAD, JJ).

You could possibly replace them with something that breaks up easier but seeing as the amp sounds good as is, why not stick a drive pedal or boost in front of it. The TS's have nice cleans, so you could even get an out and out distortion pedal and run that into the clean channel for heavier stuff and still use the tubescreamer channel on it's own for the bluesy drive.

Psean

Just checked. 12AX7s in the pre and 6V6's in the power amp...
Dunno what you could change them for (or if you could). All I know is some people swap out 12AX7's for "cleaner" tubes. Not sure what you'd do to get more dirt.
My vote's for a pedal...

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah, the headroom of the clean channel is more of a feature than a problem IMO. That's one of the things that make it such a good pedal platform. The built-in Tube Screamer is a Tube screamer - a great mid focused overdrive - but it won't do the Marshally crunch thing or the high gain saturated "liquid" thing.

Also, your I think your band might be looking for a different character of drive as much as they are more drive, so adding in a distortion (or fuzz, if tastes run that way) will broaden your tonal palette a lot. You don't have to set it high gain - just crunchy for rockier rhythm stuff and then turn on both that and the TS for higher gain lead stuff.

Having said that, some valve manufacturers do grade their valves (Ruby IIRC) for a harder or softer sound, but how effective that will be in a TS15, I have no idea. Try a boost pedal up front of the amp - if by adding a little gain up front, you can push the amp to drive easier, then "hotter" valves might help. Also, obviously a guitar with hotter pickups will push any amp harder than one with vintage, low-powered single-coils.

VellaJ

Psean wrote: Dude, that amp sounded sweet to me at your Rumours gig...

Thanks man, I was pretty happy with it, but the other members... ?

Psean wrote: My vote's for a pedal...

Yeah I thought that may be the case, but I've been through a few and I just find them too much effort for too few benefits... I'm a lazy bugger ?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Yeah, the headroom of the clean channel is more of a feature than a problem IMO. That's one of the things that make it such a good pedal platform. The built-in Tube Screamer is a Tube screamer - a great mid focused overdrive - but it won't do the Marshally crunch thing or the high gain saturated "liquid" thing.

Also, your I think your band might be looking for a different character of drive as much as they are more drive, so adding in a distortion (or fuzz, if tastes run that way) will broaden your tonal palette a lot. You don't have to set it high gain - just crunchy for rockier rhythm stuff and then turn on both that and the TS for higher gain lead stuff.

Having said that, some valve manufacturers do grade their valves (Ruby IIRC) for a harder or softer sound, but how effective that will be in a TS15, I have no idea. Try a boost pedal up front of the amp - if by adding a little gain up front, you can push the amp to drive easier, then "hotter" valves might help. Also, obviously a guitar with hotter pickups will push any amp harder than one with vintage, low-powered single-coils.

Yeah I've been told I need to have a smoother, more saturated sound. Balls IMO ? But I reckon I'll send my Blackstar valve boost pedal in the front and see what comes out on the drive channel; the pedal gives an awesome sound when driving an AC30... ?

Psean

I've only heard you guys once but I reckon for the kind of punk/grunge influenced riffs your songs have a different tone might be more appropriate so as much as I love that raunchy blues rock tone you have (it's the kinda tone I'm drawn towards too ? ) the other guys might have a point.

What pedals have you been through BTW? I'd be inclined to say one of the hotrodded Marshall-in-a box types would suit your band's style well. And they're really not that much effort. And aren't you already using a footswitch? A pedal's just one extra lead and one more switch to stomp on.

Nicholas-L

It probably won't make such a huge impact but you could try sovtek 12AX7's. I have tried them and some EH 12AX7's and the Sovtek's do drive and distort a bit more to my ear than the EH valves.