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Hey guys

I Just bought a Laney cub12 today and what i couldn't notice in the store was the small amount of breakup that the amp gets (when gain is on 4 or 5). now i would love to run the amp full gain and roll back the volume a bit to get it to be clean, but with my SZ (humbuckers) this doesn't work

Now, can i try putting 5751 tubes in there (instead of 12AX7) without causing any damage to the amp? cause those have a gain factor of 70% so i can effectively drop the gain, (max gain is too much anyways) and be able to roll back my volume so that i can effectively have a clean and dirty sound, not a dirty, and dirtier...
I've heard also that 12AT7 are actually not a direct replacement for 12AX7 and people just assume so cause of the model number. Is this true?

Next question is, has anybody else found the Cub12 with the rocket 50 speaker to be a little muddy? i don't know if this will get better the more the speaker breaks in, but its what Im finding. Unless I have bad tubes in...
Anyways though, I have found a V30 for very cheap, and I'm thinking of swapping the speaker, but the V30 is 16 ohm and the stock cub 12 is 8 ohm. Is there a ohm selector in the amp so that I can use a 16 ohm speaker?

Thanks for the help and time guys!

Regards
D101
    Getting the amp to clean up at full gain is going to be tricky on any amp. The trick is to play with the master at high values and the 'gain' to taste. This is, however, loud.
      +1 Keep your gain as low as you need to keep the drive down. Crank the master to compensate - in fact I would usually run the master at full and dial the gain up to volume for maximum headroom.
      Distortion_101 wrote: Now, can i try putting 5751 tubes in there (instead of 12AX7) without causing any damage to the amp?
      Yup. Direct drop-in replacement. Usually just one to replace your 12AX7 in V1 - that covers two gain stages, so it's quite effective in increasing headroom.
      I've heard also that 12AT7 are actually not a direct replacement for 12AX7 and people just assume so cause of the model number. Is this true?
      Correct. If you look at the specs, the transconductance figures are similar between the 12AX7 and 5751, while AU7s and AT7s (the other popular replacements for AX7s) are way off.
      has anybody else found the Cub12 with the rocket 50 speaker to be a little muddy? i don't know if this will get better the more the speaker breaks in, but its what Im finding.
      Yes, the Rocket is a great speaker for inexpensive amps, but it does suffer in comparison to the better speakers in the Celestion range. And low end looseness/flub at volume is one of the biggest complaints. The amp does also suffer a bit from having a small cabinet, which isn't as easily rectified. If you want to be sure, take it to a shop and try the amp out with some extension cabs.
      Anyways though, I have found a V30 for very cheap, and I'm thinking of swapping the speaker, but the V30 is 16 ohm and the stock cub 12 is 8 ohm. Is there a ohm selector in the amp so that I can use a 16 ohm speaker?
      Off hand, I'm not sure if the output is switchable or not - check the manual. It might also have a different output for the 16 Ohm, rather than a switch. Either way It would need to be set to the same as the speaker, unless you can find another 16 Ohm speaker to pair it with in parallel.
        BTW - few EL84 amps are able to do really clean stuff at volume (except an AC30). It's the nature of the beast - it always has a little hair on it. Which, to be honest, is a big part of the attraction.

        I used a Vox AC15 for a while and did the 5751 thing to increase headroom, but it never really got to the Fendery sparkly super clean I often want. For that I use a Fender...
          Lots of good stuff!

          We'll I do crank it, no issues there. I guess an overdrive pedal is in order to boost the preamp more and I can turn the gain down... The tricky part is at bedroom levels...

          I don't expect sparkly cleans, I actually don't like the fender cleans, I like the full sounding cleans on the laney. I just want a touch more headroom.

          As for the speaker, the manual is rubbish and says nothing about it. Was hoping someone has opened the cub 12 up and had a look see. The V30 will give a bit more sparkle. If its not nice, I'll sell it for the price I got it and get a greenback. Otherwise I'm going to open it up myself but is prefer not to.

          As for the cab, I think as a side project I'm going to get some wood (solid pine) or a solid lighter wood and build a cab exactly to spec, or slightly taller/wider and just retrofit everything in there. The cab will be heavier, but I'm sure the punchier sound cause of solid wood (that's heavier) will be worth it. Where to get Tolex though...

            Distortion_101 wrote: Lots of good stuff!

            We'll I do crank it, no issues there. I guess an overdrive pedal is in order to boost the preamp more and I can turn the gain down... The tricky part is at bedroom levels...

            I don't expect sparkly cleans, I actually don't like the fender cleans, I like the full sounding cleans on the laney. I just want a touch more headroom.

            As for the speaker, the manual is rubbish and says nothing about it. Was hoping someone has opened the cub 12 up and had a look see. The V30 will give a bit more sparkle. If its not nice, I'll sell it for the price I got it and get a greenback. Otherwise I'm going to open it up myself but is prefer not to.

            As for the cab, I think as a side project I'm going to get some wood (solid pine) or a solid lighter wood and build a cab exactly to spec, or slightly taller/wider and just retrofit everything in there. The cab will be heavier, but I'm sure the punchier sound cause of solid wood (that's heavier) will be worth it. Where to get Tolex though...


            You'll get more volume with the V30 but I'd be careful with those, they're very bright. Make sure its what you want. Bedroom levels will interfere with your tone, if you're trying to get it from a valve amp. They sound good cranked a bit and that makes them loud. My two main amps have power scaling and while that makes it a lot more usable, low bedroom tone is poor, they sound best when the windows rattle ?
              so you recommend id try find a greenback?

              if its very spikey and trebley it will irritate me. plus the greenback has that sweet overdriven tone which is what the laney is all about!
                Distortion_101 wrote: so you recommend id try find a greenback?

                if its very spikey and trebley it will irritate me. plus the greenback has that sweet overdriven tone which is what the laney is all about!
                Greenbacks are nice, not super loud either. Speaker choice is tricky because it is difficult to try before you buy. I'm reluctant to tell you yes or no because of this. The speaker ultimately changes the sound of the amp the most out of all the mods you can try. I have a Marshall cab with two Celestion G12H30s in it and a Fender Tweed Deluxe clone with a Weber 12A125A (Jensen P12Q replacement) in it. The Tweed sounds a lot like a Marshall through the Celestions and like an old-school Tweed through the Weber. Makes all the difference in the world.

                My advice would be to find people or shops selling cabs with the different speakers and try your amp with them, it has extension speaker connections so you can do that. Most shops should have 1x12 and 2x12 cabs with a variety of Celestions and other speakers. The first ones that come to mind is Blackstar Artisan cabinets which has V30s (and some Marshall cabs too) and the 1x12 Vox Night Train cabinet which has a Greenback, lovely cabinet, btw. This will enable you to make a much more informed decision, in the end you may like the stock speaker better. You'll also hear the volume differences of Greenback vs V30 or whichever ones you try.



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