Quote:
Originally Posted by Wally
IF you like the dynamic nature of the 5E7...touch sensitivity....and want to experiment, try some punchy ceramics...10F125's or 10F150's... in that amp. I don't know what Sovtek tube you are running or what preamp tubes you have in there, but some JJ or CED 6L6's with proper biasing might yield firmer punch and headroom if they are properly biased.
Are you running a 12AY7 in V1? If you have a 12AX7 in that position, that tube yields a lot of gain in that circuit/position. There won't be much headroom with a 12 AX7. Even a 12AT7 would help there, but the 12AY7 is the tube that the schematic calls for.
All of these experiments are a lot cheaper than a new build. On the other hand, building a 6G16 shouldn't be a waste of time.
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+1 on the 12AY7 in V1.
Also you can switch to a GZ34 rectifier. This will boost the voltages, giving more headroom and tighter bass over the 5U4. Of course you would need to re-bias the amp.
There are several mods that could be done. The one to start with would be moving the center tap of the OT to the hot side of the choke, like it is done on a 5F6A and most Fenders following. This allows the amp to open up quite a bit.
If you don't already have screen resistors on the power tubes, that would be a good thing to do.
There are several other reversible mods that could be done as well.