With a shout out to Marty (my tube tweaking mentor), here's the latest on my tube experimentation:
Around 4:00PM tonight I ran it like so...
V1:
1961 GE 12AX7
V2:
Gold Pinned JJ ECC83 12AX7
V3:
Groove Tubes ECC83/7025 12AX7R
V4:
JJ ECC83S 12AX7S
CLEAN = Grade A
CRUNCH & LEAD = Some microphonic feedback when standing in front of the amp, even w/ the strings muted. But the distortion is
very crunchy. Nice.
At around 4:45PM I tried the following configuration:
V1:
1961 GE 12AX7
V2:
Westinghouse 12AX7A (Made in Germany)
V3:
Groove Tubes ECC83/7025 12AX7R
V4:
JJ ECC83S 12AX7S
CLEAN = Still Lovin' it. Pretty bright, but chords are big and chimey.
CRUNCH = Nice crunch. Lots of texture. Bright. Crunchy. Very AC/DC meets RUSH.
LEAD = Tons of gain. Lots of texture. But I think too brassy (when directly in front of the amp) for my taste.
To keep it pure I basically kept the same settings that I had been using with tubes that were in it when I bought the amp... So I can compare tubes all using the same settings. So far this is proving to be quite interesting. Now I just need to find ways to keep my wife out of the house for a while so I can crank it up
One thing I'm getting used to... Because I'm an at home player who rarely gets to crank it up, I guess I just didn't realize how much difference there is in what you hear between loud and quiet volume settings. I know that with the volume set at 1 my wife doesn't gripe too much, but at 2 it's plenty loud to hear throughout the whole house. She frowns on that...
Plus it sounds very different in sound when you are off to the side of the amp compared to sitting right in front of it at ear level...
Suffice to say I'm enjoying discovering all these little nuances.