marshall tubes

aussiebluesville · 07-08-2008, 09:32 PM

hi,guys i just checked my valves in my dsl 401,it looks as though they are the original factory tubes,on the preamp tubes it has marshall written on them and the power tubes have sovtek 6QB5... but the tubestore are saying that new sovtek's are a different size and don't fit dsl 401's or 201's ? are these tubes installed just old type that used to fit,well i want to change out these and use jj ecc83s preamp and jj el84s matched quad power tubes anyway!,i have read that using a balanced tube in v4 preamp is better,what is the best tube for this,and what is the best for v1 i have read the jj here is good,what about 2 and 3 ,any info on original tubes and the best configuration for a re tube will be much appreciated.

amplifier · 07-12-2008, 05:24 AM

I started a thread similar to this. Marshall relabels tubes. From what I've learned if it's a white Marshall logo it's Chinese, if it's red its a JJ. Someone here said they even have a black logo which I don't know about. Marshall used to use Sovtek and I've heard they also use Svetlanna. An amp tech told me 99% of the time the stock preamp tubes in Marshalls are Chinese tubes. Hope that helps. I can't tell you much about the poweramp tubes.

aussiebluesville · 07-12-2008, 08:49 PM

well i had another look and the preamp tubes are white marshall logo,so they must be chinese,i'm wondering if they are shaugang relabelled,but i still dont know about the el84 6bq5 power tubes labelled sovtek,when they are not supposed to fit 401's and 201's that i find strange as these are fitted factory power tubes!

amplifier · 07-12-2008, 09:57 PM

I just ordered a Shuguang. If you do get them get the 9th generation.

As far as your power tubes... Sovtek is the manufacturer so there would be no need for them to relabel their own tube. I would try getting a second opinion, maybe from Doug at dougstubes.com or Bob at Eurotubes.com. Bob sells JJ's exclusively but he's pretty knowledgeable about other tubes as well. If you try Doug make sure to call not email as his emails are rather short and probably won't be as informative as you'd hope. Either the guy you spoke to doesn't know what he's talking about or Sovtek doesn't make them the same anymore.

BTW don't order from thetubestore. They only test 50% of their stock. That leaves a lot of tubes that could fail prematurely.

aussiebluesville · 07-15-2008, 05:22 PM

hi guys,i received an email back from the tubestore on the question about the sovtek el84's not fitting the 401 and 201,which they state on their website,anyway it was the early models that didn't fit but marshall redesigned the 401 models so they would fit in the newer releases.

radiomatts · 07-17-2008, 07:59 PM

i recommend Groove Tubes EL 34M. This is THEIR Mullard resissue, not a rebranded one. Oh My freaking God they sound great!!

aussiebluesville · 07-17-2008, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radiomatts

i recommend Groove Tubes EL 34M. This is THEIR Mullard resissue, not a rebranded one. Oh My freaking God they sound great!!

not a good idea when 401's use EL84's

radiomatts · 08-14-2008, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussiebluesville

not a good idea when 401's use EL84's

Wait, 401's use EL 84's? Really?

amplifier · 08-15-2008, 01:40 AM

07-08-2008, 09:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
aussiebluesville Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: australia Posts: 82	marshall tubes hi,guys i just checked my valves in my dsl 401,it looks as though they are the original factory tubes,on the preamp tubes it has marshall written on them and the power tubes have sovtek 6QB5... but the tubestore are saying that new sovtek's are a different size and don't fit dsl 401's or 201's ? are these tubes installed just old type that used to fit,well i want to change out these and use jj ecc83s preamp and jj el84s matched quad power tubes anyway!,i have read that using a balanced tube in v4 preamp is better,what is the best tube for this,and what is the best for v1 i have read the jj here is good,what about 2 and 3 ,any info on original tubes and the best configuration for a re tube will be much appreciated. __________________ jcm 2000 DSL 401 fender 71 usa strat fender tele custom shop vox 15R www.myspace.com/jewells2007 www.soundclick.com/ourcreationsjamband Last edited by aussiebluesville; 07-09-2008 at 05:22 PM.

07-12-2008, 05:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
amplifier Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 118	Re: marshall tubes I started a thread similar to this. Marshall relabels tubes. From what I've learned if it's a white Marshall logo it's Chinese, if it's red its a JJ. Someone here said they even have a black logo which I don't know about. Marshall used to use Sovtek and I've heard they also use Svetlanna. An amp tech told me 99% of the time the stock preamp tubes in Marshalls are Chinese tubes. Hope that helps. I can't tell you much about the poweramp tubes.

07-12-2008, 08:49 PM	#3 (permalink)
aussiebluesville Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: australia Posts: 82	Re: marshall tubes well i had another look and the preamp tubes are white marshall logo,so they must be chinese,i'm wondering if they are shaugang relabelled,but i still dont know about the el84 6bq5 power tubes labelled sovtek,when they are not supposed to fit 401's and 201's that i find strange as these are fitted factory power tubes! __________________ jcm 2000 DSL 401 fender 71 usa strat fender tele custom shop vox 15R www.myspace.com/jewells2007 www.soundclick.com/ourcreationsjamband

07-12-2008, 09:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
amplifier Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 118	Re: marshall tubes I just ordered a Shuguang. If you do get them get the 9th generation. As far as your power tubes... Sovtek is the manufacturer so there would be no need for them to relabel their own tube. I would try getting a second opinion, maybe from Doug at dougstubes.com or Bob at Eurotubes.com. Bob sells JJ's exclusively but he's pretty knowledgeable about other tubes as well. If you try Doug make sure to call not email as his emails are rather short and probably won't be as informative as you'd hope. Either the guy you spoke to doesn't know what he's talking about or Sovtek doesn't make them the same anymore. BTW don't order from thetubestore. They only test 50% of their stock. That leaves a lot of tubes that could fail prematurely.

07-15-2008, 05:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
aussiebluesville Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: australia Posts: 82	Re: marshall tubes hi guys,i received an email back from the tubestore on the question about the sovtek el84's not fitting the 401 and 201,which they state on their website,anyway it was the early models that didn't fit but marshall redesigned the 401 models so they would fit in the newer releases. __________________ jcm 2000 DSL 401 fender 71 usa strat fender tele custom shop vox 15R www.myspace.com/jewells2007 www.soundclick.com/ourcreationsjamband

07-17-2008, 07:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
radiomatts Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 33	Re: marshall tubes i recommend Groove Tubes EL 34M. This is THEIR Mullard resissue, not a rebranded one. Oh My freaking God they sound great!!

08-15-2008, 01:40 AM	#9 (permalink)
amplifier Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 118	Re: marshall tubes Yup

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