Time To Retube.

allthumbs · #1 December 16th, 2006

My blues junior is so past due for new tubes. I am back on my modeler til I get them after xmas. No sense in letting them get crunched in the Xmas mail blitz. I have to put some thought into what I want. I'm thinking mediums. I want a good balance between headroom and crunch. I have the 95 green board so I might go with premium tubes that will warm up the tone a bit. The early B. Juniors tend to be more harsh than the later models with the cream board.

carol m · #2 December 16th, 2006

Hi AT, this post has really made me laugh - I have absolutely no idea what any of it means! Until I got involved with this site, I lived in a fairly simple world where I just played my guitar, but now there is so much more to learn. I've spent all day researching mixers and mics, so I'm 'on my way' and having a great time doing it, but a post like yours shows me I'm just at the beginning of a whole new world. Don't feel you have to give a lengthy explanation, though - I figure it's probably about guitar strings, but I'll work it out with time while I'm busy charging up my learning curve. Great stuff

Stratrat · #3 December 16th, 2006

AT - if you can stand to wade through it all, there's a HYOOGE thread about the Blues Jr. over at the Fender Forum: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.htm...c_number=94318

A lot of it revolves around the BillM mods, but there's a lot of talk about the various tubes people have tried also. JJ's seem to be a real popular choice amongst the BJr. owners there. I don't know if you've read up on BillM's stuff, but he seems to be quite the wiz about modding the BJr!

Carol - it seems to be a never-ending process. As I start to learn about one thing, it opens the door to another aspect which is a whole different world.....it's kind of like peeling away the layers of an onion, only you never get to the middle!

allthumbs · #4 December 16th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stratrat

AT - if you can stand to wade through it all, there's a HYOOGE thread about the Blues Jr. over at the Fender Forum: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.htm...c_number=94318

A lot of it revolves around the BillM mods, but there's a lot of talk about the various tubes people have tried also. JJ's seem to be a real popular choice amongst the BJr. owners there. I don't know if you've read up on BillM's stuff, but he seems to be quite the wiz about modding the BJr!

Carol - it seems to be a never-ending process. As I start to learn about one thing, it opens the door to another aspect which is a whole different world.....it's kind of like peeling away the layers of an onion, only you never get to the middle!

I'm going with JJs tubes. I am familiar with Bills' mods. I never thought it made sense to spend 300 bucks moding a 300 buck amp plus there is a difference of opinion about Bills ideas on biasing the amp.
Carol. I am talking about the tubes that go into a valve amp. They are just like light bulbs or old radio tubes. They wear out in time and need to be replaced. It is the price you pay for getting a warm organic tone out of an amp though the solid state amps are getting closer every year.

Ruffian949 · #5 December 16th, 2006

I use JJ's in both of my amps and highly recommend Bob over at eurotubes. He has always been great to deal with.

Stratrat · #6 December 16th, 2006

AT - I'm kinda with ya on the mods. I haven't had mine for long, but haven't really seen a need to mod it yet.....actually, I listened to the soundclips on his site and liked the sound of the stock one better than the modded one!

Just curious - is this the first time you've had to replace the tubes on your BJr? You said in your original post that it's a '95 model, I was just wondering if the tubes really lasted 11 years. This is my first tube amp, so curious as to what kind of tube life you get out of them. I know there are a lot of variables to that answer.....

allthumbs · #7 December 16th, 2006

Yup. I played it really at low volume so the tubes lasted quite a while. I did start getting rumble years ago but ignored it. It got harder to get the signal to break up and my tone started to suffer. When I got an attenuater and cranked it, the tubes really took a beating. I think I will go with the 2 to 3 year replacement recomendation from now on.

Stratrat · #8 December 16th, 2006

Thanks, AT. Most of my playing is at really low volume also (set at '2' or less 95% of the time), no attenuator, and I usually play about an hour a day - sometimes more, sometimes less. Sounds like every 2-3 years is a good plan, I don't have any problem coughing up the $$ for tubes at those intervals!

mattz196 · #9 December 16th, 2006

I don't own a tube amp but curious as to what the symptoms are that tell you of the need to retube, and also how many tubes in an amp and does a larger wattage amp have more tubes than a smaller one ?

allthumbs · #10 December 16th, 2006

As I said, one sign is when there is a bass rumble in the speaker. Variations in volume, constantly blowing a fuse or loss of tone. The pre amp tubes are smaller and tend to go first. My Blues Junior has 2 pre amp and 2 amp tubes. A big 800 series Marshal has 6. That is about the extent of my knowledge on the subject. It is a deep topic with a huge amount of information.

coldethyl · #11 December 16th, 2006

How often since you first bought the tube amp have you had to retube AT?

allthumbs · #12 December 16th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by coldethyl

How often since you first bought the tube amp have you had to retube AT?

I was a kluts. This is my first retube. I didn't know any better for many years.

coldethyl · #13 December 16th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by allthumbs

I was a kluts. This is my first retube. I didn't know any better for many years.

Oh well, better late than never!

mongee · #14 January 1st, 2007

go w/ jj's, stock bjr tubes are pretty crappy. makes it sound like 75% better. tone gets a lot better/warmer/sexy

. also if u want, go find an antique store and buy one of those old antique radios and take the tubes out and use those

bee-flat · #15 February 6th, 2007

Hi, may I have a question?

Seems there's the time to retube my Carvin, (been playing it for 2 yrs) the question is whether it is only the tubes.
Seems it became sensitive to the position it is in: there is a hum or whistle in the speaker that changes pitch when I lean the amp. It also reacts to certain notes or rather chords or double stops. When standing upright it is sensitive to gentle tapping on the surface (you can hear it through the speaker).
When I lay it on the side, the hum/whistle and tap sensitivity disappears.

Anybody got any idea? Thanks for help