Hi everyone,
So while the micro head guys are oogaling over the Streamliner and other folks are drooling over the new tube heads from NAMM, I picked myself up a used YBA200.
There has been quite a bit of information posted about this head over the past 7 or 8 years, especially regarding the famous preamp tube swap. I had heard descriptions of the change in sound, but never heard the sound difference for myself. Was it psychoacoustics luring people into buying more tubes? Was it really that big of a difference to warrant purchasing alternate valves? Well I've gone through the transition now, and I can say I'm very happy with the results. To put psychoacoustics to rest, I recorded samples of the stock tubes vs the replacements and then posted the video on youtube. Feel free to check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ZvF2YsD6k
So here are the details of what I did:
I ran my Lakland LOG bass strung with Joe Osborn flats through my new Acme Flatwound (which is awesome by the way). Under Kjung's recommendation I put the mic at the far end of the room to best capture the sound of the amp through the mic. I used an SM58 straight to a cheap mixer, no eq, to my laptop's soundcard. All recorded with audacity and a Flip camcorder.
I posted a clip of the old tubes with various eq settings and one with a drum track and others without. Then I changed the tubes, burned them in and posted the same clips. The only difference was a slight adjustment in the gain level to compensate for the lower gain 12AT7s.
As for tubes I bought NOS RCA 12AT7 blackplates and a NOS RCA 12AU7 cleartop. These are still relatively affordable as I think people are favouring the ridiculously expensive NOS 12AX7s. I got them off
http://audiotubes.com/ which was quick and accesible.
My thoughts on the tube swap: I'm actually surprised at how big of a difference the RCAs make. My experience could be biased because I know many folks bought the cheap EH 12AY7s, and I went all out and got the top of the line NOS RCAs. I must say that this amp screams vintage now. It captures the flatwound P bass hollow grind and channels it into an extrememly pleasant distortion. Whereas the chinese 12AX7s had that nasaly distortion, the RCAs widen the sound and bring about a beautiful bloom through the speaker.
The eq is not as sensitive now, and there's not a small window of good sounds; rather most eq settings sound good, and there are a few brilliant sounding spots. Some of my favourites are as follows:
Setting 1: Gain: 6.5, Treble: 1.5, Mid: 3, Bass: 5, Range: Just under 1 Master: 1 - Scoop, Resonance and Bright off.
Setting 2: Gain: 8.5, Treble: 6.5, Mid: 6.5 Bass: 6.5 Range: Just under 1 Master: Just Under 1 - Scoop, Resonance and Bright off.
Setting 3: Gain: 7.5 Treble Mid & Bass: full, Range: Just under 1, Master: 1 - Scoop, Resonance and Bright off.
In terms of headroom, I haven't had a chance to really open the amp up. To be honest I was playing with the gain on around 7 and the master at 2 and my neighbour came over and asked me to turn it down! I notice a bit of decrease in volume with the Acme, but not anything that I could see impeding my volume at gigs with a moderately loud rock band.
So check it out and tell me what you think. I think that the stuff that Kjung is doing is extremely helpful in aiding people as they make decisions to spend lots of money on gear they might not have a chance to play. Hopefully this vid can give people a sense of the YBA200 and its potential as a relatively cheap tube amp. I think especially as people trade up for the micro heads on one extreme and the bigger tube heads on the other extreme, heads like the YBA200 and VB2 will sit in a nice gap that makes them very affordable with folks trying to unload them.
On a side note, I must give props to the LOG bass and the Acme Flatwound. The LOG bass is the P5 of my dreams, and I've never played through a speaker as acurate and well constructed as the Flatwound. It truly is a great time to be a bass player!
) not the amp sound.
