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Mesa 200 Buster club

#301
Interesting idea I just read about.. anyone try this in thier Buster?

"but for my taste I prefer JJ ECC83s in the first stage and Tungsol 12AX7 tubes in the tone stack with the Gold Lion ECC83 as a Phase Inverter. These will really wake up your amp. Extremely satisfied."

I do have a deal with some JJs in the works, hoping to get those soon.
 
#302
XXL said:
Interesting idea I just read about.. anyone try this in thier Buster?

"but for my taste I prefer JJ ECC83s in the first stage and Tungsol 12AX7 tubes in the tone stack with the Gold Lion ECC83 as a Phase Inverter. These will really wake up your amp. Extremely satisfied."

I do have a deal with some JJs in the works, hoping to get those soon.
Click to expand...

I've been happy with stock Mesa tubes, but I'm sure there are some interesting options out there for those who like experimenting.
 
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#304
Mine came with JJ 12ax7's. I have an adapter for 6sl7gt tubes that I used for the driver, and I also swapped out other tubes, EH 12ax7, a GT "mullard" 12ax7, the EH long plate 12ax7's, and I finally just left the ECC803's in all 3 positions. Honestly I did not notice much difference if any. However, I did notice a marked difference when I switched the power tubes. It came with Mesa Sylvania tubes called ST-415 tubes I believe. When I switched those for Winged C 6l6 tubes, I noticed that the amp was thicker sounding and notes rang out with powerful bass yet retained clarity, by comparison the Sylvania's have a thinner sounding mid, and glassier top end. Neither sounded bad, just depends on what you are going for. I preferred the Winged C tubes, but maybe the Sylvania's are old, so probably not a fair comparison.

I would invest in some good power tubes (thinking about Tung-sol 7581A, have read very good things about them) instead of messing around with the preamp tubes, some amps are more sensitive to preamp tube changes, but I think this one is NOT one of those amps.

Disclaimer ....
Of course these observations could very well be in my head, and in my head alone..if no other members validate my observations.
 
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#305
I'd really like to know as well from other club members if the Buster is sensitive to preamp tube changes. The Mesa 6L6s my Buster has now sound a lot like your description of the Winged C tubes @Calexia13.
 
#306
I swapped out my original Mesa branded preamp tubes for Sovtek reissues & noticed a vast difference. More volume and clearer low mids + (most significantly) much more pleasant high end. (Think "airy" instead of "glassy".)

Of course, this also reflected very old worn out tubes compared to fresh ones!
 
#307
scotch said:
I swapped out my original Mesa branded preamp tubes for Sovtek reissues & noticed a vast difference. More volume and clearer low mids + (most significantly) much more pleasant high end. (Think "airy" instead of "glassy".)

Of course, this also reflected very old worn out tubes compared to fresh ones!
Click to expand...

The weird thing is that the original mesa tubes were probably rebranded Sovtek or JJ tubes. Scotch are you still rocking that wheat grill on your buster 15?

By the way one of the power tubes on my buster burned out, so I removed the corresponding pair and the amp turned on again. I wonder if you can do that down to 2 tubes and have it be a low powered amp. I remember reading somewhere on here where a guy put a switch on his amp that removed 2 power tubes from the circuit in order for the amp to run on lower wattage. Just a random thing I thought I should mention in the buster thread.
 
#310
Bummed out. I bought an EQ footswitch for the Buster off of Reverb.. and it arrived today. Plug it in and it doesn't work :( I assumed to much appearently, I thought all single button footswitches that say EQ on them would work.. WRONG.

Next time Ill just get the Mesa one
 
#312
Razman said:
?? What kind was it? Pic?
Click to expand...

This one below, Only mine says: ASSY. P/N 055853 instead of the 2 as the last number.
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I assumed to much obviously. I thought hey, shouldn't matter that it says Fender it's a single button EQ switch for an amp, should work... wrong!
 
#313
XXL said:
This one below, Only mine says: ASSY. P/N 055853 instead of the 2 as the last number.

I assumed to much obviously. I thought hey, shouldn't matter that it says Fender it's a single button EQ switch for an amp, should work... wrong!
Click to expand...
Hmm, have to look that one up. Is it a momentary-on switch ('on' when you press it, off when you release)? My Trace Elliot took them. Most are the on/off types. I found an old dusty one in my local indie music store and it worked great for my Buster.
 
#316
Furious_Man77 said:
If that Fender footswitch has an LED, that is your problem. The Mesa EQ footswitch for the Buster does not; it is a simple latching on/off. I had a Buster stack for 10 years, it looks like this: Link Removed
Click to expand...

Yeah it appears to have an LED, bummer it doesn't work. Looks like I need to be patient and hopefully a used one will pop up.

I did try my expression pedal into the EQ ftsw input and it actually works.
 
#318
Well I have a JJ ,Tung Sol, and a Mesa 12AX7/ECC83 tubes being shipped to me. The stock tubes sound great in the Buster but Id like to experiment. I still need to find a Genelix.
 
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