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Mesa M6 Carbine Mega-Thread Pt Deux

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#684
With time on my hands these days, I tried some tube swapping.
Using my Valenti Geddy Vee 5-Nord Big Singles, Nord 3 band pre; all set flat-into the Berg AE410, horn set "flat," which is actually pretty aggressive...neck pickup full o, bridge pickup at about 90...

I was hoping to find something that tightened up the bottom end a little. Not that it's flubby, but, it's big and I often roll bass off a tad...

Having said that...the stock tube (Mesa 12ax7-A) is fine. Nice clear highs, we all know about the M6's mid/low mid punch...and the fat bottom end. Tighter than the Walkabout or Eden WT800B whe you start rollig it in.

JJECC803S long plate...supposed to add some mids and highs, and it did; almost to the point where the highs sound a little crunchy. bad, by me. Lows; about the same

JJECC83S...supposed to be "a great 12ax7 replacement." It sounds dang close to the Mesa tube, with a tad of that top end grind/crunch. Again, bad for me.

Mesa 12ax7A "Russian" from my Walkabout (which now is happy with JJ ECC83S; the extra top end is good in it). While not "long plate" like the JJ803@, it's got more plate than either the JJ 83S or stock Mesa. Clearly a little higher gain, and higher noise floor. Bad for me.

JJECC82=12au7 equivilant. About as smooth on top as the stock Mesa-good by me-but, biiig gain drop. With all the others, input at noon, and master at 9 oclock is normal for me. With the ECC82, inout had to run up to 2-3 oclock, and master at 1 oclock to get equal volume. Bad for me.

So, back to the stock tube it is.

hth-alan
 
#685
Chef said:
......the stock tube (Mesa 12ax7-A) is fine. Nice clear highs, we all know about the M6's mid/low mid punch...and the fat bottom end.
Click to expand...
This is also what I found.

I tried a Tung-Sol 12AX7 and a JAN-Philips 5751. I ended up liking the Tung-Sol better. The JAN just didn't have as much going on tonally. Seemed to add a veil to the tone. Kinda' the opposite of what I was expecting, but a further testament to how good the stock tube is, I suppose.

Chef said:
So, back to the stock tube it is.
Click to expand...
In my case, I left the Tung-Sol 12AX7 in there... I thought it sounded slightly better than the stock tube, BUT, only slightly. If I'd known the results before I turned all those screws to lift the lid, I probably wouldn't have bothered. It was a fun experiment tho.
 
#686
Vic said:
In my case, I left the Tung-Sol 12AX7 in there... I thought it sounded slightly better than the stock tube, BUT, only slightly. If I'd known the results before I turned all those screws to lift the lid, I probably wouldn't have bothered. It was a fun experiment tho.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I remember now, that I tried a GT Gold 5751 and the sound quality was improved slightly. Not $25 worth or worth the effort of taking out the screws. Now I might try one of those 12AX7c though..
 
#695
that's a whole different layout than the M6...in all my preamp tube swapping with the M6, the diffs were all very subtle...
Some preamps respond very noticeably to tube swaps.
IME, the M6 wasn't one of those cases.

On the other hand, I really like those JJ83's/803's in my walkabout; and the 400+ really liked that swap.
 
#696
I think I am playing half of my bands songs with an overdrive or fuzz pedal on at this point. Worrying about the subtleties of preamp tube changes is about the last thing on my mind. I am sure I would have fun with it though.

Plus I don't want to bother with unracking my head.
 
#697
Vic said:
Welcome to my world. Prepare yourself for joy! :)
Click to expand...

Well it was quite nice. The M6/Epi UL410 is big and full sounding. It is much bigger sounding than the M6/Berg HS210 stack with sweeter highs. I still like the HS210 stack for the midrange clarity and more controlled low end. I think I'll keep both to pair with the M6:D. I also used Pauls old Voodoo Lab pedal for mute, which was nice for tuning in silence. I ran the DI pre last night because I had other pedal buttons set for the mid boost setting 4 and mid cut setting number 2 to have at my disposal. Everything else was flat, except the volume.
 
#698
Saluki said:
Well it was quite nice. The M6/Epi UL410 is big and full sounding. It is much bigger sounding than the M6/Berg HS210 stack with sweeter highs. I still like the HS210 stack for the midrange clarity and more controlled low end. I think I'll keep both to pair with the M6:D. I also used Pauls old Voodoo Lab pedal for mute, which was nice for tuning in silence. I ran the DI pre last night because I had other pedal buttons set for the mid boost setting 4 and mid cut setting number 2 to have at my disposal. Everything else was flat, except the volume.
Click to expand...

Hogwash. Most of it was the booty-licious JoBo5 with the East pre! :bassist:
 
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