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Last active September 12, 2018 01:50
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Hot Rod Deluxe Tubes
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hotrot.md

Hey Jono,

tl;dr Buy a 12ax7 and a matched set of 6l6gc's OR a matched set of JJ 6v6S's

Long Form

Did some research on what tubes people usually put in these Hot Rod Deluxe's. It's a funny amp, really dark for a fender, and I don't know if it's just the problem with the tubes, but I find that the distortion is pretty muddy.

Pre-amp

As far as the microphonic preamp, any 12AX7 will do. I'd spend between $10 and $20 on this tube depending how fancy I was feeling. We will put it in the first position, so it will have the most impact on the colour of the amp.

These Tung-Sol's are $17 and well liked. https://www.thetubestore.com/tung-sol-12ax7

Power Tubes

Always get a matched set. This amp calls for 2 6l6GC's.

You can't really go wrong. You had sovtek's in here. I don't think they are a super great match for the amp, and I suspect that's why they didn't last long.

I've had good luck with these, they're $20. People will sell you 6l6gc's for a lot more, but I wouldn't reccommend spending much more than $30 per tube - you really won't be able to tell. https://www.thetubestore.com/jj-6l6gc

If you are open to some alternatives, this quote and several others I've read online suggest that a JJ 6V6S's are particularly well suited to this amp, and are quite affordable at $15 a pop. https://www.thetubestore.com/jj-6v6s

"...These tubes are much brighter than 6L6GCs, which I think is good for a dark amp like this. ... The transition to distortion in the clean channel is now smoother, and the overdrive isn't as flabby. The power amp distortion in the clean channel sounds far better than anything I've ever heard out of the drive channels. When the clean channel was overdriven with 6L6GCs it sounded muddy because most of the emphasis was on the low end, this is gladly not the case with the JJ 6V6S! The emphasis is on the mids and upper mids, which is good for cutting through the mix on stage. It's also worth mentioning that my HRDx is about as loud as a Blues Junior, and is probably putting out around 20W. So if you want less clean headroom, a quieter amp on stage, and more controllable bass I highly recommend trying the JJ 6V6S."

Version 3.1.8 (How to bias a hot Rod Deluxe/Deville)

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