what ht20 stock tubes are?

[Dor]

i want to upgrade my amp,
So i alreay bought celestion v30 and i want to replace those stock tubes as well.
I bought some JJ's el34 & ecc83 but the tech told me i have sovtek ecc83 and TAD el34 and they are both better then JJ's

i'm confused,if i recall blackstar's stock are some chinense stuff,
and the TAD's EL34 cost more then JJ's EL34....

[Hedgehog]

They are indeed Sovteks and TADs. I don't think they're really "bad" as such - I think the main complaint people have is that they often don't seem to last that long, but that's probably more down to the lack of selection/matching at source (to keep costs down) than the make of the valves. I've fiddled with different preamp tubes in mine because it's easy, but I have no intention of swapping the power tubes until they die - it sounds fine to me with the stock ones - but I've got a spare pair just in case. JJs seem to have a good reputation for reliability.

Rob

[majikmojo]

^^^^ agree...when the TAD's work they have a pretty decent tone imo - just very inconsistent in quality
in my experience

[cayle]

Stock are Sovtek 12AX7 and TADEL34. The Sovtek tubes are the low end ones, not really favored by a lot of users. I switched both of them to TungSol tubes and I couldn't be happier. JJ's would probably have a more in your face tone.

[Dor]

WOW!!!

i just got my amp back with JJ's and 30 vintage installed,
and now the amp sounds fucking amazing!

i glad i ended up with JJ's EL34 its sound really great,
altough i wanted KT88 at first.

couldn't be any happier,it boosts the amp so high,
i feel like i'm playing an fucking expensive amp!

blackstar amp have so much potential,
all ya' need is a good speaker and pre-amp tubes.

[cayle]

True. Speaker swap indeed makes the HT20 sound a lot better. I've got a Scumback H55 in mine. Thinking about getting an M75.

[IM4Tone]

WOW!!!

i just got my amp back with JJ's and 30 vintage installed,
and now the amp sounds XXXXXXX amazing!

i glad i ended up with JJ's EL34 its sound really great,
altough i wanted KT88 at first.

couldn't be any happier,it boosts the amp so high,
i feel like i'm playing an XXXXXXX expensive amp!

blackstar amp have so much potential,
all ya' need is a good speaker and pre-amp tubes.

Changing both the speaker and tubes at the same time, makes it impossible for you to tell which made the "improvement". Speakers make major changes in tone/sound, and the V30 is a good one. It's increased sensativity will make it louder at the same setting. I don't believe new tubes (same type/different mfg.) make any significant change unless deffective and/or noisey. JMO

[vbshredder]

You make a good point, but the same type of tubes definitely sound different from brand to brand, at least preamp tubes. I was a skeptic, but i switched out the stock 12ax7 for Groove tube gold 12ax7 and it made a huge difference. I'm not talking "well, maybe there's more high end", i'm talking it sounds like a different amp on the overdrive channel, and definitely better on the clean channel. I didnt like the GT in OD, to round and shrilly highs so i went back to the sovtek, but its great in the clean channel, really fat & bright.

[IM4Tone]

You make a good point, but the same type of tubes definitely sound different from brand to brand, at least preamp tubes. I was a skeptic, but i switched out the stock 12ax7 for Groove tube gold 12ax7 and it made a huge difference. I'm not talking "well, maybe there's more high end", i'm talking it sounds like a different amp on the overdrive channel, and definitely better on the clean channel. I didnt like the GT in OD, to round and shrilly highs so i went back to the sovtek, but its great in the clean channel, really fat & bright.

And from my experience this is "In Your Head"....cognitive dissonance is not uncommon.

[vbshredder]

^^^ that's pretty much an insult, but it's all good, we are just talking about amps here

peace.