New Speaker & Tubes

[BLACKJAC]

Out of the box my HT-1 has always sounded great. It loves nice OD pedals as well. I've had it over two years now so I finally decided to change speaker and tubes in it. I put a Mullard 12AX7 in the preamp spot, replacing the Sovtek which was in there. For the power tube I put a NOS GE 12AU7/ECC82, replacing the OEM TAD. When I saw the OEM Blackbird 8 ohm speaker, I decided to change it out to a Jensen P8R 4 ohm ALNICO magnet speaker. The bummer is that it did not fit. The horseshoe ALNICO magnet stuck out too far. I wound up putting another Jensen in it. I put a C8R 8 ohm Jensen which sounds really nice for a ceramic magnet speaker. Next time I open it up to try other ECC82 tubes, I'll take some photos of the little chasis with components. I can now get crunch even in the clean mode when I bring up the gain. I like those Mullard preamp tubes. They are current production. I got them a few years ago new. I want to try a Tung-Sol 12AU7W as well. I also have JJ and an EH I can put in there.

[thephantum]

The Jensen C8R is a decent little speaker. I have one in an old Maxi Mouse amp from the 80's and it sounds fantastic.

I would suggest trying a TungSol 12AX7 in the preamp. It has just a little less headroom (so it breaks up a little earlier) and is just a little bit brighter than the Mullard. Both are good tubes, it all depends on which one sounds best to your ears. With that Jensen though, the TungSol might be too bright.

You can try those new ECC82 tubes, but I think you'll find that NOS GE is going to sound the best.

[BLACKJAC]

Thanks Phantum!

[Classicplayer]

You're correct about the Tung-Sol 12AX7 being bright. It works out well with the replacement Celestion Eight Fifteen speaker That I now have in my combo HT1R.

As a side note, which of those two tubes (ECC82 ECC83) would you expect to have the shorter life span? Power tube or pre-amp tube? The last set of Tung-Sols seemed to lose their definition after about four months of daily playing (perhaps 1 to 2 hours every other day, or so).

Classicplayer

[thephantum]

The power tube "works harder" so it will wear out quicker then the preamp tube.

[MadDogE134]

I went with the Celestion Eight 15 http://celestion.com/product/8/eight_15/ and both tubes are JJs. I can't remember all the brands I tried... but for my ears and the way I like things... the JJ combo sounded the best. cheers