HT 1 help

[Classicplayer]

Let us know how you like both of those swaps, won't you?

Classicplayer

[Lonniep]

I sure will

[Classicplayer]

One thing about the HT1 amp and other 1-watt or low watt amps on the market is this. Don't be afraid to play the HT a bit louder than you might play a solid state amp. Those SS amps can sound quite good at low volumes that one would be apt to use in the home. The HT 1 has to be played with sufficient volume to get all the frequencies out. I "discovered" this almost by accident; the reason being the HT 1 is my first tube amp in many years. I've been so used to listening to SS amps for so long, that I sort of forgot what tube tone is all about. It's just my opinion, so take it for what it might be worth.

Classicplayer

[Lonniep]

Well my replacement HT 1 arrived today. Installed new speaker and tung sol tubes. Getting some good tones now. The amp came with ruby tubes( just relabeled 9th gen Chinese tubes).i tried it with the rubys and they didn't sound bad so the speaker is the weak link to this amp. It's a night and day difference with the speaker swap and a subtle difference with the tubes. The tung sols are more brighter, but after rolling back the tone on my les Paul's bridge pickup I was getting some good sounds.

[Classicplayer]

I'm thinking that you already approve of your additions to the HT1R? The Tung-Sol tubes do make it brighter, but after the tubes get warmed up after, say 30 minutes of playing, some of the highs start to disappear. It's probably normal, but I like a bright tone. Sometimes I put an JOYO e.q. pedal in front to put back some of those highs.

When you were getting your best tone, whereabouts were you running the guitar's volume controls?

Classicplayer

[Lonniep]

After playing some more I decided I didn't like the tung sol 12ax7 so I put the Chinese tube back in and left the tung sol 12au7 in. Sounds a lot better now. The tung sol 12ax7 sounded a little thin and harsh and lacking mids to my ears.
Classic player, getting good tones with different volumes on the guitar, depends what I'm playing.

[Lonniep]

I did some more research and found out that the ruby's aren't Chinese tubes, it's actually a relabbled Sovtek 12ax7wb

[Classicplayer]

That sounds reasonable as the Tung-Sol preamp can be on the bright side. The reason I decided to stick with that bright sounding tube is due to my Classic's neck '59. It sometimes is not as bright as I want. I have no problem with the '59 bridge. That's the trick to trying to master playing electric......how do you balance guitar, amp, and pedals to get the perfect mix?

Classicplayer

[Classicplayer]

I believe the original stock tubes in mine were a TAD and a Sovtek. I cannot remember if the Sovtek was in the preamp slot, or not.

Classicplayer

[Luckyrabbit2015]

Have run an HT1R head for some time now, the original tubes did not last long and were replaced with a "Phil Kit) from Watford Valves and the result was WOW. Was running it through a 4 x 12 cab with a couple of Fender and a couple of Celestion Seventy 80,s and it sounded great, but just too loud for home use, so on a limited budget I bought a SubZero 1 x 12 cab with a Celestion Tube 10. Now this lets the amp really do its stuff. I do not profess to be an expert and I am of the old school (age related) and like a trem, but you can use a pedal train or just plug straight in whatever is your thing. This little amp to my mind is just about unbeatable for home use, have a larger amp, an Epiphone SolCal 50, but this has just gone down, have replaced the two power valves (again from Watford Valves, uprated of course) and the two 4amp slow blow fuses that had gone, but one of these has blown again, so if there is anyone that has any suggestions, they would be most welcome.

Regards