Thinking of upgrading my HT-5R>Watford Valve kit

[mickmal]

I purchased a lightly used HT-5R amp last year and pleased with it. However while it sounds great especially with the gain up, the clean sound could be better. After researching a bit online, I am considering purchasing the upgrade kit from Watford Valve or even individual parts on my own.

The Watford kit consists of:
1 Specially Selected Harma ECC83 Retro
1 Specially Selected Brimar 12BH7
1 Celestion 12 inch Ceramic Vintage 30-60 watt 16 Ohm speaker

Has anyone installed the Watford Valve kits or other parts? While I am only a bedroom player, I plan to keep this amp and want to get the most out of it. For my playing, it's a mix of classic/hard/alternative with some playing using a clean tone.

Guitars:
Fender Billy Corgan artist series American Strat with humbucker pickups
Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe MIM reissue (humbucker pickups)
Squier Classic Vibe 50's Strat

Any advice would be most appreciated.

[thephantum]

Changing the speaker is going to give you the biggest sonic change. Anything is better than the stock speaker in the combo...and that's a V30 in that kit. 'nuff said there.

I believe the Harma ECC83 Retro is just a re-branded, Russian made, Mullard reissue. That's not a bad thing....the Mullard reissues are decent sounding bottles. However, I prefer the TungSol reissues as they are a little brighter sounding. Regardless, it will sound better than the stock preamp valve.

The Brimar 12BH7 is most likely a NOS or "gently used" valve. I say that because the company no longer manufactures valves. While they do offer some tested and rebranded valves, 12BH7's are not amongst those. Hence, it's most likely NOS. Again, that's not a bad thing as it will sound better than the stock output valve. Just keep in mind that, unlike the preamp tube, the amp will need to be be properly biased when changing the 12BH7. So it will most likely need to go to a tech for that.

[mickmal]

Thanks for the advice. I am off tomorrow and planning to visit a well regarded amp repair shop to discuss my options.

[davidrf]

Thanks for the advice. I am off tomorrow and planning to visit a well regarded amp repair shop to discuss my options.

So, how did it go? My HT-5R will arrive monday and I'm very interested.

Also, you are a fellow Billy Corgan owner... great