5751 vs 12ax7 findings

THE BENEFITS OF BEING SINGLE. Three single-ended valve combos, featuring either a KT88, EL34, or 6L6 power valve.
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Biggles
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:38 pm

Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:55 pm

Hello fellow Blackstar users,

For my first forum post I'd like to share my findings with you having today changed the valves/tubes in my Studio 10 EL34 combo:-

I purchased my amp used about 4 months ago and whilst I'm mostly happy with it I always look for things to improve.

My amp came with a TAD ECC83WA in the preamp and a Ruby EL34BHT in the power section - As I bought my amp used I am not too sure if these are stock or not?

Anyway today my GE JAN 5751 and Tung-Sol EL34B arrived and I couldn't resist putting them in as soon as possible.

I don't think I'm qualified enough to comment on any tonal difference between the valves but my intentions were to tame the gain just a bit in order to improve clean headroom.

After swapping out the valves I've found that the amp now operates more like a 2 channel amp with the "standard" channel staying clean even with the gain maxed out and the drive switch now acts as my dirty channel - I'm a bedroom player so my master volume rarely goes above 9 o'clock.

As I run pedals for high gain and fuzz I'm more than happy with how the amp now sounds - I can play with a sweet clean setting, footswitch in the drive and ride the volume on my guitar to get a little dirty and then kick on any additional drive I need with pedals.

I read somewhere on this forum or another that the Studio 10 series are cathode biased so I don't think I need to do anything else with the amp but swap valves? Sounds good to me as it is anyhow!

Just sharing because unfortunately it seems that there is little/no info on these fantastic amps and there may be others out there with a curiosity to satisfy much like myself.

Happy playing people!

emmausa0106
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:39 am

Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:47 am

The 5751 offers a cleaner tone and less distortion than the 12AX7 since it has a lower gain. Players who like a tone with less overdrive and more transparency may find this advantageous. contexto unlimited

smithliz
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2023 7:26 am

Thu Apr 13, 2023 7:31 am

It is true that knowledge not everyone knows. Without the ECC83WA TAD, what would it be like?
death run 3d

lindausa0106
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2023 2:13 am

Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:49 am

This post is a very detailed review of an important topic. I feel like I have improved my knowledge fnf after reading it.

mariahcarey
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:44 am

Wed Mar 27, 2024 9:38 am

As long as your amp is cathode-biased and you've swapped strands of the valves correctly, you shouldn't need to make any additional adjustments.

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