I've never been satisfied with my main amp sound, right since 2016 when I bought my palmer Fat 50 combo, it's German and like all things German is beautifully made. 4 12ax7 and 2 6L6 so it should sound OK, but to honest it's all too harsh and fizzy.
So I thought about experimenting with the preamp tubes, and this is what I've learnt, and assumed, although Peter...I lay myself open to correction.
Anyway, here goes.
There are 4 small valves in the preamp, called v1,v2,v3,v4, and usually they are 12ax7's which have the most gain, or the lowest threshold when the distortion occurs.
So I went ahead and purchased a Mullard (no not Mallard) 12at7 NOS (supposed to be better) and a Genelex Gold Lion 12au7, and see where they sound best...
(The stock 12ax7 are JJ EEC83S)
I tried.
v1 12at7
v2 12ax7
v3, v4 (stock 12ax7)
Sounded OK, a mild improvement on the default.
Then
v1 12ax7
v2 12at7
v3, v4 (stock 12ax7)
Hmm, a bit muddier, and not brilliant, but better than the 2 Stock ones.
Then
v1 12at7
v2 12ax7
v3,stock 12ax7
v4 12au7
Absolutely flipping revolutionary.....My Humble was turned into a Dumble, completely unbelievable, the best amp I've played in bonkers years for humbuckers, but alas not for single coils...
Take care thought when faffing about with tubes, they get hot, they can break easily and if you put the wrong ones in you can bugger up your amp.
Anyway, I'm a happy Man of Parsley, and I can't put the axe down...
Oh yeah, Gibson Customer Buckers help a bit too...
Let me know if you've done similar tinkering... I'll try to post some audio of this exercise.
...btw I'm going to try another 12at7 in v2, I'll be in touch
Yip, did some more tinkering this afternoon, and after seemingly endless configurations, it is back to
v1 At7
v2 Ax7
v3ax7
v4 au7