Eurotubes Feedback

feylya

Ok, I finally got round to ordering some tubes for the Randall cos it was sounding fairly bad. Ordered 4 12ax7u's and a matched pair of EL34's from Eurotubes. I got a personal email from the owner, stating how much the shipping was and asking if I had any questions along with links to tutorials on how to install and bias the tubes. Including shipping, I paid €60 for the lot. They arrived in about a week in a fairly large box drowned in foam peanuts. Anyway, took out the old tubes, cleaned the sockets, installed the new tubes, biased them and took the Randall out for a spin last night. You would not believe the difference. Mr Baggio even commented on it sounding good!

So anyway, if anyone is thinking of buying some tubes soon, Eurotubes have my personal recommendation

bombidol

great site. Got replacements for my Peavey there. Bloke was great to deal with.

Karl Hungus

Aye, used them a couple of times, Bob is a great guy to deal with, definitely recommended.

Doctor J

Agreed. Re-tubed the Bassman last week. Sounds much, much better, they arrived within a week and yer man Bob's a top bloke on top of that.

Quattroste

Re-tubed the Mesa with EuroTubes. Great, fast service. They even recommended some higher gain preamp tubes for that extra bite. The exchange rate wasn't as good as it is now but I believe I got 5 12ax7's and 4 EL84's plus shipping for less than €100. Try to get that Watford Valves!

Eoin Madsen

Quattroste wrote: »

Re-tubed the Mesa with EuroTubes. Great, fast service. They even recommended some higher gain preamp tubes for that extra bite. The exchange rate wasn't as good as it is now but I believe I got 5 12ax7's and 4 EL84's plus shipping for less than €100. Try to get that Watford Valves!

Yeah, try to get something other than JJs from Eurotubes.

Quattroste

I was wondering when you'd be in to defend Watford valves I've noting against them but they are very expensive in comparison. OK the valves may well be of better quality but my ears are not that tuned enough, just yet, to notice. Maybe someday!

About a week after I put in the new set of valves, my rectifier valve went. I got this from Watford and it cost me the best part of €60 with postage.

lalalalinda

How often do you guys suggest you change the tubes? I'm not gigging so it's really just a hobby and I don't play as much as I used to I don't really have time. I'd only be using my amp seriously for a few hours a week and the rest I'd play my acoustic (the amp is too loud! Neighbours complain!). I'd say they have some life in them still I bought the amp second hand but the tubes were new in it. I think that was just before Christmas. Suggestions? This is my first tube amp so I haven't a clue how to replace them. Obviously I'd want to be able to do it myself but should I hire someone else to do it for the first time and maybe they'd show me?

Cheers

feylya

Well, I replaced mine after having my amp for nearly two and a half years which was far far too long. As far as I know, it's recommended to change them yearly if you're using the amp a lot.

lalalalinda

Oh ok thanks., 2 years should be grand for me then. Unless they blow..they can do that right? Does that cause any damage?

bombidol

I got some for my 6505+ and seemingly I dont need to Bias the amp as the tubes match. But after I put em in the sound went wonky for a bit. put the old ones back in for a little bit while I figure out the problem

Quattroste

bombidol wrote: »

I got some for my 6505+ and seemingly I dont need to Bias the amp as the tubes match. But after I put em in the sound went wonky for a bit. put the old ones back in for a little bit while I figure out the problem

My amp is self biasing so I'm not sure if I can help you here. However, when I first changed mine the sound was crackly and crap. I emailed Eurotubes and they told me that the connections need to heat up a bit to bed in. They said play away and don't worry. I did and after a couple of hours it was fine.

Voodu Child

lalalalinda wrote: »

How often do you guys suggest you change the tubes?

It depends completely on how often you use the amp. And how 'hard' you run the amp.

If you're using it every day, you might need a revalve after a year or two. If you're only using for an hour or two a week, you could go 5+ years without touching them.

There's no right answer tbh. If something sounds bad or 'not as good as it used to' then that's a better indication than trying to put an exact time-span on it.

And power tubes usually need to be replaced about twice as regularly as preamp ones.

Edit - Tubes will also fail much quicker if you don't use 'standby' to warm/cool them before and after playing.

Eoin Madsen

lalalalinda wrote: »

Unless they blow..they can do that right? Does that cause any damage?

They can, but they're not supposed to. Blowing a valve can be a catastrophic failure. At best it might just take out a screen resistor and a fuse. At worst you could completely blow the output transformer.

As VC said, it's good to let the heaters warm up before applying plate voltage to the valve so always turn a valve amp on in standby and give it a few minutes to get cozy.

Eoin Madsen

Quattroste wrote: »

I was wondering when you'd be in to defend Watford valves I've noting against them but they are very expensive in comparison. OK the valves may well be of better quality but my ears are not that tuned enough, just yet, to notice. Maybe someday!

It's like getting your guitar setup in Perfect Pitch or getting Derrick Nelson to do it.

In fairness, if I was just getting a set of JJs I'd probably source them on the cheap as well.