Retubing my Peavey Classic 30

[Tom C.]

I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

[howldog]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I use JJs. They run hot, but work fine.

get toms tube tamer off Ebay too.

that will help a little.

[Youz Net]

Post by howldog

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I use JJs. They run hot, but work fine.
get toms tube tamer off Ebay too.
that will help a little.

Anything will run hot in a Peavey Classic 30. They push the tubes to
the wall.

I had to replce mine within a few months. They all started rattling
including the power tubes. JJ Tesla tubes do great and are pretty
rugged.

No trouble since I replaced the utterly useless CRAP TUBES
that the Peavey Cheap-asses use.

[RichCI]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I recently retubed my Mesa with Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7s and also use
them in my Blues Junior. They're fairly bright sounding which is good
if you're into doing a more high gain thing which works well in the
Mesa but are bit brittle sounding in the Blues Junior (a pretty bright
sounding amp to begin with). I put JJ EL84s in the Blues Junior for
power and they help balance the bright sounding preamp tubes when you
crank up the amp a bit but do nothing for it at low volume. You'll
probably need to experiment a bit or put more weight on the opinions
of people who own the same amp that you do and have replaced the tubes.

[White Spirit]

Post by RichCI
I recently retubed my Mesa with Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7s and also use
them in my Blues Junior. They're fairly bright sounding which is good
if you're into doing a more high gain thing which works well in the
Mesa but are bit brittle sounding in the Blues Junior (a pretty bright
sounding amp to begin with).

The Tung Sol 'reissues' sound okay but they're not really much different
from the EH 12AX7s they're based on - just more expensive. My favourite
choice of preamp valve for bright amplifiers is a Chinese ECC83.

[RichCI]

Post by White Spirit

Post by RichCI
I recently retubed my Mesa with Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7s and also use
them in my Blues Junior.  They're fairly bright sounding which is good
if you're into doing a more high gain thing which works well in the
Mesa but are bit brittle sounding in the Blues Junior (a pretty bright
sounding amp to begin with).

The Tung Sol 'reissues' sound okay but they're not really much different
from the EH 12AX7s they're based on - just more expensive.  My favourite
choice of preamp valve for bright amplifiers is a Chinese ECC83.

I agree. The original tubes in my Blues Junior were EH and I didn't
notice much of a difference between those and the Tung-Sols. It might
be dependent upon the amp though.

[White Spirit]

Post by RichCI
I agree. The original tubes in my Blues Junior were EH and I didn't
notice much of a difference between those and the Tung-Sols. It might
be dependent upon the amp though.

I think the only difference is that the EH ones have a square getter
whereas the Tung Sol has a halo type. The EHs seem to have more gain.

[Grip]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock
tubes in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3
12AX7s and 4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I
also have the recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but
I'd like to hear from the group. Thanks.

I've got a small Mesa that uses 4X EL84. I retubed every so often keeping
the originals as backup. I've never worn out a tube but swapped because I
had always thought it a good thing to do periodically. This amp is of 93
vintage, bought it new when they introduced it. For grins about a year ago I
put the old original tubes back in and it reminded me why I love this amp,
so in they stay....if it ain't broke don't fix it?

[Les Cargill]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I have vanilla Groove Tubes in my Blues Deluxe, and they are
just fine.

IMO, preamp tubes will have more to say about Teh Tone because
they are earlier in the process.

--
Les Cargill

[dEeNeR dAvE]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock
tubes in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3
12AX7s and 4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I
also have the recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but
I'd like to hear from the group. Thanks.

Anyway, back to the O.P.s question.......I used JJs in mine on the
recommendation of several sources. I love the way they sound, yes they DO
run hot, but worth it IMHO.
Here's the configuration I used, it's a quote from Eurotubes website.
https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=8&sub_category_id=33

"A matched quad of the JJ EL84's in a hotter grade along a standard ECC83S
in V1, an ECC832 in V2 to drop the gain and give a very natural blues tone
and a graded ECC83S with a high current output in V3. These give a smoother
tone that is great for Blues."

Notice the reduced gain tube in V2, there's the key. If it's a "blues" tone
you're after, this is the ticket, my .02 worth.

[Tom C.]

Brilliant idea, kitting the tubes for a specific purpose. Thanks for this
link.

Post by dEeNeR dAvE
Anyway, back to the O.P.s question.......I used JJs in mine on the
recommendation of several sources. I love the way they sound, yes they DO
run hot, but worth it IMHO.
Here's the configuration I used, it's a quote from Eurotubes website.
https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=8&sub_category_id=33
"A matched quad of the JJ EL84's in a hotter grade along a standard ECC83S
in V1, an ECC832 in V2 to drop the gain and give a very natural blues tone
and a graded ECC83S with a high current output in V3. These give a
smoother tone that is great for Blues."
Notice the reduced gain tube in V2, there's the key. If it's a "blues"
tone you're after, this is the ticket, my .02 worth.

[Fletch]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

First, why do you think you need to retube your amp? Does it sound
bad? Has it lost power in the output stage? Does the preamp stage not
work right? If the answer is "No" to these three questions, you don't
need to do anything.

The idea that you MUST retube your amp is far blown out of proportion
and usually doesn't have a result of improving much, but does have the
result of emptying your wallet.

If you have golden ears, perhaps a retube may be necessary. But, and I
will get a lot of flak for this, most people really can't hear the
difference if the tubes they insert in place of the old tubes are of
good quality. Honestly, retubing an amp should have clear and
discernible benefits. But if most people can't hear the difference,
then it becomes a very subjective thing that may or may not give you
any benefit at all.

That said...

NOS American or British or German tubes from 20 or more years back
will be better built than many of the new tubes being offered out of
Russia, small European countries or China. But they are expensive and
still may not yield a "better" sound. You really have to do your
homework for the new breed -- or put your trust in someone like Lord
Valve, people who really know this stuff because they've got many
years history in it.

Tung Sol are Chinese and I've heard not so good things. Electro -
Harmonix does vet their stock and you can usually trust they'll give
you reliable tubes.

Svetlana of the Flying C type are supposed to be very good. JJ and Ei
are supposed to be good. To hear the rhetoric, a bunch of them are
supposed to be good. But unless you really understand what you're
dealing with, you won't really know. That's why I rely upon Lord Valve
and other long time experts to help me work through this morass.

But, back to the original point: Why do you think you need new tubes?
There is the rub. If it's because "everyone else", whoever that may
be, is doing it or says so, but you find the sound perfectly fine, you
don't need to do anything for the time being.

Don't waste your money if you don't NEED to. That's rule number one in
any purchase consideration.

--Fletch

[boardjunkie]

Post by Fletch
First, why do you think you need to retube your amp? Does it sound
bad? Has it lost power in the output stage? Does the preamp stage not
work right? If the answer is "No" to these three questions, you don't
need to do anything.

Combos...especially those with EL84 output tubes...eat through the
output tubes pretty fast due to the vibration they're lambasted with.
Once you notice an audible rattle through the speaker, its getting to
be time to change them out. WAit too long and they'll likely short
taking components with them if the fuse doesn't act fast enough.

[RickH]

Post by Fletch

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

First, why do you think you need to retube your amp? Does it sound
bad? Has it lost power in the output stage? Does the preamp stage not
work right? If the answer is "No" to these three questions, you don't
need to do anything.
The idea that you MUST retube your amp is far blown out of proportion
and usually doesn't have a result of improving much, but does have the
result of emptying your wallet.
If you have golden ears, perhaps a retube may be necessary. But, and I
will get a lot of flak for this, most people really can't hear the
difference if the tubes they insert in place of the old tubes are of
good quality. Honestly, retubing an amp should have clear and
discernible benefits. But if most people can't hear the difference,
then it becomes a very subjective thing that may or may not give you
any benefit at all.
That said...
NOS American or British or German tubes from 20 or more years back
will be better built than many of the new tubes being offered out of
Russia, small European countries or China. But they are expensive and
still may not yield a "better" sound. You really have to do your
homework for the new breed -- or put your trust in someone like Lord
Valve, people who really know this stuff because they've got many
years history in it.
Tung Sol are Chinese and I've heard not so good things. Electro -
Harmonix does vet their stock and you can usually trust they'll give
you reliable tubes.
Svetlana of the Flying C type are supposed to be very good. JJ and Ei
are supposed to be good. To hear the rhetoric, a bunch of them are
supposed to be good. But unless you really understand what you're
dealing with, you won't really know. That's why I rely upon Lord Valve
and other long time experts to help me work through this morass.
But, back to the original point: Why do you think you need new tubes?
There is the rub. If it's because "everyone else", whoever that may
be, is doing it or says so, but you find the sound perfectly fine, you
don't need to do anything for the time being.
Don't waste your money if you don't NEED to. That's rule number one in
any purchase consideration.
--Fletch

Retubing is the cheapest / easiest way to change the sound or
responsiveness of your amp without voiding the warranty. But it is
hit or miss, trial and error, listen, compare, repeat. You cant
predict the outcome based on what the label is on the tube. The
differences can be dramatic and if you have a spare tube box its worth
an evening to try out some changes. I have some old Brimars that test
poorly but sound/feel better than some excellent testing Amperex
12AX7's. I've had great luck with subbing lower gain tubes. But it
is voodoo science and prone to subjectivism. My experience is that
tube swapping provides a very wide range of easy to hear differences
and probably the most worthwhile mod you can do besides a speaker
change. I've labeled a few of my spares according to how they worked
in a certain socket of a certain amp so if I need a replacement I'll
know what spare to grab to not alter the tone I have and like too
much.

[Tom C.]

Pretty much because the amp is three years old and I've been playing it out
more lately and want a set of backup tubes. So, after the retube, I'll have
a whole set of backup tubes I figure. I've already done the speaker upgrade
to a Weber Blue Dog Ceramic and I just got the tubes I ordered the other
day. I went for a matched set of JJ EL84s and the EH 12AX7s with matched
triode pairs. Haven't put them in yet, but one thing I noticed when I put
the speaker in is that Peavey loaded the preamp tubes with EH 12AX7's in the
V2/V3 slot, but a Mullard 12AX7LS in the V1 slot. A quick search turns up
the fact that the LS version of the tube uses a specialized filament
configuration (spiral?) to reduce hum in the first preamp position. So I may
have to get one of those if the EH 12AX7 doesn't seem a good fit for the V1
slot.

Post by Fletch
First, why do you think you need to retube your amp? Does it sound
bad? Has it lost power in the output stage? Does the preamp stage not
work right? If the answer is "No" to these three questions, you don't
need to do anything.

[Tom C.]

Oops... make that 12AX7 LPS for the V1 slot, not LS

[RickH]

Post by Tom C.
Oops... make that 12AX7 LPS for the V1 slot, not LS

I find the gain channel on that amp too harsh, I would have also
bought a 12AT7 to experiment with (less gain than 12AX7) for V1 or
V2. Or even a 5751.

[Tom C.]

Thanks for the tip. I don't use the gain channel much; the distortion is too
raspy for me, unless I happen to be playing the Hey Jude B-side version of
Revolution :-) Did you find that the lower gain tube helped with the
distortion sound?

Post by Tom C.
Oops... make that 12AX7 LPS for the V1 slot, not LS

I find the gain channel on that amp too harsh, I would have also
bought a 12AT7 to experiment with (less gain than 12AX7) for V1 or
V2. Or even a 5751.

[Zorro_2k]

Post by Tom C.
Pretty much because the amp is three years old and I've been playing it out
more lately and want a set of backup tubes. So, after the retube, I'll have
a whole set of backup tubes I figure. I've already done the speaker upgrade
to a Weber Blue Dog Ceramic and I just got the tubes I ordered the other
day. I went for a matched set of JJ EL84s and the EH 12AX7s with matched
triode pairs. Haven't put them in yet, but one thing I noticed when I put
the speaker in is that Peavey loaded the preamp tubes with EH 12AX7's in the
V2/V3 slot, but a Mullard 12AX7LS in the V1 slot. A quick search turns up
the fact that the LS version of the tube uses a specialized filament
configuration (spiral?) to reduce hum in the first preamp position. So I may
have to get one of those if the EH 12AX7 doesn't seem a good fit for the V1
slot.

Post by Fletch
First, why do you think you need to retube your amp? Does it sound
bad? Has it lost power in the output stage? Does the preamp stage not
work right? If the answer is "No" to these three questions, you don't
need to do anything.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As I racall, the new " Mullard " 12AX7 LPS is made by Sovtek which
also makes it's own 12AX7 LPS (Long Plate Spiral (filament)) whihc is
a great tube in it's own right. One might question whether they are
both the same tube. Anyway, I'd use the 12AX7 LPS for the phase
inverter, and the EH's ( whihc also have spiral filaments) for the V1
and V2 slots. I have the EH's in V1 and V2 , and a JJ ECC83 in the PI,
of my Marshall JTM50-clone and they perform excellent. Of course, the
PV is no Marshall by any means, but that combination should perform
very well in your amp.

[ty]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I'd leave the stock power tubes in there until they fail. i would use a
5751 (USA NOS if possible to obtain) in V1 and a 12AT7 in V2. Now,
you're starting to get into the tone potential this amp has.

ty

[Tom C.]

Hey ty, what's your recommendation for V3? Can I use the EH 12AX7 there?
Thanks. I'm certainly willing to give this a try...

Post by ty
I'd leave the stock power tubes in there until they fail. i would use a
5751 (USA NOS if possible to obtain) in V1 and a 12AT7 in V2. Now, you're
starting to get into the tone potential this amp has.
ty

[Zorro_2k]

Post by Tom C.
Hey ty, what's your recommendation for V3? Can I use the EH 12AX7 there?
Thanks. I'm certainly willing to give this a try...

I'd leave the stock power tubes in there until they fail.  i would use a
5751 (USA NOS if possible to obtain) in V1 and a 12AT7 in V2.  Now, you're
starting to get into the tone potential this amp has.
ty- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You can use the EH 12AX7 in any pre-amp/PI location.

[Zorro_2k]

Post by Tom C.
I've had this amp for going on 3 years now and it still has the stock tubes
in it. What are your suggestions for replacement tubes? It has 3 12AX7s and
4 EL84s. I've heard good things about JJ power tubes, and I also have the
recommendations from The Blue Guitar site for this amp, but I'd like to hear
from the group. Thanks.

I'd leave the stock power tubes in there until they fail.  i would use a
5751 (USA NOS if possible to obtain) in V1 and a 12AT7 in V2.  Now,
you're starting to get into the tone potential this amp has.
ty

Personally, I don't think a 12AT7 belongs in a gain-stage of an amp.
I've tried them several times in various amps
and they just never sound as good as the other choices available, to
my ears. Their plate voltage/plate current characteristics are much
different and they draw a lot of current meaning the Rp/Rk values used
with a 12AX7 will result in a much different bias point for the tube
segments.

[null]

Post by ty
I'd leave the stock power tubes in there until they fail.

BUT he said already that they are rattling. That is the common
problem with all new Peavey Classic 30s.

Mine started rattling within the first few weeks.
Cheap Chinese tubes like a lot of people use nowadays.
I am very wary of the much promoted "Groove Tubes" for this reason.