Re: [Harp-L] Re: Art Tube MP

[info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Quoting windsaver@xxxxxxx:

>   I have to agree. For tube mic preamps, the tube that the designers  
>  used is probably going to be the best choice.

I'm going to have to humbly disagree with the last few posts on this  
thread.  I am hardly a tube or electronics expert, I just know what I  
know from experience.  The idea of switching out tubes in the preamp  
section of an amp actually came from a posting on this list  
recommending subbing a 12AU7 for a 12AX7 by someone about a half dozen  
years ago which I saw when I was trying to adapt my guitar rig to  
harp.  The original posting recommended it as a way to cut down  
feedback, which I was having a lot of trouble with at the time.

Admittedly I have only tried this on the ART preamp, a Music Man 1x12  
50 watt combo and my 25 watt '61 Rickenbacher combo amp, but I noticed  
a much warmer sound, a "rounder" and smoother distortion, a marked  
decrease in volume and a lot less feedback consistently for all three  
pieces of gear.  I eventually put a 12AX7 back into the ART and the  
MusicMan since those get used for other instruments, but I kept the  
12AU7 in the Ricky, my dedicated harp amp.

My original point was that since this is a discussion about tube gear,  
switching out the tube being used to get a different sound or  
performance characteristic was worth looking into.  Your mileage (and  
opinion) may vary.

On a side note, if anyone is in the Austin, Texas area over the next  
two weekends with a taste for the Bard and the blues, I will be  
playing a lot of harmonica in my capacity as music director for the  
Austin Shakespeare Festival.  There are bits of Toots-inspired jazz  
chromatic and some hardcore Little Walter-isms combined with famous  
scenes from Shakespeare's work in our company's original production  
"Will Power" being presented on the main stage in Zilker Park near  
downtown Austin the 18th-20th and 25th-28th at 8 pm.  It's free, it's  
under the stars, it's in Austin and it's a wonderful production.  Any  
fellow Harp-l denizens who attend, please stop up and say "hey."

Best regards to all,

Ed

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Ed Kliman
Producer/Publisher
Texas Music Forge

"Written, musical and electronic communications
   for a changing World..."
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