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

[windsaver@xxxxxxx]

  Note that I said 'probably' will be the best choice. In any event this is definitely a YMMV (your mileage may vary) kind of thing. Sound is subjective and there is not a right or wrong answer as to what tone a person prefers. Perhaps I was not as clear as I could have been in my previous post regarding the mic pre tube swap. I forgot to add that by using a lower gain tube in a mic preamp, you may lose the ability to adjust the input/output levels to the desired result (i.e. too low output, not enough distortion, etc). Mainly this would be a result of the circuit designed around a high gain tube rather than a low gain tube. The bottom line is that one should try different tube swaps and determine what works best for them. Definitely a YMMV. There is no right or wrong. 
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
 Sent: Mon, 14 May 2007 9:23 AM
 Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Art Tube MP
 
  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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