My guy, you are contributing greatly to the sphere of tonal knowledge and amp decison making here. Thank u.

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

Thanks, I appreciate that happy to know this stuff can actually be of use to some people

Hey Jim, great video really helped me out, I have a tone king gremlin combo and was considering selling it until I saw this video because it would break up way to early. Then I tried replacing the AX7 with a AU7 as you demonstrated, initially I was a bit sceptical because it is difficult to hear the real difference over KZread, I was absolutely blown away how much better it sounded, yes you do loose some volume but I find the gremlin has exceptional volume for an amp only rated at 5 watts, so not an issue for me. I then tried plugging in the amp through a 4x12 cab with V30s and WOW what a great sound so much better again. Could easily gig with this set up in small to medium clubs. I would be interested to hear if you have tried replacing any of the other Tube in the Gremlin ? And if there are any benefits. Keep up the great work !

The lower gain 12A(T-U-Y)7 V1 trick works on amps with a second, high gain channel. It doesn't noticeably affect the clean channel, but reduces the fizz that happens on a gain channel sometimes. X is 100% gain T is 60% Y is 45% U is 20%

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

Awesome Doug thanks for that!

That's a huge difference

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

It really is

Thanks so much for doing this video. You said you would do it and you did it great. Impressive results. Greetings from Paris.

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

I hope it was helpful for you! I try my best to do what I say I’m going to sometimes it just takes a bit longer to do so life is busy

@Eric-hx9js

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic definitly helpful, YES!!! My next amp will be a Gremlin since I know now I can get way more headroom, thanks to your video. Thanks again. Have a great day!

I hope you're going to keep the new tube installed, the sound was vastly improved in my opinion - it especially made the guitar sound so much better. Now to hear it with single coils too! 🙂🙂🎸🎸

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

I'm still on the fence with it... I played single coils and the difference is equally as dramatic in the other direction haha

@JBM_71

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic what about a speaker swap for more headroom?? 🙂🙂🎸🎸

I did this in my orange or15 and it made me enjoy my humbucker guitars a lot more though that amp

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

Ahhhh I miss my OR15 :(

@wenisrus1

3 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic it’s such a wonderful go to amp! Something about it

That 12AU7 makes that amp much more appealing to me.

@donbishop6994

4 ай бұрын

Agreed.

@debhart4302

3 ай бұрын

​@@quantumbuddhistpeople have been swapping preamp tubes in Fenders for all of my almost 65 years. It doesn't hurt to experiment.

Yup, the 12au7 has the lowest gain factor of just about all commonly used preamp tubes. I knew that, but didn't realise (or forgot) what a massive difference it can make. The next thing you may want to do is try a different brand such as Genelux or JJ's here. Not sure off the top of my head where JJ's are made, but your EH & Genelux are Russian & are definitely good quality, but can/do sound different. Who would have thought looking at the top of an amp could be so much fun for 12 minutes or so. Thanks Jim. 🎸🎸🎸

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

I'm a big fan of NOS tubes, I just wanted to see with a generic EHX to see if it was something I'd be a fan of - I don't have any other amps I can see myself using a 12AU7 in so it'd have been a waste to spend on a really nice one haha.

@nostro1001

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic Haha.... NOS tubes are an entirely different rabbit hole, they are more akin to a warren. 🤣 Totally makes sense. Cheers!!

Cool, I’ve been thinking about using the lower gain tubes to help tame an ac10 for home use. This makes me more confident it will have the desired effect 😊

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

You should, I'm sure it'll help ou!

Really cool video and quite informative. I'd like to ask though if there was headroom gained was it at the expense of overall volume? As you mentioned you checked the attenuator to make sure it wasn't engaged. You'd know better with sound in the room.

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

The problem is only apparent when I plug in a single coil guitar after, for all the good it did for the 335 it did that much in the other direction for single coils... will have to play around with it a bit.

@bciecko1

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic Still cool to know though and see that much of an affect.

What a fantastic video have a wonderful day Jim also how is the family ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

Very good Amin how are you guys doing?

WOW I love videos like this!!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

Jim, do you still like the single coil sound as much with the 12au7? That is such a stark difference I am wondering why they don't ship it with the 12au7.

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

I think the reason they don't ship with the 12AU7 is because the majority of people in the market want it to break up quick honestly. I personally don't like it as much now with the single coils as I do with the humbuckers so it's always a give and take indeed.

Gain factors: AU 19, AT 45, AY 60, AX 100.

Fantastic video and shows what can be done with a little research and work on great equipment we already have too- an underrated avenue of exploration rather than just buying new gear all the time ! One question though- how has it affected working with it with single coils (I.e. is the number you have to get it to push into breakup substantially higher/ is it affecting the tone you loved with that too much?) guessing it’s all manageable but wondered how it was affected. Have a good day!

Very useful comparison vid! Did you notice any change in the overall tone of the rhythm channel? I find my Gremlin a little dark with humbuckers and was considering swapping tubes to increase high end. Thanks again 👍

Sounds really nice! Changing this preamp tube doesn't require any bias adjustment, right?

Brilliant.

Useful test. I have Tone King head and it’s really perfect amp that can support all your needs. But I expected the next logical step. Why didn't you compare it with the singles in the same video?? Or do you think we should change tubes every time we change Les Paul to Telecaster? Even funny😂

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

Well there are two reasons for that - the first being I knew that reducing the gain on an amp that I already didn't have problems with early breakup on wasn't going to do anything drastic to the singles outside of raise the necessary position of the volume to get the same kinda sounds as the stock tube, and secondly because I didn't want this to be a 30+ min video which would have been inevitable.

@1loStu

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic Ok, I got it. In my case I should use volume control. Always. So my solution to make balance between channels and pickups is Boss GE-7 and EHX Switchblade plus.

Would it work with other amps i have a peavey classic 30?

@AudiomoMusic

3 ай бұрын

yep, just make sure you're doing it in the V1 preamp tube

Is changing the tube as simple as popping the old one out and the new one in? No biasing or anything like that has to be done?

@AudiomoMusic

Ай бұрын

Yep, it's cathode so you can pop in the tube and you're good

This was awesome ! I know how to trust for all my gremlin needs lol. Are you planning to make a video with single coils ? I’ve read some of your comments where now it it’s not desirable effect when playing a tele or Strat .

@AudiomoMusic

2 ай бұрын

Sorry I'm just seeing this, I ended up disliking it so much with single coils I put the original 12ax7 back in. Maybe a 12aT7 would be a better compromise but the 12AU7 really took the life out of the amp with single coils.

What happened to the lead channel?

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

It gave it slightly more headroom but it still breaks up fairly quick. I only didn't include it so as to not have this end up being a half hour video but honestly I rarely use the lead channel very much and just use a pedal if i want dirt

@igordemoraeslenzi

4 ай бұрын

@@AudiomoMusic understood. How about the overall volume? I imagine that it has drop down quite a bit.

@AudiomoMusic

4 ай бұрын

A bit yeah, it's taking a bit to get used to. If i was just going to play humbuckers with the amp I'd leave it as is but I think i'm going to experiment further with this one.