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Topic: Question for Brad Sarno |
Mike Bowles
From:
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 11:26 am |
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Which tube for an older black box? thanks
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Mike Bowles |
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Mike Bowles
From:
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 11:32 am older black box
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o281
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Mike Bowles |
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Stuart Tindall
From:
England, UK
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 2:31 pm
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Hi Mike
I have the older SGBB and it has uses 12au7 or ECC82 tube, but as I remember Brad said you should avoid the ones with spiral filaments. |
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Mike Bowles
From:
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 3:30 pm older black box
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Thanks Stuart they are hard to find
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Mike Bowles |
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Brad Sarno
From:
St. Louis, MO USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2021 6:08 pm
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Some of the early ones did get converted to 12AX7.
If yours is the original 12Au7 (or ECC82), then the trick is to find a 12AX7 or ECC82 that test good for low microphonics AND is a type of tube that doesn't have a spiral filament.
It's been a while, but I recall this being a good contender:
https://www.thetubestore.com/electro-harmonix-12au7a-ecc82
Brad |
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John Limbach
From:
Billings, Montana, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 5:12 am Re: older black box
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| Mike Bowles wrote: |
| Thanks Stuart they are hard to find |
Mike: I've got a drawer full on my bench. PM me your address and I'll send you one. |
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Mike Bowles
From:
Princeton, West Virginia, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2021 3:52 pm 12au7
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thanks so much john
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Mike Bowles |
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Kevin Mincke
From:
Farmington, MN (Twin Cities-South Metro) USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2021 10:22 am
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"then the trick is to find a 12AX7 or ECC82"
Brad, did you mean 12AU7 as I didn't think you could use a 12AX7 if you had an older BB as mine is. |
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gary pierce
From:
Rossville TN
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Posted 17 Mar 2021 12:53 pm
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Since yall are talking about black boxes can I ask something.
Mine makes no difference in sound when in the chain after the volume pedal.
Should it be before the VP, or maybe tube is bad.
Thanks, and sorry to hijack this thread. |
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Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2021 4:00 pm
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The tube does more of its thing if the BB is the very first thing in the chain -- the first thing the pickup 'sees' before any other effects or the volume pedal.
You'll hear more of the benefit if you use a solid state amp since there are no other tubes involved. If you use a tube amp, there's still a sonic benefit, but it's not as marked.
Also, my BB goes through phases. It doesn't seem to do as much at first, but really gets going when the tube fully heats up, which takes about 45 minutes. I can actually hear the cross over happen (over the course of a minute or two), and things suddenly get creamier.
If after that, you can't really hear what it's doing, take it out of your chain... then you'll probably hear the difference. It's a 'frog in water' effect while that tube is slowly heating up, and you don't hear the small, incremental improvements very well... until it's all heated up. If you remove it from the chain at that point, you'll hear the tone go over the cliff and go all the way back to Square One, so that's the best way to do an A/B comparison of what the box is actually doing.
Tubifying a signal is a subtle thing, but still a thing worth having. The highs are less shrill and the lows are less flabby and undefined. |
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Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
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Posted 17 Mar 2021 4:29 pm
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does it look like this
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gary pierce
From:
Rossville TN
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Posted 18 Mar 2021 5:18 am
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| Thanks Tucker. |
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