Slatfatf Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 My Shuttle 9.0 is hissing and crackling like there's no tomorrow ....... so I'm hoping I just need to replace the valve. Does anybody recommend a good replacement that will last? I don't like too much dirt in my sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Tung Sol or JJ are perfectly decent modern valves. If you want to have less gain try a 12AT7(ECC81), which puts out about 40% gain that the standard 12AX7(ECC83). You can go vintage, but that will push the price up quite a bit.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I've got tons of old valves and a tester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voxpop Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Personal favourites include... Brimar or Mullard for warm soft sound. RCA for strong bass and treble with good punch. Telefunken for very smooth and clean hifi sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Hey Slatfaft You may find the valve is fine but it just needs re-seating and the spring clip tightening up. Sometimes the contacts work a bit loose in transit (I sent two amps back before I realised this was a required maintenance on the Shuttle). You might find in a gig situation that a well placed (ahem) 'tap' on the top of the amp will sort it too. But for a more permanent fix, when you get it home tighten the thing up... I did a lot of experimenting with valves to change the tone of my Shuttle, I found the stock a bit clinical. I tried Mullard NOS, JJ Tesla, Mesa, Sovtek, Philips, as well as the Harma Mullard clones. The best one was a Telefunken, but these are rare and expensive. [url="http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=1306"]Watford valves[/url] do a Harma STR which worked best for me to really warm up the sound, I think its based on the Telefunken but a modern clone. Having said that, I know that Genz have designed out a lot of the valves 'character' in the circiut to overcome the varied level of valve quality and offer a consistent sounding product, so the differences are very minor in a Shuttle between valve types to be honest. If you're happy with the sound, try just opening it up and making sure the valve is really secure in there. I have to tighten mine every 4 months or so, bizarrely more often when I had it in a flightcase! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iiipopes Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 These reviews should help: [url="http://tubedepot.com/12ax7reviews.html"]http://tubedepot.com/12ax7reviews.html[/url] [url="http://thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html"]http://thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slatfatf Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 brensabre79 - you were dead right! even though the valve looked secure at first glance. I took it out, scratched my head, put it back in and it worked fine. AND I swear it sounds better!! In the meantime everybody's input has got me thinking about a change. Tung Sol have good reviews, not sure if they sound sufficiently different to the Ruby that's already in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iiipopes Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) It depends on the primary criteria. For recording, I'm going to choose tubes with the lowest noise, especially the input, and those with best subjective tone for the intermediate stages. I may even use a lower gain tube for clean and low noise and microphonics, like a 5751 or 12AY7 (think old tweed clean) instead. For road use, hopefully the crowd noise will cover what little extra noise is present in a durable tube. And so it goes. Be careful: some tubes, like the ElectroHarmonix, have a glass envelope that is larger diameter and may not fit in some tube sockets, especially if they have a noise cover. Edited November 23, 2012 by iiipopes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Yep I think its a common fault that nobody seems to know about, I hope they have changed the design on the .2 models. Genz invariably send out a new valve as a fix, but just re-searting is usually good enough, although it will probably shorten the life of the valve having it only halfway connected! I tried a lot of valves in my 6, there is very little between them but I found that the brittle edginess of the shuttle was tamed a little with a warmer sounding valve, you're looking at NOS or clones of the older valves rather than the newer chinese ones which have a harder edge to them IMO. It is still operating theatre clean at lower gain, but slightly warmer and it doesn't bite so much when you wind it up with the Harma STR. If you like the brittle top end then you could try a JJ Tesla in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Mine has never come loose but this thread has made me think it would be worth a checkup, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Just get an NOS Blackburn made Mullard and forget ahbaht it... Especially if it's just one. They're expensive, but it's not like you're fitting five of the buggers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassPimp66 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I'm a bit [b]cheap[/b] with valves. I bought a JJ Tesla at GBP10 for my SWR SM 400 and I liked it. I also bought a 2x cryo EHX at GBP 15 each for my Trace Elliot V-Type preamp, and I like them as well. I am tempted with some exotic General Electric or Telefunken NOS stuff. But, can't justify the spend, and again the cheaper range works absolutely fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Aha, mine has the same issue so going to give this a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Yup mine did the same. I bought a new tube online from "Groovetubes", They have reviews on different tubes on there if a remember rightly. I bought a super high gain one. Tis good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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