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tube replacement: tonebone hot british


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hello!!!

i have a tonebone hot british that's been making some very strange noises lately.  i run it through a mesa boogie lonestar.  i use a lace alumitone pickup in my guitar, which is a hagstrom deluxe-f.  all my cables are clean and none of my other pedals make this noise, so i've temporarily quit using it.  thank god it has true bypass and i have another distortion pedal on my board, otherwise this pedal would have ruined my night.

when it's on, my guitar picks up every sound in the room, especially drums, and it masks my playing with a horrific noise.

does this sound like it might need a new tube?

if so, i was thinking about the mesa boogie spax7-a.  do you have experience with this pedal/tube combination?  or any experience with using after-market tubes on the hot british?

any insight that anyone wants to share will be profusely appreciated.

thanks!!!!

 

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That does sound like the tube may have goneicrophonic. Basically all tubes are a little bit microphonic but they tend to get more sensitive to vibration with age and also after having been rattled around for a while. I am trying to remember what I put in mine as a replacement bit I think it was a mesa of some kind. However the one I did put in mine is apparently super high gain or something because if I turn the gain all the way up it starts to self oscillate. So, maybe a not quite so high gain tube might be a good idea. Of course it could also be doing that due to microphonics too.

 

Typically short plate tubes will pick up less vibration noise so that would probably be a good option. Maybe try a JJ Ecc83s?

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I think Radial promised high voltage. It's been ages since I've paid any attention. They would though stipulate " no user serviceable parts " or provide tube replacement instructions. It's important to note that tubes is tubes. Tube stompers are not like SS devices. You shouldn't dime 'em cold and start wailing. They also need to cool off like amps and shouldn't be tossed into a bag period; cold or hot.

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Will Chen wrote:

 

 

I'm pretty sure the tube in those pedals is mostly for show running at low voltage operately more like a diode. IIRC, you can remove the tube and it will still function. But I guess its worth a shot.

 

No, a starved tube isn't acting like a diode. It's still acting like a triode (12ax7s are dual triodes) but it's just distorting because it is operating way outside its optimal operating conditions. So, it would still be providing amplification but it will not sound like the tubes in an amp that operate at hundreds of volts. FWIW I've found I prefer solid state components in the voltage range we're talking about.

I do have a pedal that is a JCM800 high gain channel built into a pedal. Has an internal transformer and plugs into the wall. Crazy sound running that into, like, a bassman.

 

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The tonal difference between different tubes is pretty minimal with this pedal. I tried various ecc83's and honestly couldn't hear any difference between the tubes (JJ, Tung Sol, EHX). The small tonal differences came when I compared different ecc83/82/81 tubes. ecc81's made the pedal work a little bit better at lower gain settings.

When the pedal has such a versatile eq section, changing the tube for different tone seems a bit redundant to me. Just change the tube to working one and rock on! :smiley-cool11:

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I had one of these up until a couple of years ago. Great sounding pedal, I just had my bases covered with my amp change. 

Anyway, I did a lot og tinkering with different tubes 12AX7's especially. Tried others like 5751's and 12AY7.

Yes, the tube does make a difference in response. I found Sovteks to have a bassier response...I think I tried both the 12AX7WA and 12AX7WB or something like that. I found standard JJ's to have a tighter response. EHX was somewhere in the middle. Anyway, I wound up going with a NOS Sylvania gold label tube since it provided a slightly richer harmonic texture than the others, though it was noisier. I think a Mullard reissue is the closest thing you find to the Sylvania.

 

If was going to give a stock answer on this, I would go with an EHX, JJ, Tung-Sol, or Sovtek 12AX7LPS. Typically, he bigger the plate, the more noisy it will be.. Playing with different tubes is a bit pain with this pedal.  

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