Best Preamp Tube For A Vs 150 2000 Year Model?

[old lefty]

which pre-amp tube would be best replacement for all around better sound?

 

[wakjob]

Honestly...that tube isn't doing a whole lot in that circuit.
They don't even get enough voltage to light the heaters all the way, most fall short that I've measured.

That, and then ad a HUGE amount of negative feedback on the second half of the tube, and it's choked to hell anyways.

But...some Valvestate owners swear they hear a difference
when tube swapping, so... try an old RFT in there!

 

[BowerR64]

That was my favorite Valvestate amp, i had a 50 combo, a 50 head and the 150 you can get about any sound with the 4 channels and the effects were a nice bonus.

Tip: use good speaker cables, keep the fan oiled good if it makes any dying cow noises turn it off and fix the fan immediately cooling is super critical with that amp

 

[old lefty]

Honestly...that tube isn't doing a whole lot in that circuit.
They don't even get enough voltage to light the heaters all the way, most fall short that I've measured.

That, and then ad a HUGE amount of negative feedback on the second half of the tube, and it's choked to hell anyways.

But...some Valvestate owners swear they hear a difference
when tube swapping, so... try an old RFT in there!

it sounds good i was going to remove the chassis and oil the fan and give a little dusting i don't know if it still has the original tube in it i've got a couple mesa 12ax7's here they test good and also a groove tube i've got mc intosh mc -30's in my home system so the tube wearing out thing is about a 6 t 8 year deal but they run all day long. i got some sylvania's for the push pull on the mac's but only 2 are good the other two tested weak so i got the russian things in there. if that circuit is choked that bad on the valvstate then i might leave it alone it does do some mighty fine stuff with my g&l tele though. the groove tube is rated at 5 middle of the road tone for the house let's say.

 

[anitoli]

The worst you can do is try.

 

[Matt_Krush]

Honestly...that tube isn't doing a whole lot in that circuit.
They don't even get enough voltage to light the heaters all the way, most fall short that I've measured.

That, and then ad a HUGE amount of negative feedback on the second half of the tube, and it's choked to hell anyways.

But...some Valvestate owners swear they hear a difference
when tube swapping, so... try an old RFT in there!

Yep, that 12AX7 is a fancy buffer stage...it's only there for impedance. No tone or distortion enhancements.
I had one of the 8200 heads years ago...swapped a few around back before I knew enough about amp circuitry and none of the types/brands made any difference at all. The amps still sounded the same.