Sooo, been through some valve-swapping.
Tested various power valves ranging from NOS 5881 over Sovtek EL34 through TAD KT88. The stock power valves are handsdown the best sounding to my ear.
Preamp stage saw some NOS JAN Phillips, TAD RT001 (which are basically the same Shuguangs as the stock valves from the look and sound of it), TAD 7025, JJ, Sovteks, Rubys, GT and what not but the stock ones V2 - V4 are the best so far IMO. At the end I just swapped the V1 for a selected TungSol 12AX7 which to my ears is currently the best new production valve in that position. I now have it in all my amps in the input driver stage. It has loads of chime and output without ever getting brittle, and it just doesn't get as muddy as with the stock JJ with booster off and volume 1 on 10.
Ok, so what are you guy's settings that you're the most happy with?
I find myself having all front panel pots on 7 most of the time except volume 1 which is somewhere between 3 and 10 depending on what sound I want. At bedroom level I sometimes roll back on the mids somewhat.
Booster gain on 5 (sometimes 7) booster volume full up.
One day QK I think you'll have 2!
What tonal difference did you notice when you tried the KT88 vs EL34? I know they will have more headroom, so did you notice less gain? Did it affect the brightness at all? I'm for sure going to try some 6CA7s but am curious about KT88s as I've never tried them but dig Jimmy Page's live tone with them.
Wheres the 50 watter!!!!
listen to this awesome video with the YJM100
... when i heard this the first time, i ordered this head immediately !!!
here's my amp :
Well this adds a whole new twist...
I was originally under the illusion that "there could only be one" total douche nozzle with a YJM (I'm talking to you Holmes)
but now there are two...
I'm perplexed as to which nemesis I shall despise the most (it's a tough call really)
Well, the YJM100 just got through its first live performance for both services at church today and it sounded incredible. We play 6 songs a service and the styles can vary. The YJM100 handled everything perfectly. I used my DOD YJM308 overdrive pedal which has been modded to Gray 250 specs with the gain set to zero and level maxed as a solo level boost a few times. I LOVE the amp's built in booster and the gain on that is set all of the way up. The noise gate on the amp is off the chart amazing. My amp is dead quiet too even with both channel volumes maxed. The noise gate threshold is not set very high at all and I can not even tell it is on other than the amp is completely quiet. The noise gate does not affect the tone or sustain in ANY way. Santiago is up there with ALL of the best amp designers around. Friedman, Bogner, Splawn and all of those boutique guys. Santiago designed the JVM also.