Orange Bass Terror - Harma Retro Valves - Awesome!!

[SirChewey]

Hi Guys, just thought I would ask what valves people are popping there first stage. The stock valves in my terror were just marked 'made in china' so with that in mind I decided to look into buying some new valves.
Looking at the circuit diagram I could see that most of the sound of the amp came from V1, so looked at getting something a little different. I ordered a JJ 12AT7, thinking along the lines of getting a little more clean headroom on the gain chanel and some extra clarity from the JJ brand but to be honest didn't get mutch of this, the stock valves actually seemed to sound better. Luckily, Steve (guitarist) was after an 12AT7 so he had it and I popped in his Harma Retro ECC83 (12AX7) - All I can say is WOW! This is a great valve for this amp, stunning in fact. Clear punchy mids and a tidy bottom end. The sound is crystal through my rig and worth the change.
I just wanted to let Bass Terror owners know that for a small payout, you can get a great sound. I can't vouch for the 500W model but for the 1000W, I can recommend this valve highly. It has helped shaped my sound that little more how I like it.

Would like to hear other people's valve choice and what changes to sound they have noticed.

Chu

[Wooks79]

Interesting! I'm still on the stock valves personally, but would be interested to hear more valve comparisons, like happy jack posted when he changed his out, if you are able. Cheers.

[SirChewey]

I can see if I can make a vid and swap the valves to show a comparisson if you are interested. I can post a link to youtube once I have done it. I'm not 100% if making a video would make the change that evident as I know a lot of the character in peoples preference in valves is all in the feel. The JJ i popped in didn't make a huge change in the sound but the feel of the sound was lovely, the Harma Retros just blew the stock and JJ out the water with regard both feel and sound and have actually found myself pushing my mids back up as I had cut them slightly with the stocks as found them almost too 'nasal' now they seem to cut and balance perfectly in a band, I couldn't ask for any more.

Christ - I could do with shutting up about these valves really. Last rehearsal was OOTW though, I have never felt so connected to my rig, playing fusion, this helps enormously and can't fault it - awesome.

[Billy Apple]

Interesting. I came across this lot, for those of you who might be looking for a change
[url="http://www.watfordvalves.com/products_harma.asp"]http://www.watfordvalves.com/products_harma.asp[/url]

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='SirChewey' timestamp='1318724003' post='1405654']
I ordered a JJ 12AT7, thinking along the lines of getting a little more clean headroom on the gain chanel and some extra clarity from the JJ brand but to be honest didn't get mutch of this, the stock valves actually seemed to sound better. Luckily, Steve (guitarist) was after an 12AT7 so he had it and I popped in his Harma Retro ECC83 (12AX7) - All I can say is WOW! This is a great valve for this amp, stunning in fact. Clear punchy mids and a tidy bottom end. The sound is crystal through my rig and worth the change.

[/quote]

Interesting.

With the Harma in V1 and (presumably) the original fitment Chinese valve in V2, what settings are you on for Gain and Volume?

What rig do you play through?

Active or passive bass?

[Grand Wazoo]

Chances are that if you buy Mesa Boogie valves just to give you an example they would probably be.... Made in China an re-badged by Mesa. There are only a few quality valve factories left in the world and prices for Sovtech or European valves are so high that big factories now tend to buy them from the far east. Same happen to GT tubes, Marshall, Orange etc etc.

[SirChewey]

I think that a lot of the time companies use cheeper valves to keep the price down to consumers and maintain the competition. They're aware that putting quality valves in also narrows the market somewhat for their amps in terms of both sound and cost. Most people like to customise their rigs to optimise their own sound and feel so popping cheepy stock valves supports cusomisation, which lets face it is the best way.
The valves that came in the Terror weren't 'bad', just created an average sound quality and feel which for the money it cost, I recon is way above average compared to it's competition.

[quote]Interesting.
With the Harma in V1 and (presumably) the original fitment Chinese valve in V2, what settings are you on for Gain and Volume?
What rig do you play through?
Active or passive bass?
[/quote]

Yes, on the BT1000 I still have stock in V2. V1 is situated on the right (not the left as you might think - remember gain level is situated on the right). I'm not that sure that it's worth the money spending out for a full swap out as V2 is used post EQ and split over the effects loop as a buffer - I doubt that swapping V2 out would make a huge change but you never know, valves can sometimes work in mysterious ways.

I play through a Ashdown Neodymium 8x10 Classic (4Ohm) - 1050W (2050W peak) - I have a Fender Jazz GL which is passive playing on DR Hi-Beam MR45's (nice strings bright and punchy). My sound is mainly overdriven on the bridge pickup on full with about 15% on the neck, mixed to 75% on tone control. Compressor is set Att 7, Sus 5, Lev 7 (overdriving the imput stage on the valve slightly to give a slight swell). Gain (Right) on amp is set to about 3, EQ is flat (all settings in the centre), Level is set to about 5.

I have played a MM Stingray 3EQ through the rig and I'll be honest, this amp doesn't dress well with actives in my opinion, you just can't get the control and doesn't do the head justice, even though it has the act/pas switching, passive eats it every time.

Edited October 17, 2011 by SirChewey