The last few minutes of a tube is always the best ever

[Reeltarded]

Damn it to hell I wish I could make this happen on purpose, forever.

Nope. It's ripping and then in R.I.P.ing.

Shit sticks.

[Structo]

Like a race motor, always runs the best right before a catastrophic failure.

But it's fun while it lasts!

[Gainzilla]

Right? So true! It's like when my hair is waaaaaaay overdue to be cut and looks like hell for weeks. Then on the day I go to get it cut it looks fricking amazing. Like, on that one day of my life I'm John f-ing Stamos. The world is an ironic place to be. 😎

[Reeltarded]

I wish I had one of those sampling amps. This is special. Super hi-z. Outrageous grunting until you roll the volume knob back and it's like a thousand cascaded stages driven by a gas powered bee. 300db waterfall.

[cbass]

Same with speakers they sound the best when they are about to blow up.

[Ron Worley]

And transformers.....

[Gainzilla]

Or why a trainwreck sounds so good... Running on the verge of stability or damn near bursting into flames. Lol

In any case, stick a mic in front of it! Let's hear that dying dinosaurs last screams of agony!

[Leo_Gnardo]

A quote I use often, attributed to Joe Walsh: "Sounded fantastic, man! just before it blew up... " or some variation.

[Gainzilla]

There's probably a high end market for premium, well-aged, end-of-life tubes. No self respecting artist or tone aficionado would dare show up at a session without a fresh set of $300 TAD End of Lifers (complete with optional cryogenic treatment).

[Leo_Gnardo]

There's probably a high end market for premium, well-aged, end-of-life tubes. No self respecting artist or tone aficionado would dare show up at a session without a fresh set of $300 TAD End of Lifers (complete with optional cryogenic treatment).

Good idea! TAD, hell, I got all sorta brands. Cryo? I'll leave 'em out in the garage for the next 2 months, good enough. Thanks Gainzilla, I'm on my way to being a thousandaire. Fire extinguisher not included.

[stretch2011]

I wonder if women are like a 300db waterfall before they blow up. XD

[TUBEDUDE]

My ex was like a 300 lb waterfall before I blew up.

I'll have to make a grenade amp to destroy old sovtek tubes.
Oh, I think Randall beat me to it.

[Structo]

I'll have to make a grenade amp to destroy old sovtek tubes.
Oh, I think Randall beat me to it.

[Gainzilla]

I wish I had one of those sampling amps. This is special. Super hi-z. Outrageous grunting until you roll the volume knob back and it's like a thousand cascaded stages driven by a gas powered bee. 300db waterfall.

I was going through an old box of tubes recently and discovered an old Mullard CV4004. I have no idea where it came from but it sounds F#%king amazing. It also sounds like it's been very well loved. And by loved, I mean pounded on. I'm saving it for a special occasion, most likely in a v1 location. Is that the best spot for a "character" tube, or is there a better spot to minimize the slight mushiness she's got now?

(would still love to hear your amp. just saying...)

Cheers!

[Firestorm]

Mullard made some wonderful tubes, for sure. Actually all of the old Philips companies made wonderful tubes. But why save this for a special occasion? Find an amp that likes it best and fire her up. Yeah, V1 usually has the most "character." The CV4004 has those short box plates so it's likely pretty resistant to microphonics. Might solve a problem other tubes can't.

I don't know if you have access to a tester, but it would be interesting to see where yours reads. My Hickok is all but useless on output tubes (it only has about 180 plate volts), but works well with preamps - there's even a PITA way to test for noise. I used to call end of life for a tube based on the readings. Consequently I have a big box of "bad" tubes (every old repairman knows you never toss them unless they're physically broken ).

From time to time though, I'll put one in, say, a Fender, and it'll sound just fine despite the readings. A tube has to be strong to run a tremolo and when a PI tube can't draw enough current it sounds anemic. But in V1 or V2, it doesn't seem to matter. All about the sound and some tubes have THE sound.

I've told this before (probably more than once, getting old ya know), but when CED still had a big NOS inventory I randomly ordered a couple of 7025s expecting them to be some off-brand US manufacturer. Didn't even open the boxes until it was too late to get more.

But they were Mullards.

Fast forward. I rehabbed a guy's legit 5F1 and when he picked it up we rolled every type of 12AX7 I had. The winner: Mullard.

Long story long, preamps last a long time (some will outlive you, like a Dodge Dart) and the ones that sound great will sound great until they are completely dead.