HXDA tubes

[Tahlee]

Holy cow, I just saw the pic you added. I love the grey/black flame.

 

[Steve5nine4]

I've had my HXDA going on a year and absolutely love it. As you all know these come loaded (in most all cases) with Winged C EL34s. There is still some Mesa Boogie STR450-EL34s floating around which are relabeled NOS Seimens and they sound pretty good. Also I wanted a little more headroom so I called Amplified Parts (great place) and they matched me up a pair of lower gain EL34s (your favorite brand) and put a 5751 in the phase inverter slot and it did the trick, I could roll back to 7-8 for cleaner rhythms roll up for some leads and hit a boost for others. I also have a higher gain set of EL-34s and a RFT 12ax7 in the phase inverter when I want to go that route. By the way the TAD 5751 is a fine preamp tube. Now my curiosity is up about the 6L6s

 

[myoldfriend]

I've had my HXDA going on a year and absolutely love it. As you all know these come loaded (in most all cases) with Winged C EL34s. There is still some Mesa Boogie STR450-EL34s floating around which are relabeled NOS Seimens and they sound pretty good. Also I wanted a little more headroom so I called Amplified Parts (great place) and they matched me up a pair of lower gain EL34s (your favorite brand) and put a 5751 in the phase inverter slot and it did the trick, I could roll back to 7-8 for cleaner rhythms roll up for some leads and hit a boost for others. I also have a higher gain set of EL-34s and a RFT 12ax7 in the phase inverter when I want to go that route. By the way the TAD 5751 is a fine preamp tube. Now my curiosity is up about the 6L6s

YMMV, but I was not a big fan of the JJ 6L6GCs that were installed in my head. Ran it through a Morgan oversize cab with a vintage JBL D130 and also tried a stock THD 2x12. No dice - sounded congested IMHO, for lack of a better term. Have not tried a set of EL34s yet, but I'm quite happy with KT77s for now. Even after setting correct bias for the 6L6s (previous owner had bias set over 60mA ) still was not liking what I heard. Plenty of peeps like their Marshalls biased in that range..

 

[Steve5nine4]

YMMV, but I was not a big fan of the JJ 6L6GCs that were installed in my head. Ran it through a Morgan oversize cab with a vintage JBL D130 and also tried a stock THD 2x12. No dice - sounded congested IMHO, for lack of a better term. Have not tried a set of EL34s yet, but I'm quite happy with KT77s for now. Even after setting correct bias for the 6L6s (previous owner had bias set over 60mA ) still was not liking what I heard. Plenty of peeps like their Marshalls biased in that range..

Yeah a lot of time when an amp is designed around a particular tube others don't sound quite as good. I definitely want to try some KT-77s . It sounds smokin good with these EL34s . I bet your head did sound way off with 6L6s biases that hot . I usually bias my EL34 head 34-34mA but this particular head sounded best at 29mA. Hey do you know what the closest new production speaker is the closest to the JBLD130s? Do you remember what speakers were in the THD 212? I'm running my HXDA through Celestion Creamnicos, and they sound great. Going to move them to a 412 and add 2 Vintage 30s or 2 Creamback H75s, probably V30s, which is supposedly what the head was designed around.

 

[myoldfriend]

Forgive the typo - it's the D120 (the 130 is a 15" speak). I'd take a look at Weber; they bill their California 12 Alnico as a replacement for D120Fs (https://www.tedweber.com/cali12a).

The THD cab has their proprietary "Longhorn" and "Vintage" speakers - let me tell you this cab has some hideous (joking.. kinda) tolex, but man it is my fav 2x12 EVER. Supposedly, the Longhorn is a modified Celestion CL80 and the Vintage is based on a Fender Oxford.

 

[Egads]

Forgive the typo - it's the D120 (the 130 is a 15" speak). I'd take a look at Weber; they bill their California 12 Alnico as a replacement for D120Fs (https://www.tedweber.com/cali12a).

The THD cab has their proprietary "Longhorn" and "Vintage" speakers - let me tell you this cab has some hideous (joking.. kinda) tolex, but man it is my fav 2x12 EVER. Supposedly, the Longhorn is a modified Celestion CL80 and the Vintage is based on a Fender Oxford.

Interested to hear you love the THD cab so much. I could never bond with it. I love the THD amps, but ditched my cab years ago. I'll have to try one again. I'm down with the paisley, but mine was just black.

 

[László]

I’ve been using the NOS Siemens EL34s in my HXDA for a couple of years. I like them so much that I bought 3 sets of spares.

The preamp section is loaded with NOS Mullard 12AX7s. I have a set of NOS Siemens 12AX7s as spares, but haven’t tried them in the amp. The NOS Mullards are the classic tube for a Plexi era Marshall style amp.

The Siemens sound a lot tighter and closer to the NOS Mullard EL34s than either the Winged Cs it came with, or the JJs installed after one of the Winged Cs blew. I’m pretty darn happy with the Siemens tubes.

In fact, at some point Doug Sewell mentioned the Siemens as a good NOS tube for the amp in addition to NOS Mullard EL34s that are considerably more costly. I think he was right.

The Winged Cs were a little tubbier and more scooped than the Siemens. The JJs were muddier in my amp. I didn’t care for their sound.

I doubt I’d try 6L6s in my amp. It’s designed around the EL34.

I run it with a 212 PRS Big Mouth cab that’s similar in depth to a Mesa Recto cab. It uses PRS spec’d V30s. I’ve also used it to good effect with the Recto cab. I don’t find open back or ported cabs to my taste with the amp.

This is what I think of as one of my better tones; 20th PS Anniversary, Suhr Alexa set to a slow swirl, a little Eventide delay, HXDA, SM57 mic, Universal Audio Apollo interface. Very simple rig:

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/pedaland-4

 

[Tucson Thump]

My head is a 25th Anniversary, which I believe is almost the same thing as the HXDA. I think the HXDA is based on the 25th Anniversary. I have a one page user manual. I hope this helps.

If you zoom in on the Rear Panel Controls diagram, it says to re-bias if you switch to 6L6GC, EL34, C6A7, and KT77. So, it’s possible that your amp wasn’t damaged by the tubes that are in it now.

Good Lord, I love looking at that combo every time you post it.

 

[Tucson Thump]

Has anyone ever tried a more neutral speaker, like an EV-style clone? I know the amp was designed to reproduce Marshall sounds so you would expect to use that style of speaker, but I'm curious as to how the amp itself sounds without the Celestion coloration.

 

[Tucson Thump]

Forgive the typo - it's the D120 (the 130 is a 15" speak). I'd take a look at Weber; they bill their California 12 Alnico as a replacement for D120Fs (https://www.tedweber.com/cali12a).

The THD cab has their proprietary "Longhorn" and "Vintage" speakers - let me tell you this cab has some hideous (joking.. kinda) tolex, but man it is my fav 2x12 EVER. Supposedly, the Longhorn is a modified Celestion CL80 and the Vintage is based on a Fender Oxford.

I think that paisley has panache.

 

[Tahlee]

Good Lord, I love looking at that combo every time you post it.

Thank you very much. Even if people use different heads, you really can’t get any better than a PRS cabinet. They are super high quality and they sound fantastic. Here is another one you may like. It’s a Roccaforte Custom 80, which is another Plexi inspired head.

 

[László]

Thank you very much. Even if people use different heads, you really can’t get any better than a PRS cabinet. They are super high quality and they sound fantastic. Here is another one you may like. It’s a Roccaforte Custom 80, which is another Plexi inspired head.

I had a Roccaforte Rockie 30 that my son took to LA "on loan" when he graduated college. Doug Roccaforte has made some absolutely wonderful amps.

You have excellent taste, sir!

 

[Tahlee]

I had a Roccaforte Rockie 30 that my son took to LA "on loan" when he graduated college. Doug Roccaforte has made some absolutely wonderful amps.

You have excellent taste, sir!

Thank you very much. I’m sure your son really appreciates it!

 

[myoldfriend]

I had a Roccaforte Rockie 30 that my son took to LA "on loan" when he graduated college. Doug Roccaforte has made some absolutely wonderful amps.

"On loan," LOL. You know they say possession is nine-tenths of the law. I still have the shoe shine kit I "borrowed" from my Dad when I was in college in the 1980s

 

[myoldfriend]

Has anyone ever tried a more neutral speaker, like an EV-style clone? I know the amp was designed to reproduce Marshall sounds so you would expect to use that style of speaker, but I'm curious as to how the amp itself sounds without the Celestion coloration.

Interesting... Gonna have to plug the HXDA into my Boogie MKII combo to see if that bears fruit

 

[RickP]

Man, I really want to try an HXDA. I have a stock of Winged C EL34 and 6L6GC tubes that I keep for my Mesa Road King II. Must be a sign...

 

[Tahlee]

Man, I really want to try an HXDA. I have a stock of Winged C EL34 and 6L6GC tubes that I keep for my Mesa Road King II. Must be a sign...

Hahaha, I like how you think. I have a new matched set of Winged C EL34s set aside for when my HXDA needs to be retubed.

Mesa Boogie is a different animal from the HXDA. So, if you pick one up it really will be a different flavor from what you have. Which is what I tell my wife every time I get another amp. “Honey, I really needed this flavor.”

 

[RickP]

Hahaha, I like how you think. I have a new matched set of Winged C EL34s set aside for when my HXDA needs to be retubed.

Mesa Boogie is a different animal from the HXDA. So, if you pick one up it really will be a different flavor from what you have. Which is what I tell my wife every time I get another amp. “Honey, I really needed this flavor.”

My wife doesn’t even ask... she has adjusted to my idiosyncrasies well.

 

[László]

"On loan," LOL. You know they say possession is nine-tenths of the law. I still have the shoe shine kit I "borrowed" from my Dad when I was in college in the 1980s

Ha! I really wanted him to have it. I believe it's been on some very good records, he's played on, like the 30 Seconds to Mars stuff.