Hello. I recently received my valvulator mini. I’m awful when it comes to leaving things alone so I wanted to ask if there is any value in replacing the existing12ax7 to a different brand12ax7? Would it behave like a tube amp would when you change the preamp tubes ? For example would it make a difference if i changed the stock JJ 12ax7 and replace it with a Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7/ECC83 Gold Pin, would it make a difference in the tone? I haven’t checked yet so I’m not sure what tube comes stock from factory. Just for clarity the valvulator stock works great. I have no issues with it at all and I’m very very happy with its stock configuration. I just want to know the possibilities and whether it’s worth it or not to swap tubes.
Hi @Torreschr and welcome to the forum,
Tube rolling is totally fine, yes any 12AX7/ECC83 old/new/nos will be fine. I went through a phase of collecting a few old tubes, like Mullards, Telefunkens, RTFs etc. I don’t know if I was tricking myself but at the time I heard a difference…