I want a Science Amplifier

[Nateispro]

Ffuuuuuuu those hellhawk clips are insane!!! Im so damn excited for mine!

[AlexGlassLungs]

don't fuck with ruby, they just buy tubes, rebrand and test them, all tube resellers do fairly thorough testing and don't relabel their tubes, so you know what you're actually getting. with rube you could be getting jj, shuguang, or even sovtek (only three tube factories in the world.

That is not true, Ruby states which tubes they are on the website Tube Depot and the Tube store both stick their stickers on the tubes base as well. It's not rebranding if they state what kind of tube it is and regardless they're all. Ring tested to make sure they're a good tube so it doesn't really matter which of the 3 places you buy them from

[waltdogg]

with all the rubys i've pull from my sciences, none of preamp tubes had jj or shuguang labels, just these weird little hg and hg+ stickers on them and the only way you could tell where the tube came from was it's internal structure. every reseller puts a sticker on the base of power tubes to indicate the burn in time and optimal operating voltage for said tube. that's a lot different than burning or lasering off the jj or shuguang labels that ruby does. maybe you can request specifically what you want, maybe they tell you on their website. but that's my experience.

[Nateispro]

with all the rubys i've pull from my sciences, none of preamp tubes had jj or shuguang labels, just these weird little hg and hg+ stickers on them and the only way you could tell where the tube came from was it's internal structure. every reseller puts a sticker on the base of power tubes to indicate the burn in time and optimal operating voltage for said tube. that's a lot different than burning or lasering off the jj or shuguang labels that ruby does. maybe you can request specifically what you want, maybe they tell you on their website. but that's my experience.

I pulled a set of rubys out of my peavey classic 30 and they had that HG sticker covering JJ logo, theyre old so im not sure if ruby changed how they do that now, but you are right for sure, ruby (at least in my experience) rebrands tubes. Now that being said the rubys that have been in my Science amps have been good to me, but I would upgrade them as soon as they needed them. I wouldnt go ruby again, except for the power section.

[waltdogg]

as i've said before i cant stand ruby tested and branded power tubes coz they're usually shuguangs and those tubes just don't sound right to me.

also a protip. once you get a good set of jj power tubes, they'll go strong 100% until the day one or all of them dies. very reliable in that regard, you just need a little extra quality control from a reseller. and jj are usually the cheapest. keep in mind they make those tubes on the original tesla vacuum tube manufacturing machines, ive compared anos tesla/jjs to actual jjs and tonally the jjs were very close to the original 60s teslas. unfortunately the teslas weren't matched and unusable due to one noisy tube.

[Nateispro]

as i've said before i cant stand ruby tested and branded power tubes coz they're usually shuguangs and those tubes just don't sound right to me.

also a protip. once you get a good set of jj power tubes, they'll go strong 100% until the day one or all of them dies. very reliable in that regard, you just need a little extra quality control from a reseller. and jj are usually the cheapest. keep in mind they make those tubes on the original tesla vacuum tube manufacturing machines, ive compared anos tesla/jjs to actual jjs and tonally the jjs were very close to the original 60s teslas. unfortunately the teslas weren't matched and unusable due to one noisy tube.

Oh cool! Thanks for the heads up on the JJ's! I didnt know that!

[whoismarykelly]

Pretty much all vacuum tubes are made on equipment that was used to manufacture a now-desirable vintage tube. The equipment is like a vinyl press in that sense. The industry is outdated except for niche markets so there isn't anyone manufacturing new equipment. The difference in quality comes down to materials and regulation that prevents modern manufacturers from using the same plating and manufacturing techniques as they did between the 40s and 80s. Contamination along the production line also reduces reliability in a new tube.

That said, a LOT of tubes failed QC coming out of those old factories. Its not like every tube coming off the line was immaculate and flawless. Same with early transistors. The ones that have survived to today are just the top percentage of what was made. And wear and tear on these devices can be a real problem. I don't bother buying old tubes unless they are new in box. After auditioning tons of used preamp tubes over the years most are likely to develop microphonics or noise issues, especially in high gain amps. With new tubes its a lot cheaper and easier to source something that works in a stable high gain amp.

[Science Amps]

For those who are curious, this is the skinny with Ruby Tubes...

Ruby buys tubes from JJ, Shuguang, and the Reflektor (Sovtek, EHX, etc.) factories, then tests and burns them in. Other companies such as TAD do this as well, but what makes Ruby the best in my opinion is that they are the only tube reseller who tests both preamp and power tubes for microphonics. Even more importantly, they have a really great 6 month warranty. Ruby does have a few "select" tubes that are made specifically for them by Shuguang (again TAD does this too), but most are just regular tubes from the factories they test and label like everyone else. Ruby doesn't try to hide what tubes they're reselling though - they leave the factory silkscreened logos on all their tubes (Shuguang tubes don't have them to begin with, so Ruby does add their own).

[waltdogg]

if you like the tone of the amp as is. obviously don't waste your time tube rolling.

and yes i did neglect to mention ruby's 6 month warranty. if they started supplying the current production tubes i actually like (i.e the tung-sol 12ax7, the sovtek 12ax7lps, etc.) i'd buy from them. even though i'd be paying a premium higher than that of tube depot's additional services.

alex i could have sworn, the 12ax7s i pulled from the hellhawk were definitely jjs but unlabeled. aside from those stickers.

[mathias]

When does the tone of tubes tend to matter from tube to tube? Only when cranked? (Preamp gain cranked for preamp tubes, power amp volume for power tubes.) I guess the quality will determine life, microphonics, etc.

I'll probably just stick with what it has; I don't think I'll be pushing the power amp very hard to start. But I do think the new Street Sweeper's Voice knob and gain on tap will get some use

[whoismarykelly]

When does the tone of tubes tend to matter from tube to tube? Only when cranked? (Preamp gain cranked for preamp tubes, power amp volume for power tubes.) I guess the quality will determine life, microphonics, etc.

I'll probably just stick with what it has; I don't think I'll be pushing the power amp very hard to start. But I do think the new Street Sweeper's Voice knob and gain on tap will get some use

Tone is not a quantifiable value so its impossible to answer these questions which is kind of the point. A good tube is a good tube and worrying about whether its a 'cool' tube that has a neat back story and had a good childhood is somewhat pointless. The scenarios you're asking about are really about stressing tubes so in that sense a good tube will last longer and operate to spec and a 'bad' tube may die early or be noisy or something else. You can test for some of these things and others you just have to wait and see what happens.

[mathias]

Gotcha. I've just heard different tubes described in different ways (harsh, brittle, smooth, etc.) and didnt know if this comes down to something about each tube, or each manufacturer, or what. To be honest, when people say stuff like that, I don't even know if they're comparing different tubes in the exact same amp.

Also different amps (especially vintage amps with component drift) can sound wildly different from one to another as it is.

[whoismarykelly]

Gotcha. I've just heard different tubes described in different ways (harsh, brittle, smooth, etc.) and didnt know if this comes down to something about each tube, or each manufacturer, or what. To be honest, when people say stuff like that, I don't even know if they're comparing different tubes in the exact same amp.

Also different amps (especially vintage amps with component drift) can sound wildly different from one to another as it is.

Any tonal change you hear and believe in is real since your personal perception of your tone is all that matters.

[waltdogg]

^

this.

i've only been speaking from experience and giving my opinions and suggestions. nothing i've stated is an absolute fact. only alex knows his amps and the more technically minded members know how tubes work. if you like how a tube sounds and you know it's a good tube, use it. if you have a tube that sounds good but isn't reliable, if it's not a tube that can cause damage when it fails, use it until it fails, but if it's bad, then it's bad coz it's microphonic or failing in some way and probably isn't worth using.

i probably spent way too much time and money rolling tubes through my hellhawk but i found a set i really liked and have stuck with it ever since. they've been in the amp for a few years now and haven't had a tube fail yet (knock on wood).

[AlexGlassLungs]

Again like I said, on the Ruby website you choose the brand still, usually they have 3 options and then they put their sticker on it to show they checked and tested it... HG is usually EHX and HG+ is JJ... most of the time but you can choose