Taming the Class 5 Head a bit

[surfnorthwest]

After playing this amp for a few hours yesterday I came away thinking it would be best to try to tame my C5 a bit. I think the amp has to much gain for my liking stock when driving it hard, at lower volumes its fine.

The best tones I found was having the amps volume around 7 but rolling the guitar back so there is less gain in the signal. This of course comes at the price of clean less headroom. For what I want to use this amp for I need to tame it down a bit.

Question is, which tube(s) can I swap to give the amp less gain and more head room?

[inca_roads]

Try a 5751 or 12AY7 in the V1 position. That will make the most difference, but you can try the same in the V2 position as well.

A 12AU7 could work too. I didn't like 12AT7s in mine at all.

[JimDep]

Tung Sol 12AX7 in V1 worked best for my Delta Blues. Don't have the C5, but I'd imagine it would do the same thing.

I got a noticeable increase of clean headroom, not that I needed it, but it didn't start breaking up until REALLY loud ..too loud ..lol

It also gave me a 'nicer', more sparkly clean at low volume...added 'life' to the tone instead of the generic clean it had before.

[JCM900MkIII]

Swapping V1 and V2 only changed the volume for me.
Changing the EL84 to a Sovtek EL84M gave me 20% more headroom. (I didn't change it, the original JJ that came with my C5 was faulty so it was a temp replacement).

[surfnorthwest]

I put two 7025s in it and that didn't change the amount of gain at high volume but it is a better sound for sure. I will order a couple of other EL84s to try, I suspect its that JJ tube I don't like.

[inca_roads]

A 7025 is just a low-noise 12AX7 (same gain).

If you have a 5751 or 12AY7 (lower gain), give it a try.

JCM900, what tube(s) did you 'swap' in there? Thanks....

[surfnorthwest]

I have a mix of about 10 of those in my tube box, I will try some. However I want to change the EL84 first.

I ordered two of these.

http://thetubestore.com/preferred7189.html

[inca_roads]

^^ Nice; they are 'NOS' to some degree.
I'm actually using a mid-60s Amperex EL84 that came from a barely-used Hammond organ. The JJ is a good sturdy EL84, very crunchy if that's what you're after, but I do prefer the old stuff.

[surfnorthwest]

^^ Nice; they are 'NOS' to some degree.
I'm actually using a mid-60s Amperex EL84 that came from a barely-used Hammond organ. The JJ is a good sturdy EL84, very crunchy if that's what you're after, but I do prefer the old stuff.

I am looking at ways to use the Class 5 in the studio so I want to set it apart from all my other amps and make it a go to amp for certain things. Right now I look at the C5 head as a pretty damm good blues amp, I just want to try to tune out some of the gain and add some clean headroom. My C5 has a shit load of gain when driven, some would say this is a good thing but I love the sound of the amp when I roll back the guitar... I just need to ampliify that tone more.

[Doc Holliday]

The 12AY7 appeared in the late 50's in fender tweed preamps. It has a lower gain- a factor of 44 my tube book says.Could be good to get those power valves cooking.

The 5751 is a good alternative too. EHX have a nice gold pin one which is pretty cheap if you like the newer tubes. Personally i'll only go for the EHX and Tungsol with the new brands now.

[schwa]

I have done a bit of tube rolling with the Class 5. Changing both preamp tubes to lower gain tubes seemed to cut too much gain. I did try a 12AY7 in V1 and it did seem to make things more to my liking. Based on my experience, I don't think 12AT7's sound good in the preamp at all.

I don't have any 5751's but have a feeling that a pair of them might sound quite good.

[Cousin Muely]

Hey Surf?? What did you end up doing as far as a good combination to clean this amp up. Pre and Power. I am ready to swap out the stocks on my C5 and i am also looking for as much clean headroom as i can get. This is kind of in line with my thread i posted on using time based effects with this amp. I have heard of the EL84M having more headroom and the Preferred 7189 is part of the Tube Stores "Vintage" Package. I would assume that also would tame the gain. I want to say that i saw you mention that you had put some Gold Lions in but cant remember where i read that or i could just be wrong. It's gettin late on the East Coast for a workin man

[surfnorthwest]

Ended up using all Golden Lions, although the Preferred series sounded best there still was to much gain with those.

http://thetubestore.com/goldlionecc83.html

http://thetubestore.com/goldlionel84.html

If you like a lot of gain these were great, neither have any noise

http://thetubestore.com/preferred7025.html

http://thetubestore.com/preferred7189.html

[Cousin Muely]

Appreciate the Info Surf. Looked and thr Gold Lion El84s are sold out

[schwa]

I had some luck with a 12AY7 in V1 - but pulled it to use in an amp that's getting more use. It definitely lowered the gain on the C5 though.