MM HD 210 One Thirty

Hello,
Just new in the forum...
I happened to find a MM amp last week, I bought it right away. Looks in good condition and it has Philips EL-34 valves and a Goove Tools preamp one. Should I change them? Do you have any advices?
Also, the reverb gets a bit noisy, is that normal? I am using my Lexicon LXP-1 for reverbs, etc, so that is not so important for me. Any ideas?
Thanks for your help,
Lautreamont

Nice find. The Phillips tubes are OK but you should have that amp checked to make sure it's not running too hot. A little preventive care will go a long way in these amps. Check out the many discussions about bias, etc., on this site. I would even set it up a little cooler than that old 1/2 volt at point "Y" crap. It will sound the same and make it last longer. I think it's also VERY important to have a good 12ax7 in the PI tube so THAT I would change. I'm not much of a GT fan since they're just relabeled sovteks anyway. Look around for and old RCA, GE, Sylvania or a a JJ(my favorites). Reverb noisy-that's unusual from what I see but it could be something as simple as the input and outputs swapped. Exactly which amp are we talking about? I'm not a reverb user so I leave mine off when I use the MM. In fact, my user amp now doesn't even HAVE reverb(I won't say WHAT I'm playing through at the moment-I'm so ashamed!)

Hello again, it is a Music Man HD210 One thirty. I'll follow your advice, already spotted a nice amp "luthier". About the PI, is there a possibility to buy a new one, or do I have to look around for second hand ones? It's my first valve amp and I am not that keep on what's available or not...
Thanks a lot,
Sergio

sergio,
i'm guessing you're not here in the states, but then again you are closer to the source of jj tubes, so I would recommend a jj ecc83s for your driver/pi tube. i'm using the version with matched triodes but the extra expense is really not necessary due to the way the musicman phase inverter operates using only one of the two triodes in the ecc83 (12ax7) tube. good luck with your new amp.
ed s
the above is assuming you don't plan to find a nice nos 12ax7 (the supply of really good nos tubes is pretty well picked-over by now. beware of really "good" deals on nos tubes sold over the internet--while some are legitimate, many are a scam).

I agree with Ed-the NOS situation IS picked over. I'm trying not to steer anybody to one tube brand or another. I've been bashed enough for being a JJ supporter in a few other places so I'm trying to keep my big mouth shut(it's hard). I have had the BEST luck with JJ's in all my amps. I'm using the 6L6's in my bassman as well as the E34L's in my MM's. I put the ECC83's(12ax7) in my Twin to tame down some of the highs that a Twin with JBL's is going to give you. I've had nothing but good luck with the so far. In fact, when the POS Groove Tubes that were NEW took a dump at the job one night, I worked it over the next day and had to root around in the tube shelf to find a pair of 6L6's that were good and found an old pair that I took out of the twin when it died once. I replaced them as a precaution since something took out the screen resistors and it turned out to be old age(go figure-25 yr old resistors!) so I biased up a pair of them in the bassman, replaced the screen resistors with metal oxides and it's back cranking the next night. Yeah, I like JJ's.

Hi,
You're right, I live in Europe (The Netherlands). I already checked the JJ's and you pay around 8-18 Dollars. They also have the NOS one, although thery are a bit more expensive. If you want to check the website, it is www.tubetown.de
I also noticed that the JJ have an ECC83 gold model, how does that affect to the sound?
Thanks for the advice,
Sergio

I THINK that their gold version just has gold plated pins. Nothing needed, just some people think thay are more conductive. No opinion on that. The tin plated ones work just fine.