I need help with my tube amp **Tube Newbie***

[Riptide]

I just got my hands on a used Ashdown Fallen Angel DSP 60 all tube head. This is in fact my first tube amp of any sort so i have a question. How do you change out the tubes? I realize the amp has very high voltage so i don't want to die. I would like to change the tubes because they are the stock Electro Harmonix tubes (2 EL34'2 and 4 12AX7's ) and i have no idea how much mileage they have on them. The biggest reason is because the dist. channel is sub par IMO and the clean channel is very harsh the amp sounds very cold and not warm like i expected (very solid state-ish/ crappy dist pedal sound) even after letting the tubes warm up for a while and me playing for a few hours, i found a video of a guy playing his Ashdown fallen angel and it puts mine to shame. I don't play metal like the guy in the video does i play more Rock ala Velvet revolver, Sparta, Coheed and Cambria.Anyways if you guys could help me with this i would greatly appreciate it.

Thanx

P.s Heres the video i watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPEde1Hrb34

[RumorsOFsurF]

If you don't know what you are doing, I would recommend that you take the amp to a tech.  Replacing tubes is easy, but if you change the power tubes (el34's) you will need to have the amp biased.

[JazzBlaster]

+1 plus there are alot of things going on with the DSP you probably wouldn't wanna mess with. Preamp tubes can be changed without bias, power amp tubes would need to be biased. You can get the color coded fender sets that are all the same spec so you can just plug your power tubes in and the bias is the same as the last pair. But I would definatly recomend a qualified service tech until you've done some more homework on the subject.

David

[Riptide]

alright ill have to see if there is even a tech in town or someone who has experience, i was looking at getting some JJ/Telsas or Mullard preamp and Power tubes but i was going to keep it el34 and 12ax7 tubes. Like i said iv never re tubed an amplifier, but i have re tubed old radios and Tv's before how much different is it? i looked inside today and the tubes are suspend from the top of the head and the preamp tubes are shielded with some sort of metal cylinders so I'm not sure how you get them out. do you guys just take the back off and pull the tube out and pop the new one in? (keeping in mind the amp is unplugged). Also do you have any input on the brand of tubes that might compliment my style of music better?

thanks so much!

[JazzBlaster]

the cylinders are spring loaded, just push them up and twist them and they come off. pretty mutch the same as tube radios.

David

[Riptide]

thanks so much, im going to look at buying a set of JJ/Telsa Matched el34 tubes and matched JJ/Telsa 12ax7 preamp tubes from Tubedepot. ill also check musicians friend to see what they have. From the looks of it the power tubes are held in place by a spring harness thing, i don't think it should be too hard to get them out.