Question about 6l6 power tubes

BlessedNinja · 10-10-2009, 05:55 PM

Hello everybody,

My power amp tubes are finaly wearing down and it's time to replace, so I am wondering if anyone can turn me on to a brand/sieries of 6l6's that have an earlier overdrive level(distort with less volume) than the groove tubes that I am currently using. Also has anyone had much experience with yellow jackets and swaping 6l6 with el84's or another power tube?

Ax · 10-10-2009, 08:04 PM

Swapping with el84's will cut your power quite a bit. It will, because of it's inherent properties and lower power rating, break up much faster.

JJ/Tesla tubes sound infinitely better, btw.

metropolis4 · 10-10-2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlessedNinja

Hello everybody,

My power amp tubes are finaly wearing down and it's time to replace, so I am wondering if anyone can turn me on to a brand/sieries of 6l6's that have an earlier overdrive level(distort with less volume) than the groove tubes that I am currently using. Also has anyone had much experience with yellow jackets and swaping 6l6 with el84's or another power tube?

What kind of amp is it? What kind of volumes are you running it at?

There are tubes rated differently that will give you earlier break up. However, to be getting more breakup from ANY power tubes you have to be pushing that amp loud and hard! Like everything dimed full out, volume on 11. Otherwise what you are hearing is more preamp distortion. Especially with a 6L6 based power section. In this case, the way you are going to get more breakup is by using higher gain preamp tubes.

RubberChipmunk · 10-10-2009, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlessedNinja

Hello everybody,

My power amp tubes are finaly wearing down and it's time to replace, so I am wondering if anyone can turn me on to a brand/sieries of 6l6's that have an earlier overdrive level(distort with less volume) than the groove tubes that I am currently using. Also has anyone had much experience with yellow jackets and swaping 6l6 with el84's or another power tube?

To answer your first question, such a thing doesn't really exist. The only way to boost your power tube saturation is by turning up the volume or lowering your clean headroom. Get an attenuator. If you want a good brand of tubes, check out JJ.

BlessedNinja · 10-10-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ax

Swapping with el84's will cut your power quite a bit. It will, because of it's inherent properties and lower power rating, break up much faster.

JJ/Tesla tubes sound infinitely better, btw.

Ty for the input, I will check out JJ and tesla and report back

**thesteve** · 10-10-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlessedNinja

Ty for the input, I will check out JJ and tesla and report back

JJ/Tesla is one company. Just FYI.

BlessedNinja · 10-10-2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

JJ/Tesla is one company. Just FYI.

<------Nub

metropolis4 · 10-10-2009, 10:51 PM

JJ/Tesla are good tubes, but they're not gonna give you any more overdrive than the Groove Tubes you already have. Just a slightly different tone.

Other good 6L6's are JAN-philips, TAD's, SED "c" logo and Tung-Sol 5881's. For a bit more money, RCA 6L6GC are supposed to be excellent.

guitarman19853 · 10-12-2009, 06:58 AM

If you go to Eurotubes which is an excellent supplier of JJ/Tesla tubes anyways, you can pickup a set of 6V6 tubes for your amp that will effectively cut the power of your amp in half, therefore leading to an earlier breakup.

Lookup your amp on eurotubes, he had pretty good descriptions of what each tube set will do.

If you're going to switch to 6V6's, make sure you are comfortable with or have someone that can re-bias your amp. Theres also detailed instructions on how to do that on that site

Casey · 10-13-2009, 08:43 AM

this ^^^^. 6v6s will get you where you wanna be. from what I've heard expect to lose a little bit of volume though... ?

**thesteve** · 10-13-2009, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casey

this ^^^^. 6v6s will get you where you wanna be. from what I've heard expect to lose a little bit of volume though... ?

Whether you're stepping down to 6V6s or EL84s, your headroom and total volume will be impacted somewhat.

RubberChipmunk · 10-13-2009, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarman19853

If you go to Eurotubes which is an excellent supplier of JJ/Tesla tubes anyways, you can pickup a set of 6V6 tubes for your amp that will effectively cut the power of your amp in half, therefore leading to an earlier breakup.

Lookup your amp on eurotubes, he had pretty good descriptions of what each tube set will do.

If you're going to switch to 6V6's, make sure you are comfortable with or have someone that can re-bias your amp. Theres also detailed instructions on how to do that on that site

Just to add on to this and anything said about 6V6 tubes:

Make sure to remember if you are going to do this that the ONLY 6V6 tubes that can even be considered to serve as drop-in replacements for 6L6GC's are JJ's 6V6S. JJ figured out how to make a 6V6 that can handle roughly the same specs as a 6L6GC, and being that they are both octal beam tetrodes with identical pin layouts, they should work just fine. Any other brand will red-plate immediately, and might damage your amplifier.

Many techs also will not touch biasing if you try and get them to bias 6V6S in your 6L6GC amp. They might insist you pay $150+ for a modification first, then pay for the biasing. This modification is unnecessary, but there is a reason behind it. Using 6V6 tubes will create a slight impedance mismatch with your speakers. This may sound like a big deal, but its not. At any given time, there is a slight impedance mismatch in any tube amp. Always. Also, its not very common knowledge that JJ 6V6S tubes can handle 6L6GC circuits, so most techs will refuse to bias without modding because they don't want to be held responsible for killing your new tubes or your amp, thinking they are just like any other 6V6. Needless to say, its a good idea to learn to do your own biasing if you go this route.

All that said, I've done it, and it works very well if you don't want your tone changed that drastically but want a reduced headroom by about two to five watts per tube in Class AB. EL84 converters will take your wattage down to roughly 15-18watts per tube and will make the tone very, very different, due to the shift to cathode-biasing and class-a operation.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 10-13-2009, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberChipmunk

Just to add on to this and anything said about 6V6 tubes:

Make sure to remember if you are going to do this that the ONLY 6V6 tubes that can even be considered to serve as drop-in replacements for 6L6GC's are JJ's 6V6S. JJ figured out how to make a 6V6 that can handle roughly the same specs as a 6L6GC, and being that they are both octal beam tetrodes with identical pin layouts, they should work just fine. Any other brand will red-plate immediately, and might damage your amplifier.

Many techs also will not touch biasing if you try and get them to bias 6V6S in your 6L6GC amp. They might insist you pay $150+ for a modification first, then pay for the biasing. This modification is unnecessary, but there is a reason behind it. Using 6V6 tubes will create a slight impedance mismatch with your speakers. This may sound like a big deal, but its not. At any given time, there is a slight impedance mismatch in any tube amp. Always. Also, its not very common knowledge that JJ 6V6S tubes can handle 6L6GC circuits, so most techs will refuse to bias without modding because they don't want to be held responsible for killing your new tubes or your amp, thinking they are just like any other 6V6. Needless to say, its a good idea to learn to do your own biasing if you go this route.

All that said, I've done it, and it works very well if you don't want your tone changed that drastically but want a reduced headroom by about two to five watts per tube in Class AB. EL84 converters will take your wattage down to roughly 15-18watts per tube and will make the tone very, very different, due to the shift to cathode-biasing and class-a operation.

I have spoken to bob at eurotubes and he does not reccomend them in all amps as a replacement. I know most of the fender stuff is okay, but we spoke in regards to one of my amps, (a peavey I think) and he told me we would be looking at a meltdown if I tried it.

IOW, YMMV, check your specific amp with the guys at eurotubes.

LesPaulPlayer · 10-19-2009, 11:40 AM

I've always liked JJ's but Mullards and Tung-sol's are high on my list. I actually liked a quad set of EHX tubes I tried also (I think they're rebranded Sovteks)