Tubular questions???

[piebaldpython***]

Question for you tubular afficianados........I guess the 3 main tubes are EL84, 6V6 and 6L6 and most everything else fits into one of those 3 categories.....at least that's the assumption I'm using to ask this question.

If you have an amp with EL84s......and you wanted another tube amp, would you go with a different wattage of EL84 or would you go with a 6V6 or 6L6 based amp for a "different" tonality? Hope this makes sense.

[Eric***]

I'll take a stab at this. First off, I think you should also include EL34 and possibly KT88 tubes in your list of types.

And the answer you've been waiting for: it depends. What kind of sound do you want? I think the circuit design in an amp can sometimes trump the difference in power tube types. For instance, EL84s are used in amps by Fender, Vox, and Marshall, among others. They don't tend to all sound identical though.

If you're not in a loud band situation, I kind of think that power tube type is not that critical, since you're not going to be able to get to the point of getting much power-tube saturation. I'd probably just get a good-quality amp with any of the power tubes you listed and put a decent drive pedal in front of it or turn up the preamp, then mess with the EQ and your guitar knobs to see what you can come up with.

[Spudman***]

It depends on what your ear likes. If you like the sound of the EL84s but want less wattage then go with a lower wattage EL84 amph for your screamin solos. For many amphs you can get a set of Yellow Jacket tube converter sockets that allow you to use a different tube type in your amph. So that is another way to get a different sound.

I use EL34s and 6L6s and like them both but they are different sounding for sure. The 6L6s are in my Fender and Marshall amps that I don't use unless I'm gigging because they are louder than my EL84 amphs.

[piebaldpython***]

Ok.....thanks guys. I have the Mack Gem amp which packs an EL84. Mulling over getting another tube amp and was thinking of something "different" in terms of tone....so maybe a 6L6 or a 6V6. Wouldn't make much sense to get a 15W with EL84s.

[bluesdisciple]

I would consider the question in terms of tone. Generalizations: 6L6 = Fender or Mesa. EL34 = Marshall or Mesa.

Now to really confuse the situation, the preamp tubes of 12AX7 and other varietals do most of the heavy lifting in the amps.



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[tjcurtin1]

I've been looking into this, too, and the number of preamp tubes also seems to have a lot to do with an amp's sound. Typical 'Fender clean' circuits have one 12ax7, while Vox/Marshall circuits may have 3; from what I gather, this makes for more 'gain stages' and so an amp with less clean headroom and meant ot be more 'gainy'. Please feel free to correct me if I have any of that wrong!