-
I started this thread a couple of years ago. I bought a little Ibanez 6v6 head, which I only
use for crunch/OD - I use an SS head for my (main) clean Jazz sound. A friend of mine
recently replaced the stock valves in his Coyote with Groove Tubes and the difference
was quite remarkable, which makes me think it might be worth trying a tube replacement
to see if I could get a good clean sound. I saw a good tube demo on YouTube (first two clips):
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...y=6v6+shootout Unusual in that it features
clean sounds. The Genalex Gold Lion tubes sound impressive, tho' they're very pricey.
Anybody have any experience with them, and/or my second choice, the Tung-sols? I'm
thinking of changing both the pre and power pairs.
-
04-03-2014 10:37 AM
-
The Gen's sound nice, but it seems like the output is lower than the Tungs. I wonder if he accidentally changed the amp's vol control.
Originally Posted by VitalSigns
-
Yes, the player fiddles with the guitar and the amp. These
things are rarely scientific - same setup, same music. I once
heard a blindfold test with Stern & Zuckerman, who couldn't
tell the difference between a Strad and a modern instrument,
but they pointed out the player (behind a curtain) was playing
different pieces. The subtle differences between tubes can be
masked by EQ and gain. The player is just trying to get the
best sound to play. I'd like to know whether it's worth shelling
out up to 4 X the dosh for the Genalex's.
-
My understanding is that tubes make more of a tonal impact when overdriven. What I look for when replacing tubes for my jazz needs is their ratings on build quality. Will they last? How likely are they to go microphonic?
-
Of course the truth is that originally these valves were never intended to be
overdriven at all - they were intended for radio and then hi-fi amplifiers, so
there must be a qualitative difference between tubes in boosting a clean signal
to loud levels before break up. I've read comments that the Genalex's are "hi-fi"
quality - I just wondered if the difference between them and say the Tung-Sol's
is that great.
-
wow- necro-thread. LOL
6V6s: I have found most all the current-production 6v6s to be very tonally similar, with one exception: JJs. People call JJ 6V6s "little 6L6s", and while that may be pushing it a bit, when compared to Tung-Sol, EHX, Sovtek, and the others, the JJs do have a cleaner, harder tone... sort of in-between a 6V6 and 6L6. So if you find 6V6s a little too mushy and not tight enough on the low end in your current amp, JJs are worth a try.
(I actually prefer the mushiness of the "regular" 6V6, but I like old-school tones.
-
Yeah, dead is the sort of clean sound I'm getting. Thanks for that. Very difficultwow- necro-thread. LOL
knowing the type of tone people want in words. Best clean to crunch amp I
ever tried was a one channel Groove Tubes. I'm looking for a clean sound
which is similar to my SS Ameson head - sort of JC-120ish, but able to
smoothly crunch with more gain, in a 1970's way: from "Exit" to "Rough House".
I can get these sort of sounds with two amps - I don't like the O/D on the SS
amp; I don't like the clean on the tube one. Carting two setups about is not
viable for most things I do. I read somewhere that the Ibanez TSA doesn't accept
JJ's, but I could investigate.
-
I think the JJs are a little larger than normal 6V6s... either fatter, taller, or both.... so depending on how much room there is in the amp/how close together the tube sockets are... Originally Posted by VitalSigns
-
I have Tung Sol 6l6s in my Bandmaster and it does have good headroom. Originally Posted by mtierney
I put a 5751 in my Princeton v1 and also in my Bandmaster actually.
-
I recently bought a used stock Fender Hot Rod Deluxe to mess around with mods. My intent has been to turn it into a George Benson amp on the cheap with a change to the tube in V1 and a new speaker. Recently I learned that some guys are putting JJ 6V6s in and biasing the amp accordingly to reduce the power from 40w down to about 20w.
I think mostly rockers are doing this swap. I would be interested to hear if any jazz guys have done this. Would changing the 6L6s to 6V6s change the sound much?
-
Vital Signs -
I'm curious about what you found lacking in the Fender Supersonic 22? Mine seems to sound great on either channel with a 335 or strat and with an archtop the sound is big enough that I don't have to throw the "fat" switch. Picked one up for $600 used and I have to say it's one of the best all around amps I've ever owned.
-
Originally Posted by vejesse
I love my SS22. I can get a great "jazz tone" (which for me, is more of an old-school, Charlie Christian/P90 kinda' thing...) out of the Normal (clean) channel. Much prefer it to my PRRI (which was just too bright for that tone unless I used a midboost I installed, with a Greenback speaker),
But SS22 can also do the PRRI bright thing... the only downside I have found to the SS22 is the reverb: it's ok, and certainly fine for jazz, but it's not the same surf-capable reverb that the PRRI/DRRI has.
$600 used??? That's a good deal. I only paid $850 new, but I waited for one of those MF coupons "20% off $1000 or more"
-
I have for many years worked to get vintage 6V6 fat fender tone, 2 channels, light weight for gigs (requires lower wattage), and reverb. After owning every Fender you can think of and many boutiques, I wound up with a Rivera Clubster 25 1X10 with a Weber Vintage Series 10F150 ceramic speaker (32 lbs, 2 channel with BF or Tweed on clean, and RCA 6V6 tubes with spring reverb). Dirt channel is superb also. Reliable, and $699 used, $90 for speaker and $48 for RCA ANOS tubes.
My backup/alternative is the Peavey Valveking 20W micro head (15 lbs) through a 1x12 pine cab with an Eminence Red Fang speaker, very efficient (103 db), and 24 lbs, $369 plus $16 for carrycase. Peavey has a DI out for PA as well. Despite EL84 tubes, I can get a pretty good fat sound on the clean channel, and the dirt channel is fine. Plenty of clean headroom for gigs even with loud drummer, but I prefer this for funk with articulate softer drummer. I bought this for DI out as well as tone.
Over many years I found that at gigs what stands out in the mix is either the fat Fender vintage sound or the Soldano type bright cutting sound, and the rest of the sounds we hear in our head are available at home but get lost at any gig.
-
Check out the Roland Cube 60 and play with the various modeling settings.
-
I traded a Roland Cube 80GX for the Peavey. I agree it had had great sounds, but speaker mods for it are particularly difficult. I prefer speakers with big alnico magnets, like Weber Vintage or the Red Fang, as they are very efficient as well as being the fattest of the fat; a sound I'm addicted to.
-
Didn't know this thread was still active.. I didn't like the overdrive on the Supersonic. I recently replaced Originally Posted by vejesse
the stock tubes in my Ibanez TSA head with Tung-Sols. Definitely an upgrade, but I find I only
like the overdriven sound and can't get on with the bright clean sound. I now have a second Ameson
Jazz 90 SS head and a second EV Classic cab - I guess that's "my sound", really. There's no reason you can't use different sounds for different numbers - the important thing for me is to try and maintain my identity: in sound and ideas.
Reply With Quote
Survived a MuseScore attack tonight
Today, 12:56 AM in Recording & Music Software