Current production 6L6 with most headroom?

[Pedro58]

Which current production 6L6 has the most headroom? In a tweed design, if that matters. It would be nice if it had great tone, too!

[KeithC]

I like the Winged C 6L6's in pretty much everything I have put them in.

YMMV

[slider313]

I like the JJ 6L6GC's in blackface amps. In a tweed I would go with the Winged C.

[seedlings]

Running any given tube at a higer voltage gives more clean headroom FWIW.

[mmorse]

Running any given tube at a higer voltage gives more clean headroom FWIW.

Does that hold true for bias also? In other words, the hotter you set the bias, the more clean headroom a given power tube will have.

[Pedro58]

In my understanding, biasing "hot" brings different behavior in different tubes. But the general rule? I don't know! I don't have technical knowledge for that one.

[GearHeadFred]

Do tubes have "headroom"? I would think headroom is a factor of the circuit (plate voltage, resistance, bias, etc.) and not tied to the particular tube.

To me a hot biased amp has less headroom - never sounding "totally clean".

[Old Tele man]

...if you "follow" the spec's, that'd be the NOS 7581A which is just a higher-wattage 6L6GC on Military-Steroids!

...otherwise, JJ and Winged-C

[Pedro58]

...if you "follow" the spec's, that'd be the NOS 7581A which is just a higher-wattage 6L6GC on Military-Steroids!

Agreed... but I can't afford those boogers!

[Old Tele man]

...what I'm hinting at is maybe someone (JJ, et.al.) will consider re-issuing it and THEN you'd have what you want.

[HipKitty]

I'd recommend the JJ's for their tightness factor. I personally prefer the Winged C over the JJ's, but they area little more "rounded" in tone and response to me.

[devbro]

I AB'd the Winged C's against the TAD tall bottles (6L6GC-STR) and found the TAD's to have greater headroom and clarity. Some have cited reliability issues with the TAD's but I have not had a problem.

[Rosewood]

The JJ's I've used has had good headroom for a new production tube.

[HipKitty]

I AB'd the Winged C's against the TAD tall bottles (6L6GC-STR) and found the TAD's to have greater headroom and clarity. Some have cited reliability issues with the TAD's but I have not had a problem.


The TAD's are an excellent choice too! We've had zero reliability issues with the TAD 6L6's. Mind you, most of our 6L6 (new production) clients go for the SED's.

[marty pollard]

I had some GT6L6GE that were 'hotter' and more 'head-roomey' than my Winged C but one went badly farty and microphonic so I won't be going back to Groove Tubes.

[slider313]

I AB'd the Winged C's against the TAD tall bottles (6L6GC-STR) and found the TAD's to have greater headroom and clarity. Some have cited reliability issues with the TAD's but I have not had a problem.

I had the opposite conclusion in my '64 Vibrolux Reverb. The TAD's boke up much sooner and there was much less clean headroom. The JJ's,SED's, and Tung Sol STR's produce the most clean headroom in that circut, in that order.

[JMP2203]

TAD 6L6GC-STR for me, they are great tubes.

[JackButler]

Well here's a related question...Isn't the amps' plate voltage pretty much set? You can't raise/lower it can you? I know when you bias the pv goes up/down a little but not huge amounts.

[VaughnC]

Well here's a related question...Isn't the amps' plate voltage pretty much set? You can't raise/lower it can you? I know when you bias the pv goes up/down a little but not huge amounts.

While there are ways to adjust plate voltage in an amp, it usually requires replacing/adding components to accomplish that. I've never seen adjustable plate voltage as per a control pot...but I did see one amp a long time ago that had a large wire wound resistor in its power supply that had a movable tap...so anythings possible ;).

The plate voltage will change slightly when you adjust the bias because the bias voltage affects the current through the output tubes...and, as they draw more current, it puts more load on the power supply, consequently dragging down its voltage slightly.