Tone wise, what`s the difference?

[kealiikai]

I`m ready for new tubes in my Mesa Dual Rec. So can someone tell me what tones you get out of EL34L. I`ve heard some samples but could barely notice any difference. Sound I`m after is more of a tight distortion, {METAL}.

[jbird]

kealiikai, I once changed over to the el34 tubes in my dual rec. I noticed most of all a tighter bass sound ( my bass player was happier ) and a more of that marshall type of grind to the mids and highs. Though I did have to turn my treble up more to get the highs I was missing. The clean sound I loved. I have since went back to the 6l6 tubes and liked my red channel much better which BTW is set to the modern setting. The high end I was missing was back along with all that low end, ( unfortunately for my bass player) so at this point I would say the 6l6 tubes for a metal sound, but dont be afraid to try something new, a different set of power tubes is almost like a whole different amp at a fraction of the cost. Good luck on your tone quest!

Jay

[kealiikai]

Cool. I think I`ll just get the JJ intergrated quads. I got my tubes pulled for 50watts, so that way I can try both and see which ones I like.

Redmax (Robin) runs EL34's in his Dual Recto as well.

[redmax61]

Hey kealiikai, sorry I'm so slow to pipe up here, I don't get over to this side quite as much as I used to . . .

I am running a set of EL-34's and a set of THD Yellowjackets in mine at the same time. My brother (GruvSyco) got them for Christmas for me last year. This is a quick version of what I found in my quest for tone:

I first changed my amp over to the THD Yellowjackets. If you are not familiar with them, they are EL-84's in specially made sockets that fit directly in where a 6L6/EL-34 would normally go. They convert the amp to Class A operation. The sound of the YJ's by themselves was not my cup of tea, they removed the harshness, but they weren't quite as tight as I was looking for. I'm into that big fat high gain sound. They don't sound bad at all, just not what I was looking for.

Second, I changed to the EL-34's. The buzziness associated with Recto amps was gone. The amp took on a fatter, rounder tone that really opened up. Still not quite what I was looking for, though.

EL-34's AND YJ's. All I can say here is OMG!! The amp took on a whole new life. It has the best of everything. It has the big fat EL-34 girth, with the brightness of the YJ's, without the 6L6 buzziness/harshness. This is exactly what I have been looking for. The tone is HUGE. Just ask anyone who has heard any of the recordings that I've done lately. I still can't believe it myself!

IMHO, if you are looking for METAL tone, this is it!

Good luck on your tone quest!

[redmax61]

BTW, feel free to email me if you want a .wav file sample of what the amp sounds like with any of the setups I mentioned.

[kealiikai]

Red, where did you get those tubes from? Like the intergrated quads, don`t they have to be of the same {?} <I forgot that word ? Thanks for you guys for all your views, very helpfull.

[Steve Foley]

Try Bob Pletka over at Eurotubes for the JJ's - he's got some really fair pricing, and is able to do some pretty good matching. He's a big JJ promoter, so you should be able to find what you want there.
http://www.eurotubes.com
I've been happy with the JJ's in my Mark IV, but haven't personally tried them, yet in the Rectifier. I thought the EL-34's were too "indistinct" in the Rectifier, to my tastes; I went back to the 6L6's (currently using, and liking Svet's, FWIW, in the Dual Rec). I'd go with Lord Valve (http://www.nebsnow.com/LordValve), for the Svet's, if you go that route. Lord Valve usually has an email catalogue available, with a farily good cross-section of tubes, with discriptions of the tonal variations, if that's of interest.