Favorite 6L6 for Super Reverb/earlier break up

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by ethandt

I am very interested in this as well... so can swap out 6L6's for 6V6's with no problem?

According to JJ 's sheet on the tube it can handle 500 volts on the plates and 450 on the screens-interestingly the same as thier 6L6GC. If your amps plate voltage is below 500 volts(hopefully a bit lower) all you have to do is plug them in and bias it up to around 20 ma or so depending on the PV of coarse. Bob

http://www.jj-electronic.com/pdf/6V6.pdf


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[phsyconoodler]

The load is different from 6L6's to 6V6's.A typical Fender Deluxe has a 6.6k loading and a 6L6 amp has 4.2k.So if you switch to 6V6's make sure the current is not too high,or better yet switch to the next highest speaker load.If you have a 4 ohm speaker cab now,use an 8 ohm.

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by phsyconoodler

The load is different from 6L6's to 6V6's.A typical Fender Deluxe has a 6.6k loading and a 6L6 amp has 4.2k.So if you switch to 6V6's make sure the current is not too high,or better yet switch to the next highest speaker load.If you have a 4 ohm speaker cab now,use an 8 ohm.

Thanks I forgot about the impedance part. I dont think the mismatch will cause harm if not compensated for since its most amps will tolerate a mismatch of one and the OT isnt being taxed as much. I run a 16 ohm speaker with my 8 ohm Rivera to play it safe though-then I hook up another 16 ohm cab on occasion! Hard to beat a 2x12 set up. Bob

[RGB]

Originally Posted by slider313

I've found the short bottle TAD's to break up and compress sooner than any 6L6 I've tried. Why not go with a 5R4GYB rectifier ?

I have a couple of NOS 5R4GYA's at home that I bought to try in my Satellite but they don't fit. I was going to sell them, but maybe I'll try them in my Super just for kicks.

I have it biased to 30ma now with the GZ34 and 6L6's...what should the bias be with the 5R4GYA's?

[slider313]

I like 6L6's, in Fender amps, at 35ma. The 5R4GYB will drop your B+, so bring the tubes back up to 30ma where you had them and listen. If you like what you hear then leave it. The amp should have more compression and sound warmer.

[RGB]

I could only get it up to about 38ma with the GZ34, but didn't hear much difference between 30ma and 38ma, so I figured I'd take it easy on the tubes. I may not be able to get up to 35ma with the 5R4GYA without changing the bias resistor, but I'll give it a shot and see how high it will go.

Thanks for the info.

[misterdontmove]

I'm finding the Tung-Sols break up very early (almost too early!), but in a good kind of way !

[davemccarthy707]

Originally Posted by blue strat

jan philips 6l6wgbs are your best bet.

+100000

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by Blue Strat

JAN Philips 6L6WGBs are your best bet.

Just looking over this old thread. Interestingly I prefered the JJ6V6 over the JAN Philips 6L6WGB in my Rivera. Ive had a set of the WGB's for over ten years and never found an amp I liked them in. Man I'll have to go and recheck them out -something about them I didnt like. I think they made my amps too flubby sounding in the low end but I cant be sure now...Confusion will be my epitaph...lol! Bob

[sidehatch]

It if were my amp I'd use the power tubes you have but but an RCA 5R4 for $15 or so at many places online. I named RCA because thats what I bought for $15. GE and others will work. Even the "potato Masher" will fit .

It will work perfectly in your amp with a simple rebias. It will lower the headroom considerably and is perfectly dafe. It sounds glorious im my pro and super reverbs.

Also, you can put a 12ay7 in the phase inverter and change the sweets spot from 7 on the volume to 3(at least in my amps anyway). It makes my pro reverb sound like a deluxe reverb.

[jcs]

i prefer rca blackplate 6l6gc in my sf super reverb biased at about 55%,they sound better at 55% (imo) and will last much longer as well!

you might try an rft 12ax7 in v2 for quicker breakup and remove the v1 tube entirely and plug into the vibrato channel for more-quicker breakup.

unhook one of the speakers, it is safe to do (tape off the lead though) and will drive the 3 speakers a bit harder and changes the impedance to 2.7 which is safe.

[FrankieSixxxgun]

I'm actually running Groove Tube 6L6-GE's in my '71 SR (converted to BF), and it breaks up like a mofo around 6. Biased to idle around 65%, and that amp sings. I play weak pickups usually too, so hitting it with something hot would have that amp screaming even lower on that dial.

[jcs]

yeah i think 55-65% is a great range to be in, i dont like to push any amp to 70% because i worry about the wall volts creeping up (and they WILL creep upwards)!

[FrankieSixxxgun]

Originally Posted by jcs

yeah i think 55-65% is a great range to be in, i dont like to push any amp to 70% because i worry about the wall volts creeping up (and they WILL creep upwards)!

Yeah, I successfully biased in some NOS Tung Sol 5881's around 4-5PM the other day, and just barely had the B+ in spec. Come 8PM and later I was cranking away and bzzzzzzzzzzzt. B+ creeped up to nearly 470vdc!

Plus, 6L6's don't crosstalk the same as EL34's, so I don't have to bias 'em all the way up to 70% like I do in my Marshall. 65% gives me nice breakup, good headroom, and nice warmth. No reason to run 'em any harder.

As far as the JJ 6V6's go, they're basically 6L6's anyway, so you're not gonna get much of a tonal difference. You will get a wattage difference, but it's a catch 22. While you can saturate the tubes completely, you really don't tax the OT anymore, so you won't hear that tranny saturation. I used to run a quad of JJ 6V6's in my JCM 800 and it was definitely interesting.