What brand of 6L6 and 12AX7 to use for Drop Tuned Metal-Core?

[Ephemeria]

I need 4 6l6s and 4 12AX7s. Any advice on what brand of tubes I should get? or whether I should mix brands in different positions, etc.

[marauder]

what amp?

The amp will make more difference to sound than the tubes in it.

[Kiichi]

Well, I probably would count out JJs for your style. Good tubes, but too dark IŽd recon. My Tung-Sols might be a nice option, maybe also Tube Towns.
And yes, mixing is very possible.

Also, yeah, the amp is important.

[Ephemeria]

Its a Bugera 333. Its basically a Peavey XXX :)

[HTH AMPS]

drop-tuned metalcore eh, hmm... you'll be wanting something that doesn't really sag. 

I'd go with Svetlana 6L6s for pretty much anything except blues where you want a softer 6L6 (like a 5881WGB)

For preamp valves, in that amp you've got loads of gain so you'd be better off with something that isn't overly gainy or fizzy to reign the amp in a bit and stop it getting too fizzy.  EH ECC83s are nice, so are the Svetlana ones (if you can find them).

[Ephemeria]

drop-tuned metalcore eh, hmm... you'll be wanting something that doesn't really sag. 

I'd go with Svetlana 6L6s for pretty much anything except blues where you want a softer 6L6 (like a 5881WGB)

For preamp valves, in that amp you've got loads of gain so you'd be better off with something that isn't overly gainy or fizzy to reign the amp in a bit and stop it getting too fizzy.  EH ECC83s are nice, so are the Svetlana ones (if you can find them).

Yh I heard somewhere that Svetlana are menna be the best of the best. Isn't that the Winged C (=C=) make?

Also what do people think of JJ tubes?

[HTH AMPS]

drop-tuned metalcore eh, hmm... you'll be wanting something that doesn't really sag. 

I'd go with Svetlana 6L6s for pretty much anything except blues where you want a softer 6L6 (like a 5881WGB)

For preamp valves, in that amp you've got loads of gain so you'd be better off with something that isn't overly gainy or fizzy to reign the amp in a bit and stop it getting too fizzy.  EH ECC83s are nice, so are the Svetlana ones (if you can find them).

Yh I heard somewhere that Svetlana are menna be the best of the best. Isn't that the Winged C (=C=) make?

Also what do people think of JJ tubes?

ahh, good point - I did mean the PROPER Svetlana valves, now called Winged C - not the Sovtek-made ones which are currently branded Svetlana.  Trust EH to buy the Svetlana brand and confuse matters.

[Transcend]

I really like JJs

Im currently using

a jan phillips 5751 to lower the gain on my amp as i find it has a bit too much and this also lowers the noise floor in the V1 position

the rest in the pre are JJ ecc83s

and in the power section im on =C= EL34s but i keep swapping between those and the JJ E34L which are tighter and have more headroom and the JJ 6l6gc if i fancy that flavour when recording.

I personally dont see how people find JJs dark

but maybe i have it the wrong way i find EH too bright and brittle sounding

[Kiichi]

I tried to fit my Tiny Terror with 2 JJs and...well my Ibbie S with a Rebell Yell bridge sounded pretty dark and soft to me.

[Transcend]

I tried to fit my Tiny Terror with 2 JJs and...well my Ibbie S with a Rebell Yell bridge sounded pretty dark and soft to me.

I guess a lot of it depends on the amp.

Thinking about it the SLO circuit is pretty bright as it is...

[darkbluemurder]

Power tubes Winged =C= 6L6. They are the loudest, boldest and most aggressive of the current production tubes.
Preamp tubes = here it gets difficult. I like the Tube Town TT models as good allrounders. They are Chinese. JJ ECC83S sound a bit too middy and dark but at least they work. I have had bad luck with the Tungsol Reissues. Out of four tubes, two died immediately (and I did not use them in cathode follower stages), one started to get flakey after a few weeks, and the last one has its quirks, too - it hums when used in the V1 position. I would also stay away from any EI tube - every one of them I had was microphonic and turned the amp's tone into a crosscut saw.

I really liked the standard tubes Mesa Boogie used to offer as replacements (I believe they were the 12AX7A variant). The 12AX7SPAX sucked IMHO. I still have two of them and they destroy every amp's tone.

Cheers Stephan 

[Nephilim]

I'm actually curious about this. Except my my amp has 5 Pre-Amp valves, but I'm also after 6L6s with 12AX7s. I play very similar music (drop tuned metal) and was curious as to what valves I could use in mine. Below is the pre-amp stages.


V1B -Input and first gain stage both channels
V1A, V2B, V2A, V3B, V3A - Cascaded gain stages for lead channel
V4B - Tone stacks both channels / fx send
V4A - Driver for the Phase splitter
V5B / V5A - Phase splitter

I was thinking mabye:

1) A Tungsol for V1, with JJs for V2-V5.

Or mabye:

2) Tungsols in V1 & V2, with JJs in V3-V5

Or even:
3) JJ in V1, Tung Sol in V2-V3 and JJs again in V4-V5

What would people suggest?

Also could somebody please explain what the 'Driver' for the Phase Splitter is for, as well as 'Tone Stacks' for both the channels?

Cheers

[darkbluemurder]

I'm actually curious about this. Except my my amp has 5 Pre-Amp valves, but I'm also after 6L6s with 12AX7s. I play very similar music (drop tuned metal) and was curious as to what valves I could use in mine. Below is the pre-amp stages.


V1B -Input and first gain stage both channels
V1A, V2B, V2A, V3B, V3A - Cascaded gain stages for lead channel
V4B - Tone stacks both channels / fx send
V4A - Driver for the Phase splitter
V5B / V5A - Phase splitter

I was thinking mabye:

1) A Tungsol for V1, with JJs for V2-V5.

Or mabye:

2) Tungsols in V1 & V2, with JJs in V3-V5

Or even:
3) JJ in V1, Tung Sol in V2-V3 and JJs again in V4-V5

What would people suggest?

I would be fine with the JJs in V4 and V5. For V1-V3 I would prefer something brighter. The Tung Sols would be good tonally if you get one that keeps working.

Also could somebody please explain what the 'Driver' for the Phase Splitter is for, as well as 'Tone Stacks' for both the channels?

The tone stacks normally consist of passive elements (resistors and capacitors and variable resistors = the pots). When an amp manufacturer speaks of a "Tone amp" then they refer to the gain stage that is right before the tone stack in the signal chain - the one that "drives" the tone stack.

From the tube position description, the "driver for the phase splitter" appears to be the gain stage that boosts the effects loop return signal so that the phase splitter receives enough of it to drive the power tubes to full output and beyond. Usually this is a functional stage and not one that does a lot of tone shaping.

BTW: what is your amp?

Cheers Stephan

[Nephilim]

Its some custom amp my mates dad made that I'm borrowing. It's based of a Peavey 5150, but with a slightly different tube layout. Although it sounds very similar

[Nephilim]

I'm actually curious about this. Except my my amp has 5 Pre-Amp valves, but I'm also after 6L6s with 12AX7s. I play very similar music (drop tuned metal) and was curious as to what valves I could use in mine. Below is the pre-amp stages.


V1B -Input and first gain stage both channels
V1A, V2B, V2A, V3B, V3A - Cascaded gain stages for lead channel
V4B - Tone stacks both channels / fx send
V4A - Driver for the Phase splitter
V5B / V5A - Phase splitter

I was thinking mabye:

1) A Tungsol for V1, with JJs for V2-V5.

Or mabye:

2) Tungsols in V1 & V2, with JJs in V3-V5

Or even:
3) JJ in V1, Tung Sol in V2-V3 and JJs again in V4-V5

What would people suggest?

I would be fine with the JJs in V4 and V5. For V1-V3 I would prefer something brighter. The Tung Sols would be good tonally if you get one that keeps working.

Also could somebody please explain what the 'Driver' for the Phase Splitter is for, as well as 'Tone Stacks' for both the channels?

The tone stacks normally consist of passive elements (resistors and capacitors and variable resistors = the pots). When an amp manufacturer speaks of a "Tone amp" then they refer to the gain stage that is right before the tone stack in the signal chain - the one that "drives" the tone stack.

From the tube position description, the "driver for the phase splitter" appears to be the gain stage that boosts the effects loop return signal so that the phase splitter receives enough of it to drive the power tubes to full output and beyond. Usually this is a functional stage and not one that does a lot of tone shaping.

BTW: what is your amp?

Cheers Stephan

I was originally thinking about having Tung Sol in V1-V3, but I thought if I stuck a JJ in In either V2 or V3, since both stages are cascaded gain stages, I can have the best of both worlds. Although I'll still have the Tung Sol V1 complimenting it, but then again the Tung Sols are know for their High gain, Musical, 3D sound, so it could work wonders. Does anybody else agree with me?