Interesting tidbit about Jimi's amps

[Eric]

I found this on amptone.com

Guitar Shop Oct. 1996
page 38

Cesar Diaz -- SRV's amp tech

"SRV was trying to sound like Jimi, and I knew exactly what Jimi had done to get that tone. Jimi had taken the original EL34s out of his Marshalls and installed 6550s. You can't get any closer to a 6L6 than that, and at that point, a Marshall sounds very round."

Let's see so I've read that Jimi used 6550s, Eddie used 6CA7s, the Marhsalls Cream used has KT66s in them. So who actually used EL34s in their Marshalls?  

[Miracle Man]

I think Page had KT88's in his Super Lead.

But they all used Marshalls  :twisted:

[Fourth Feline]

Thanks for that interesting info Eric !

As an avid 7581A and 6L6WGB user In my Fender &  Laney amps, I was most heartened to hear that the rounder, glassier 6L6 (ish) tone was behind such famous sounds.

I have currently got a quad of N.O.S Philips 7581As in my Fender 'The Twin' - which seem to have even more clean headroom. The small bottle 6L6WGBs that I have in my Laney LH50R seem a tad warmer and compress earlier when overdriven, but are still lovely and smooth.

That is probably why I am also a 'Stormy Monday' and 'Mule' user.

Not an EL34 or Nailbomb in sight round my place ...

 :D

Regards,
Derek.

[DeanS]

My 70's JMP Marshall came (an export version) came with 5881's (same type of tube as 6L6's) instead of the ubiquitous EL34. When I bought it in the 80's I wasn't bothered what tubes its had as long as it worked and sounded good.

I've done some back to back comparisons over the years with EL34 Marshalls and the 5881's are crispier in their distortion  and have a tighter bottom end- very similar to a Soldano SLO as these too are 5881 powered

[HTH AMPS]

I found this on amptone.com

Guitar Shop Oct. 1996
page 38

Cesar Diaz -- SRV's amp tech

"SRV was trying to sound like Jimi, and I knew exactly what Jimi had done to get that tone. Jimi had taken the original EL34s out of his Marshalls and installed 6550s. You can't get any closer to a 6L6 than that, and at that point, a Marshall sounds very round."

Let's see so I've read that Jimi used 6550s, Eddie used 6CA7s, the Marhsalls Cream used has KT66s in them. So who actually used EL34s in their Marshalls?  

I was gonna say AC/DC, but many of their classic recording were done with Malcolm using a Marshall Major or Superbass loaded with KT88s and KT66s respectively.  Angus has used a script-logo JTM45 for most things loaded with KT66s too.  

I'd guess that the 'live' album was straight up EL34-loaded Marshalls though as even back then KT66s were not in current production.  FWIW, 'If You Want Blood' has my fave AC/DC tones EVER.

Ahh, here's another one - Zakk Wylde & the Slayer lads all use 6550s in their JCM800s.

Also, Eddie Kramer has noted that Jimi mostly used a blonde Fender Twin (6L6s) in the studio or an old JTM100 (KT66s).

Lastly, here's one for you... when Page started using Marshalls live with Zep they were all EL34 amps.  The 'modded' amps came later using KT88s.

 :twisted:

[headtheball]

Billy Corgan's JCM-800 was loaded with KT-88's as well....

[Eric]

The thing that I've figured out is that when it comes to vintage gear you got to do your homework. The specs from piece to piece can really vary. It doesn't matter if it's an amp or a guitar there can be a pretty big difference from piece to piece.

[Eric]

Fun stuff from the VHT Users forum about Eddie Van Halen's amp from VHT's Steve Fryette.

Having worked on the supposed IT amp on more than one occasion, I can speak first hand on some of this.

First of all, hate to blow anyone’s bubbles, but there’s not a thing especially outstanding or unique about this amp. Matt Bruck brought what he said was Eds main amp to me in 1990/1 to “bring it back to life” He said Ed felt it just wasn’t the same as it once was and thought the output transformer was “getting weak”. I told him OT’s don’t get weak, but went ahead and checked it out from top to bottom and found not a thing wrong with it at all. In fact it was bone stock and rather clean inside. It sounded like a stock Marshall, put out full power and all of the caps were in good shape. I might add, and this is just from memory, but I recall that the circuit was actually closer to a 70 JMP than it was to a plexi, something I attributed to this possibly being a transition model, seeing as how it had a plexi panel, but apparently the newer input and feedback configuration. All that aside, Matt insisted that something needed to be done so I gave it a complete once-over and I then took the liberty of installing a Pittbull Classic output transformer into it to see if anyone would notice. Upon getting it back, Matt told me that they noticed no difference in sound and they still thought it sounded weak. I just presumed that something else was amiss or had changed and thought no more about it. I still have the receipt and copy of the check for the work signed by Ed, in case anyone wants to try to discredit this claim. I don’t usually talk about it, because frankly Scarlett…but since you went to the effort of posting this here, I though it might be fun to respond to some of the idiots history items:

“Eddie would keep it loaded with four Sylvania 6CA7 power tubes (Ed used this American brand because they run slightly cooler than their European counterpart).”

In the mid to late 70’s most available EL34’s were horribly unreliable and the Sylvania 6CA7 was king because it was the only available reliable replacement. It was well known at that time that if you had an EL34 amp you either used the Sylvania 6CA7 or in the case of Marshall, the popular thing to do was swap it over to 6550, which Marshalls US distributor was doing to cut down on warranty claims for failed European EL34s – you know those coveted NOS ones people pay big bucks for now…and by the way, the back was off because tubes got replaced frequently and everybody at that time left the backs off or lost them.

(Although he did crank the Variac up to 140 volts in the studio for Van Halen I)!

Anyone who has ever tried this knows it's BS and the reason you know it’s BS is because after you tried it the guy who replaced your blown power supply capacitors or transformers told you it’s BS. When the first interview where this appeared came out I was a repair tech at Valley Arts Guitars, and I can tell you that article made me a lot of money. But I lost a lot of respect for the big E for being so thoughtless as to say such a thing in print and potentially help people put their lives in danger, or at the very least sacrifice their gear over such a stupid comment.

"Early in Van Halen's career, Ed used to say that his amps were heavily modified by Jose Arrendondo of Arrco Electronics to throw people off that were trying to imitate his sound."

And if it ended there, I would have thought fair enough, but it didn’t end there. He allowed Jose to promote and sell “Eddies Mod” to anyone with cash. As a result, legions of guys got reamed and their amps butchered with a bunch of terrible sounding and horribly executed mods (some now considered desirable as “Cameron Jose mods”) which caused lots of noise, hum, output transformer failures, etc, etc. I had lots of players coming to me wanting to find out why their amps with the blessed Jose/Eddie Grail were giving them so much grief. In most cases it went something like “fix the problem with the amp but don’t touch the mod”. Response: “The mod is the problem, so I either dump the mod or you take it back to Jose”.

[JamesHealey]

I personally have tried pretty much every type of valve but really do swear by the EL34, although the KT88 is a beast!

[TwilightOdyssey]

I used to swear by 6CA67s, but the Splawn sounds incredible with EL34s in it!

[JamesHealey]

should be ordering my splawn soon.. only one paycheck away from being able to afford it!! yey! :) then just gotta wait for the bugger to be made..

that thread from the VHT forum was funny the guy who makes VHT amps seems like he knows his stuff but could be a bit less "outspoken".

[TwilightOdyssey]

Nice one, James!

You're gonna be freakin out!

[Eric]

should be ordering my splawn soon.. only one paycheck away from being able to afford it!! yey! :) then just gotta wait for the bugger to be made..

that thread from the VHT forum was funny the guy who makes VHT amps seems like he knows his stuff but could be a bit less "outspoken".

Yeah Steve Fryette builds great amps, but he could stand to be a bit less opioniated.

Congrats on the Splawn, which one are you getting?

[fps_dean]

I think Page had KT88's in his Super Lead.

But they all used Marshalls  :twisted:

The Super Lead he used towards the band's later days after he stopped using the Major also had EL34s in it.  The amp he had with KT88s is actually a 200 watt Marshall Major, I believe a '69 just like mine, and you can't run any other tube type in those things.  Some people have put 6550s in them, which is stupid because they wont take the heat quite as well as their military grade version (KT88) and they eat KT88s fast enough.

For people back in the day that used EL34s?  Well, Eric Clapton in the Cream era used EL34s.  Before that, he used older Marshall stock, KT66s like Hendrix.

SRV used a ton of different amps, many Fenders (6L6) and some JTM45s (5881), his favorite amp was said to be a Major (KT88) and he bought a Dumble when he couldn't get tubes easily for that that probably used 6L6s, but I'm not sure....

I can't think of a list of EL34 artists right now.... other than Vai who comes to mind.... but it goes on and on.

I personally like EL34s the best because they're much warmer than anything else (other than it's small bro the EL84).  6L6/6550s are fatter, most importantly they have more bottom end, but dimed they just sound like EL34s with the master volume turned down a little.