Vintage Power Tube differences

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

What would be some differences/similarities you know concerning 6L6's of these brands, Jan Phillips, GE's, Sylvanias, RCA's, ect. What are or were your favorites? or what are the least liked?

Paul Arntson · From: Washington, USA

Here's a web site with descriptions. It looks like a good starting point.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3612/6L6tubes.html

My personal opinion is that there is a lot more bang for the buck to be had in careful bias adjustment. If you can listen to the amp while adjusting the bias you can dial in a sound you like.

I am sure you've heard a million times that the voltages in tube amps will kill you if you let them. It's true.

I have gotten tone I liked out of cheap ones by biasing carefully. Some of the newer ones tend not to have enough voltage rating, so you have to check. Especially in Fender amps.

I'll be interested to hear what other folks have to say on this topic.
(Flameproof drawers now deployed. )

Oh, and in answer to your other question, I definitely didn't like the 1940's metal cased ones I tried. They distorted earlier and had less high end.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

James, any of those are generally good tubes with just different flavors - none in good shape will have "bad" sound, and none have a identifiable "signature tone" - some 6-stringers will say RCA blackplates do, but I have them and in most amps they sound close to Sylvanias or Philips STR387's (which were specially engineered for upside-down mounting, as in Fenders, and might be considered a little better than most just because of durability).

Where you really start to hit tonal differences by *type* of tube (there are always minor variations even among the listed ones) are tubes like the Tung-Sol 5881, which handles less plate voltage than most and has less headroom (but is REALLY warm sounding at medium volume), Mullard EL37's (some consider them sort of like the Tung-sol; others call them the holy grail of 6L6-types. Again, less headroom but the tone is otherworldly) and at the other end of the scale the Sovtek/EH/Groove Tubes Russian junk, especially the infamous Sovtek 5881 (which was/is not a 5881, a 6L6, or anything related - it's a Russian servo tube that happened to have close specs but was not designed for audio - it was designed for airplanes and rockets!). Another pet hate out of that group is the Sovtek black-bottle 6V6...which was simply a 6L6 that didn't pass specs, so they called it a 6V6 hoping it'd be used in lower-voltage applications. I replaced a LOT of those firecrackers.

IMO among new production tubes JJ's are he closest sounding to the better vintage types; I prefer Eurotubes as a source as they're screened pretty well. Some sellers just ship tubes without any testing, a bad idea.

Oh - and also don't fall for the "made in USA" Groove Tubes 6L6GE - some of the components are made here but they are assembled in China. Every pair I've had have drifted off-bias too far for comfort (about a 10ma spread) inside of 2 weeks.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Joe Shelby · From: Walnut Creek, California, USA

So if you're running a 135w Twin with all that plate
voltage, which of those that are in the good to other
worldly category will work?
And I'm thinking best bang for the buck...

Steve Feldman · From: Central MA USA

A good set of matched NOS power tubes will likely outlive a comparable set of new tubes. Whether they 'out-perform' new tubes is up to you. I personally do prefer NOS tubes for the amps that I now have (set of RCA 6L6s in a '65 BF Vibrolux, and Bendix 5992 [6V6] in a tweed). This works great for me. Preamp tubes also have a big effect as well.

Having said that, I've also had pretty good luck with Winged-C SED (6L6s) and the new TungSol 6V6s.
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"...An admission of interest in protracted commentary is certainly no reason to capitalize on surmised aberations that do not exist." - BH

Bari Smith · From: Spartanburg SC USA

Running Winged C's and love em!!!!! Very Happy

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SHO-BUD LDG(Cooperized),MULLEN RP SD-10,Webb 614E,'73 Vibrosonic,Mesa-Boogie Pre,Stewart 1.2,TC Electronic M-300,JBL's,Black Box,Walker Seats'84 Dobro,'69 Martin D-28,and assorted other goodies!

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

There was a thread a couple of years ago that talked about this pretty extensively - http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/008531.html

I suggest looking at the Watford Valve reviews I referenced there:

http://www.watfordvalves.com/reports.asp

In particular, look at the 6L6 reviews:

http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi-bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf

The reviews are, at this point, a few years old, but I have found them useful. Of course, the downside to NOS tubes is price and availability.

I also wrote this here: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=134783

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I can vouch for the Mullard EL-37s. I have a pair in my '56 Pro Amp, and the sound is AMAZING!

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

The GE's and RCA's last the longest. As far as tone, there's not gonna be a lot of difference in the NOS tubes. Man, there's a zillion ways to change the tone of an amp, and doing it with output tubes always seemed the most futile (to me, anyway). Also, keep in mind that straight guitar players usually want the exact opposite of what most steelers want, as far as sound goes. Pedal steel and (typical) straight guitar applications are apples and oranges.

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