Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I have been playing a little more than normal on my own at home and have gone on a tone quest again.

I do this every couple of years.

Im experimenting with my Mesa Triple Rectifier.

I had been running 6L6s in the power section. I was going thru some boxes of tubes I have and found some YellowJackets. Basically a Yellow Jacket made by THD allows you to put an EL84 tube in an amp designed for 6L6s or EL34s.

I pulled all 6 power tubes and put a quartet of these in the amp, and pulled one rectifier tube as desribed in my manual. I wanted to try this again, because my little amp is EL84 based and I kinda prefer the solo sound I get from it, I liked the rythym sounds I was getting from the Triple, but the note articualtion just wasnt there for solos or single string lines.

An EL84 produces around 10-15 watts, whereas the 6L6s produce somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 watts a piece, so I was basically turning the power down from 150 watts to 40 watts.

What I wound up with was a much more creamy distortion, straight amp, Im not even running thru my pedal board, however I guess with the lower wattage, the distortion comes on too early. On my LP, as soon as I start cranking the volume pot, at around 2 on the guitar the amp starts to break up, whereas with the 6L6s it would be around 5-6 on the guitar volume pot.

I realized that i seemed to lose some bass, even turning the eq up, so then I decided to put 2 of the 6L6s in the empty tube holders, this brought the bass back some, but still not what I was looking for.

I loved the crispness of the mids and highs, but it just lost its "THUNK", if you guys know what I mean.

Yesterday I got in touch with Euro Tubes and ordered a complete set for the amp.

6-6V6s for the power section, 3 different rectifier tubes, and a set of 12AX7s for the preamp section. I hope to get these soon, as the desription of what it will deliver sounds like what Im after.

A warmer clean sound, this amp tends to get a little ice picky in the clean channel. Its supposed to chunk up the rythym, and give a more cutting lead tone.

So I cant wait to get them and try them out.

Plus I think the fact that Im doing a complete tube changeover should bring on some more great tone.

Im not unhappy with my amp tone, but after playing a lot, I find some small problems in my ears, not that anyone else would hear them.

Anyway just thought I would share what Im up too musically at the moment.

Im on a tone quest!

On the YelllowJackets, after reading the instructions these things basically rewire your amp in a Class A setup, whereas stock its a Class A-B.

Reading about this, what I get from it is that the voltage in the tube stays constant in a Class A amp, whereas in a Class A-B the current goes more in a sine wave between the tubes. A-B is a push pull type amp. I hope that makes sense to anyone reading this.

On the lower watts, to my ears I really dont hear a big voume drop, just doesnt seem to move the speakers as much. Less "THUNK". ! LOL

As I said above the distortion has a more creamy sound to my ears, not as harsh, and you really hear the pic, this makes you have to pick more cleanly, and if you are sloopy it really shows it off, so Im hoping it will improve my pic articulation on solos.

John, the amp they rented in Vegas for me was a Mesa Mark IV that was tubed similarly to what you described and it had the same issue's. I retubed my little Crate Palamino with Mesa tubes and everyone loves the way that thing sounds (it has EL84's)
There is just something in those Mesa amps (the way they Bark) across the floor with such a Chunky sound! Nothing sounds as good as 6L6,s IMO!

Haley the best lead tone I have in my triple is setting a channel to raw, with a decent amount of gain, raising the mids up around noon, and punching the front with a Tube Screamer, to me its that classic rock lead sound.

Not that anything is really wrong with the tones Ive been using, but Im just tweaking it a little.

I never cared for a Mark IV, I almost bought one a couple of times, the rectifiers just suit me most of the time.

John, I like them that is what I was using before buying the V3M I still use it from time to time. it is just So heavy. I requested a mark 4 because I am familiar with the settings but that amp in Vegas didn't even sound like a mark 4.
I agree with you on the tube screamer!

LOL, Mesa's are more finicky than a woman! LOL

Ive learned on the rectifiers the main issue is the mid setting, just a tweak either way can really change the tone.

I got my tubes yesterday and got to play on them for a few minutes last night.

They are OK, not overwhelming, just OK, my wife did mention that it sounded less harsh than what Ive been doing, and also I was able to raise the mids more than Im used to with this setup.

If I get a chance over the weekend to really play with them I will give my thoughts.