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!
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!
"A winks as good as nod to a blind man"