What are your favorite 6V6 tubes?

[DirtySteve]

My HG Plexi runs 6V6 power tubes. I just had one of my old GEs go bad and had to replace them. I didn't choose the GEs, they were put in there by Terry (@Guitar-Rocker ) when he redid my power section to get rid of the EL84s and I never questioned them. Now I've replaced them with my backup set, a pair of JJ 6V6S tubes. I can't help but think there are better choices out there, I just don't know what they are.

What do you like? CP, NOS? ...I can go either way. Not that it matters, but I'm running NOS RFTs in V1 and V2 and an old NOS Canadian Mullard in the PI.

 

[fitz]

I've mostly just used JJ's in my Haze15 and never had an issue with them.
Only other 6V6 amp I had was the Egnater Rebel that had both 6V6 & EL84 with a blend knob for either-or and in between (also all JJ).

Still have the stock Shuguang 6V6GT's from the Haze that I took out a long time ago.
Black glass wide base Marshall VLVE-00038. (if you're interested)

Are you looking for brighter / darker, or tighter / looser kind of thing, or are you concerned with longevity / reliability?
Might be hard to guess how your custom amp will react to different brands.

 

[DirtySteve]

I've mostly just used JJ's in my Haze15 and never had an issue with them.
Only other 6V6 amp I had was the Egnater Rebel that had both 6V6 & EL84 with a blend knob for either-or and in between (also all JJ).

Still have the stock Shuguang 6V6GT's from the Haze that I took out a long time ago.
Black glass wide base Marshall VLVE-00038. (if you're interested)

Are you looking for brighter / darker, or tighter / looser kind of thing, or are you concerned with longevity / reliability?
Might be hard to guess how your custom amp will react to different brands.

You would ask the hard questions, lol. I don't know, the JJs sound ok I guess, I just want to try something else to compare and see if it makes any difference. I had one of those Egnater Rebels when they first came out, but I didn't keep it long and didn't roll any tubes in it, I didn't know about tubes back then.

One issue is I was rolling preamp tubes after I put the JJs in it because I also had a bad V1 tube so I never got to hear it with the new pres with the old power tubes. I've been rolling pres and what I have in there now is the best combo I've had so far, but the amp still sounds a little muffled, like it's holding back. I know the RFTs are darker sounding tubes, but they sound really good. I had them in all 3 positions, but it was too much and so I swapped the PI out for the Mullard.

I'm going by how my SC20 sounded when I got it. The stock EL34s had been replaced with reissue Mullards by the previous owner but he sent along the stock tubes with the amp. When I swapped the Mullards out for the stock EL34s it sounded much better, ballzier and over all fuller sounding. That was my first time experiencing a noticeable change in power tube brands and the change was significant. Before that I just thought power tubes wouldn't effect the tone, but they do.

I guess if I had to describe what kind of change I'm hoping for it would be that right now I have boomy/thumpy bass and I'd like to tame that some. It's better with the pres I have in it now, but I still have to keep the bass dialed down or it gets really annoying. I'm looking for a little more crunch/growl in the mids, but that might be that I haven't found the right preamp combo yet.

 

[fitz]

Here's a semi-objective review of some 6V6 tubes by The Tube Store.
Looks like the JJ's are fairly well liked in the comparisons.
Perhaps just try for a good combination of pre-amps you already got to go with them?

The Best 6V6 Power Tubes - www.thetubestore.com

6V6 Tube Reviews: See reviews of the best 6V6 power tubes. Also known as 6V6S, 6V6GT and 6V6WGTA.

www.thetubestore.com

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Honestly I've never noticed much, if ANY, difference in the sound of one 6V6 vs. another, as long as both are comparable in terms of hours they've been used. They seem to be a pretty consistent sounding tube type.

It's not something I'd invest a large amount of tube rolling time in.

 

[DirtySteve]

Here's a semi-objective review of some 6V6 tubes by The Tube Store.
Looks like the JJ's are fairly well liked in the comparisons.
Perhaps just try for a good combination of pre-amps you already got to go with them?

The Best 6V6 Power Tubes - www.thetubestore.com

6V6 Tube Reviews: See reviews of the best 6V6 power tubes. Also known as 6V6S, 6V6GT and 6V6WGTA.

www.thetubestore.com

I'm pretty sure reading that is how I ended up with the JJs I have. I didn't have the boomy/thumpy bass until I put the JJs in, but also I've changed cabs and speakers as well so I can't be sure the JJs are the culprit.

 

[DirtySteve]

Honestly I've never noticed much, if ANY, difference in the sound of one 6V6 vs. another, as long as both are comparable in terms of hours they've been used. They seem to be a pretty consistent sounding tube type.

It's not something I'd invest a large amount of tube rolling time in.

Yeah, that's kind of what I would expect if it wasn't for my experience with EL34s in my SC got me thinking about it now. Maybe it won't matter as much with 6V6s I don't know. Still, I'm in the market for a backup set anyway so I think I might as well experiment a little.

 

[DirtySteve]

I'm pretty sure reading that is how I ended up with the JJs I have. I didn't have the boomy/thumpy bass until I put the JJs in, but also I've changed cabs and speakers as well so I can't be sure the JJs are the culprit.

...this amp had been down for a while now, it just wasn't sounding as good as it used to, but before I got into trying to figure out why I bought my SC20 and it went on the back burner. Now I'm trying to fine tune it because now that I've got it up and running screaming again it's kicking ass and now my SC is on the back burner.

 

[DirtySteve]

There's a set of Raytheon 6V6GT black glass on reverb right now for $54. I'm thinking about snagging them.

 

[Dblgun]

I'm not real up on your HG Plexi so don't know what kind of voltages are present. I would guess that if original with EL84's it is cathode biased and voltages are moderate. JJ's are not my favorite 6V6 but they are more tolerant of higher voltages than most any other 6v6. The reason for this is they are not a true 6v6 but are a good option if voltages are approaching 400v or greater. I have them in a few amps and they are solid reliable.

In most of my Fenders with 6V6's I really like RCA's which can be found with many names stenciled on them. I attached a link to watfords valves if for no other reason to give an idea of what is out there as well as a very good test they did on a number of options. A few years ago I bought some Brimars to use in one of my Trainwreck Express clones. I do really like them in that circuit, but it looks like they have gotten pretty pricey.

Watford Valves product search :: 6V6

https://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi-bin/documents/testreport_45.pdf

 

[DirtySteve]

JJ's are not my favorite 6V6 but they are more tolerant of higher voltages than most any other 6v6. The reason for this is they are not a true 6v6...

Can you elaborate a little on this please. JJ 6v6s are not 6v6?

I don't know what the voltages are, I probably did when I built the amp, but I don't know now and I'm sure it's different since Terry worked on it because he changes out the Tanny and everything.

I don't know if this tells you anything, but here is the diagram I drew for the amp and it was updated after the power section was changed. As far as I know it's all correct with the exception of the power and standby switches are now a single 3 position switch - off/standby/on.

A

 

[Dblgun]

JJ's 6V6s has a little different and much more rugged plate structure than others. Many recent amps produced with 6V6's use them for their resiliency. For example, some of the offerings from Dr. Z specify only JJ's and seem to kill others in short order. There are many considerations other than maximum plate voltage to be considered though. I treat the JJ's as a max 14w but tend to use 12w for my vintage 6V6's. I simply like other valves in many of the lower output amps. They seem more dynamic and musical to me. The amps I use the JJ's in tend to be more powerful and focused for more drive/gain.

Your amp looks to use an 18w Marshall type P/T and I would think B+2 would be around 380v. Most of the amps I have with RCA's or Sylvanias in are 325 to 350v. My Trainwreck clone with Brimars is closer to 365v and has been rock steady. My 25w Wizard clone uses JJ's at 400v and 25ma. I think your use of the JJ's in your amp is the appropriate move unless you find an extremely hardy other option. Depending on what you are after you could consider a 5881.

 

[Pete Farrington]

HG Plexi

I don't know what this is

 

[DirtySteve]

I don't know what this is

HG = High Gain. I don't think calling it a plexi is correct, but I don't know what it actually is. I've asked what I should call it and Plexi is the answer I got. Cameron/Jose high gain plexi to be exact. I don't even know what amp it's based on.

 

[DirtySteve]

JJ's 6V6s has a little different and much more rugged plate structure than others. Many recent amps produced with 6V6's use them for their resiliency. For example, some of the offerings from Dr. Z specify only JJ's and seem to kill others in short order. There are many considerations other than maximum plate voltage to be considered though. I treat the JJ's as a max 14w but tend to use 12w for my vintage 6V6's. I simply like other valves in many of the lower output amps. They seem more dynamic and musical to me. The amps I use the JJ's in tend to be more powerful and focused for more drive/gain.

Your amp looks to use an 18w Marshall type P/T and I would think B+2 would be around 380v. Most of the amps I have with RCA's or Sylvanias in are 325 to 350v. My Trainwreck clone with Brimars is closer to 365v and has been rock steady. My 25w Wizard clone uses JJ's at 400v and 25ma. I think your use of the JJ's in your amp is the appropriate move unless you find an extremely hardy other option. Depending on what you are after you could consider a 5881.

Thanks. I read something the other day before I started this thread about JJ6v6 not being actual 6v6 tubes, but it was someone commenting on a forum and I didn't think much of it until you said it, too.

I've been wondering if I can use other power tubes besides 6v6. What I don't want is for the bias to be colder by switching tubes. I read something about that somewhere, too..

 

[DirtySteve]

I'd like to start a new thread, what I really want to do is tweak a couple of things, but I don't know enough to know what to do. I'm not even sure if I can adequately describe what it is I have issue with well enough to get the advice I need, which is why I haven't tried yet. ...well, that and the fact that every time I've tried to talk about this amp anywhere on the forum the clowns come out of the woodwork and it turns into a whole thing. I've had to ask the mods to delete threads before they ever even got going because of a few individuals here that won't let it go.

 

[nortiks]

In my BF Deluxe non-revervb, I tried all of the usual suspects and in that particular amp, the NOS RCA was a cut above the rest. There are plenty out there that are decent though imo.

 

[DirtySteve]

In my BF Deluxe non-revervb, I tried all of the usual suspects and in that particular amp, the NOS RCA was a cut above the rest. There are plenty out there that are decent though imo.

I ordered those Raytheons. I think I read somewhere that they are rebranded RCA (or maybe just made by RCA for Raytheon and several other brands), but I couldn't find it again.

 

[nortiks]

I ordered those Raytheons. I think I read somewhere that they are rebranded RCA (or maybe just made by RCA for Raytheon and several other brands), but I couldn't find it again.

If they are NOS, you should be able to tell easily enough of they are RCA-made by just inspecting the innards and comparing to some photos of RCAs.

 

[DirtySteve]

If they are NOS, you should be able to tell easily enough of they are RCA-made by just inspecting the innards and comparing to some photos of RCAs.

They're black glass, I don't think I'll be able to see the innards.