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In Reply to: Recomandation for 6L6GC tubes? posted by Jaco Pastorius on July 31, 2002 at 10:14:52:
Hi Jaco,I would recommend two:
(1) RCA 6L6GC Black Plates
(2) Svetlana 6L6GC
Follow Ups:
Jaco,If you play bass, like your nom-de-plume... the Philips ECG 7581A is a better choice. Much more headroom and power. Which Fender are you using? Most that take 4 or more 6L6GC have humungous power and output transformers, so they can handle the extra power demands of the 7581A.
You'll love the bass, much more. Especially, if you are running EV or JBL speakers.
If you play lead, the Svetlana 6L6GC has given me real good service. I'm not that big of a fan of the RCA BP 6L6GC. Maybe, there are many good quads and sextets around. I've had more than a couple RCA's goes ballistic. This is not what you want in a high-powered guitar amp.
You'll need to re-bias all new power tubes. Svetlana and RCA get biased to the same range as standard 6L6GC types. The 7581A gets biased a little hotter, say 45mA at 450 plate volts versus the 6L6GC's 40mA at 450 volts.
If your amp came with Sovtek 5881/6L6WGB---the bias would be even lower, say 32-35mA at 450 volts.
Thanks Steven!The amp I'm thinking of replacing tubes in is a Fender Super Twin Reverb....It can play pretty loud!!
I will see if I can find any Philips 7581A's.I wasn't thinking of spending too much money on tubes,so hopefully they are not too expensive..
Do you think Svetlana is better than Sovteks?I suppose Svetlana's are a little bit brighter in sound from my experience with other tubes.
I also play bass(and Jaco was and is in my ears the greatest!),and there I have a Bassman 50 with Groove Tubes 6L6.Have you heard these?
The Bassman is also a great guitar amp!
JP,I'm running Sylvania 7581A in my Twin Reverb (loaded with original JBL D120F's). So the thing projects tone way the heck out into the third or fourth row.
You can get 7581A from Angela.com. But, only the 80's mil spec Philips ECG 7581A. Remember to re-bias any new tube.
Svetlana's have been much better for me, than Sovteks. I have tried the JJ's.
But, if you want bass... the 7581A won't disappoint you. And they are hardy tubes.
The other choice is to drop in Sylvania/Philips 5881/6L6WGB mil spec tubes. Lower the bias a bit. These make for a warmer, more Bluesy tone. And they, too are pretty hardy tubes. You amp will drop output, but you'll gain some overdrive and browner clipping.
Angela also carries this tube.
I think loud is an understatement with super twins. Theres a reprint of a '79 interview with Ted Nugent in the latest guitar player with a couple funny comments on those amps. He says he uses 6 super twins w/ 2x18 cabs on stage!Don't know much about the best 6l6gc for those amps though. But a sextet of NOS is going to set you back quite a lot.
Are the groove tube 6l6s in your bassman the new ones made on the original GE equipment?
Ted Nugent uses 6????!!! He's bad!:o)I can't even stay in the room when I try to overdrive it,and that's with 10 year old+++ tubes!!!
The Groove Tubes was in the amp when I bought it so I have no idea when or were they were made.
In my experiance NOS tubes in that amp will not buy you anything. The exception would be the 7581 if you use the amp for bass. I find the 7581 a little harsh for guitar although very powerfull. My choice would be the JJ 6L6. Its very rugged and sounds great. The Svetlana is also very good but I've had mechanical problems with them in the past where they go microphonic, although not right out of the box in most cases. I work on guitar amps and other tube gear 6 days a week and I stock all the currently made 6L6 variants in my shop. So I don't think there is one "best" 6L6. It depends on the application.
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