6V6s..

Opinions on a good current production 6V6?

I'm curious to try the EH set. People rave about the JJ 6V6 but I've not had the best of luck with new production JJs.

I'm not too stoked on the J.J 6V6's I have, they sound alright but rattle a bunch

Just got a Blue Angel (has not arrived yet) so I will be watching here too. Any body try the Mesa tubes? I have some old USA made 6V6 tubes but none that I know came from a pair. Great for my little Frenzel Champ Plus single ended amp but a total crap shoot in a push-pull setup. I do have some pairs of 6L6 (no letters afterwards) coke bottles with smoked glass and I know that this version of the 6L6 is not that different from a 6V6. I may try a pair of those, will let everyone know how they work out.

SixVeeSix said:

... Any body try the Mesa tubes?...

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I'm using Mesa 6V6's in my Mark I RI right now and am loving the sound.

Sounds like one may be starting to rattle but a lot of tubes rattle in my Mark I but still work fine. The cabinet's hard on tubes I think because of whatever frequency it shakes at when Boogie-in! 8)

yettoblaster said:

SixVeeSix said:

... Any body try the Mesa tubes?...

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I'm using Mesa 6V6's in my Mark I RI right now and am loving the sound.

Sounds like one may be starting to rattle but a lot of tubes rattle in my Mark I but still work fine. The cabinet's hard on tubes I think because of whatever frequency it shakes at when Boogie-in! 8)

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Thanks, yettoblaster. May just be a mighty wind from the speaker is giving the tubes a shake, rattle and roll? I love combo amps for being all in one but they do have this one disadvantage.

From what I've read.. the Tung-Sol 6V6 reissues are the ones to get. I'll be trying those.

SixVeeSix said:

...May just be a mighty wind from the speaker is giving the tubes a shake, rattle and roll? I love combo amps for being all in one but they do have this one disadvantage.

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Oh yeah, Twin Reverb Fenders do it too (among many others). It's worth it though, and my old Showman head needed retubing just as often and I never put it on the speaker cabinet.

Mr_You said:

From what I've read.. the Tung-Sol 6V6 reissues are the ones to get. I'll be trying those.

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Any feedback yet??

Thanks.

Just went to visit Antique Electronic Supply online at www.tubesandmore.com Was pretty darn surprised that I found NOS French built Mazda 6v6gt for less than the TAD 6v6gta there, and from what I remember reading the Mazda were about the only vintage 6v6 that could handle higher 6l6 type voltages. I picked up a pair off ebay a few years ago and remember that they are musically sweet and smoother on the edge than most other 6v6gt's when pushed into dirty. There are strong similarities in sound to the Raytheon 6v6gt. I know you asked for new production but the Mazda are available in matched pairs from these folks and are really nice sounding IMHO. Probably last longer too.

Made a mistake and just caught it, The TAD 6v6 were priced as pairs, not as singles. So the Mazdas are quite a bit more expensive.

Any feedback yet??

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I haven't received my Lone Star yet. Will try to update the thread at some point.

I put a quad of Mesa 6V6s in my Mark IV and like them so far. They haven't given me a reason to switch back to the 6L6s, so I'll keep 'em in there until......I get bored?

I think ursinus was using 6V6's exclusively in his MarkIV. There are some others too. IIRC Boogietone was too. I would PM ursinus and ask what he was using.

i've never been thrilled with 6L6s in my 6 y.o. dual rec... but it really is a 1990s rock amp, and 70s-80s is more what i play, so inherently its the wrong amp, until..............

about 3 years ago i started running it with only 2 E34Ls, and it is much more usable to me...

about 3 months ago, i started using 2 6v6 and 2 E34Ls, and it is a very different amp... the clean channel is the best.... its doesn't have to be ear shattering loud to hit a sweet spot... and the 3 different pre-amp settings can be set to sound completely different and still be good

next, i may try 4 6v6... has anyone else done this in a dual rect?? the eurotubes story is that the JJ 6v6 are rated at a much higher voltage than usual, so in a fixed bias dual rec they do just fine in EL34 mode


any thoughts???

geddyentwistle said:

next, i may try 4 6v6... has anyone else done this in a dual rect?? the eurotubes story is that the JJ 6v6 are rated at a much higher voltage than usual, so in a fixed bias dual rec they do just fine in EL34 mode


any thoughts???

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This is my first post but I've been lurking for a while.
I personally love the way 6v6's smooth out Dual (or triple) recs.

I first had a 2 ch Triple rec that I converted to 6v6's and It sounded great (for a triple). The clean was a lot more usable and would "brown" slightly at higher volumes. The red channel was good too but it seemed to only be noticeably better (rounder?) at higher volumes.

My current amp is a Dual Rec Roadster and I'm using the same setup in it. Everything on the roadster sounds smoother and rounder at all volumes with the 6v6's. On the yellow/orange/red channels, I'm using the 50 watt setting to get some awesome power amp overdrive. It changes the amp completely. Before I thought it was too buzzy, but with the 6v6's it's warm and round. It's now the perfect amp IMHO.

I just stumbled on to some original 6V6's that came out of an early '80's Fender and a couple Groove Tube #8 labeled 6V6. Problem is that the GT's are about 1 inch longer and maybe 1/4" bigger diameter and the pin configuration is different on the 2 pairs. Is one of these pairs mis-labeled?

Well I'm enjoying the 10 watt setting with 6L6s so much, not sure I wanna spend any money on 6V6s right now.

Russ said:

I think ursinus was using 6V6's exclusively in his MarkIV. There are some others too. IIRC Boogietone was too. I would PM ursinus and ask what he was using.

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Nope. No 6V6's. I do want to try them though.

Hi guys I have a Mesa Heartbreaker that am loving it, currently running mesa 6L6s thinking of putting 6v6 to try. Theres a shop that sells Tung-sol 6v6GT, just asking what is the recommended rating to get which matches Mesa. I saw 48/52 etc. on the boxes, any one can help been tempted to try them for the longest time.

Regards

Ian

I'm just starting to experiment a bit with tubes in my amp... I'm currently running a quad of EH 6V6s my 50/100 LSC, which I got at the tubedepot (for like $20 a pair), and I love them. Mesa recommends using only the Tweed setting with 6V6s, but I run the amp at both full- and Tweed power settings; the newer tubes apparently handle this just fine, and so far everything has been peachy. I really love the responsiveness, color and definition. Sweet!

My understanding is that the EHs are sort of a good entry-level tube, and I'm possibly over-impressed with an improvement over the stock Mesa tubes. I have not branched out into other models yet, I'm looking into better 6L6s now, and I'm gathering opinions of EL34s for the LSC... but I like the 6V6 thing so much I'll probably experiment with Tung Sols or some of the other more exotic models soon.

Maybe once I get familiar with some more specimens I'll have a better set of adjectives to describe them with...