About mesa 6L6 colors and guitar center

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Billy Adams

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I called the guitar center looking for mesa 6L6 "red" tubes... The lady assured me saying "i know this for a fact that the tubes only need to be matched by the pair not to the current colors you have in your amp.' In other words she said that since i have all 6L6 color set "red" in my triple rect. I can replace them with any color (green, yellow, ie.) and dont need to bias the amp as long as each set is paired the same color. She went on to explain the tubes are only color coded cause it shows what machine they were made on. Now I heard differently from a few others that in fact, it does matter what color they are and that the amp needs to keep the same colors that were originally put in it. So if i have all "reds" then need to replace them with "reds" in order to avoid biasing. The problem is i dont know what to believe, I dont even know if you can bias Mesa's cause i thought they were made differently. Can anyone tell me the truth behind this matter?
 
Billy Adams said:
I called the guitar center....She went on to explain the tubes are only color coded cause it shows what machine they were made on...

Yet another instance where the friendly staff at GC are a bunch of F'n idiots! Mesa tubes are color coded to show their relative current draw. Now while it is true that Mesa tubes fall within a very narrow range, they should still ALL be matched for best performance. It wont hurt your amp to have say, two pairs of red with one pair of gray... but why would you want to? (other than an emergency fix to get through the gig)

It won't matter (as far as bias---you cant adjust it anyway) what color you use, just get all 3 pairs the same. There is a SLIGHT diff from color to color as far as headroom/power tube breakup characteristics, but IMO you'll never notice it in an amplifier with the headroom of a Triple anyway.

Jon
 
So your saying, if i have all 6 "reds" now and i change them out to all 6 "grey" it will work perfect. But if i have different colors like 2 red and 4 grey thats bad... Is that correct? Also, what does head room mean? i understand it has to do with the tone but what exactly are the tonal differences in the colors of mesa tubes?
 
Having a pair of a different color won't cause any damage but IMO the amp sounds better with them all matched. Just remember the tube pairs are arranged like this: 1-2-3-3-2-1. If you must run an odd pair, make sure to put them in the appropriate spots so they work as a pair.

Headroom...basically how hard you can drive the power tubes before they start to distort. In a 150W head, that's **** loud! Most of the distortion you hear comes from overdriving the preamp tubes, but crank that baby up and you will hear the amp take on a smoother, more toneful character...thats power tube distortion.

If you're looking to improve the tone of your amp, try experimenting with different brands of tubes...a MUCH more noticeable difference than just going from one color Mesa to another.

check out www.eurotubes.com www.dougstubes.com www.kcanostubes.com

These guys are all very knowledgeable and can set you up with power tubes that fall within Mesa's bias range. Dont overlook the preamp and rectifier tubes...they have a huge impact on your tone as well.
 
Any sound samples in the differences the tubes can make? I'd hate to spend a much of money on something i wont like.
 
I dont have any clips posted at the moment, but I'm sure come of these guys do, and you can find some on harmony central amp forum as well. For my style of music (old-school metal, hard rock) I favor the JJ tubes for their high gain and improved bass/mid response. The Tung-Sol reissue preamp tubes have been getting good reviews as well, but I have not tried them myself. The Svetlana "winged c" power amp tubes are also nice, and if you feel you must use Mesa branded tubes, they are available as the STR 454. NOS tubes tend to be of better quality, and last much longer...if you have the wallet for them (I dont).

What is your musical style? What guitars, speaker cabs, etc are you using? Effects? These factors all play heavily into your choice of tubes, and it would be a lot easier to make a reccomendation with a little more info.

Jon
 
Well I like the tones of Chevelle and John Petrucci. here is a list of my rig.


Mesa Triple Rectifier head
Mesa Mark IV head (rackmounted)
2 - 4x12 mesa cabs vintage 30's
2 - GCX midi switcher
DBX 266 limiter/compressor
Furman Pro Factor R Power Conditioner
Toneworks Korg tuner
------------
(pedals)
GCX ground control
Maxon OD808
boss chorus (rack mounted)
boss delay (rack mounted)
boss reverb (rack mounted)
boss octave
boss loop station
boss tuner (for when i dont want to look at my rack!)
Dunlop Cry baby 535Q
Ernie Ball Volume jr.
------------
PRS single cut
ESP LTD custom (added dunlop pickups)
Roland Jazz Chorus 120 2x12 combo
 
Nice....VERY nice setup bro...
Do you run the Recto and the Mark together? The reason I ask is if you do, I would assume that the MarkIV covers the smooth singing voice, while the Recto provides the whallop, yes? That being the case, I would recommend the JJ 6l6GC or the Svetlana (Mesa STR454) for their increased yet tighter bass response and overall more aggressive character.

If you're into using the tube rectifiers on your Triple, I would suggest changing them to a GZ34/5AR4 type to further tighen the amp up without losing *all* the sag...assuming this is for live performance--in the studio you could do your rhythm parts on the diode-rec's and switch to the 5U4's when its time to record your leads (you mentioned Petrucci...he uses the Road Kings which have this option right under foot)
 
I talked with Michael Wolf on the phone who does custmor service for Mesa, he told me that in fact it doesnt make a difference in tone when you have 2 different colors in tube and that they are so alike that they work fine together. He assured me saying "with 30 years experience i should have an idea." Im going to look into the tubes you suggested! I really want to see my amps work to the best they can! Thanks alot.
 
Just a note to address the "gc employees are F'in idiots." You may want to cut them some slack. Her statement was basically true and she may not have had a complete understanding of the subject. These kids are in a tough situation trying to keep sales up and customers happy in a sometimes unfriendly business. Remember that not all musicians are gear heads. GC does offer a lot of training to the sales staff but that all comes in time. I would say the best source for the info you needed was probably mesa themselves.


Scott ( yes, I am affiliated with GC )
 
taylor414rce2003 said:
no slack!!! Guitar Centers suck!!!!!! do not support them !!!!!

GC is just like any other music store it's got good and bad.

I've gotten shitty service at GC and gotten great service at GC.

I can say the same for any private store as well. I've been in many private store and seen the attitude of superiority since they are not not GC or Sam Ash.

However, when I chose to deal with GC, I go during the day and seem to get good service then compared to nights when every kid in the world is there.
 
A while back the knowledgable folks at GC tried to sell me a quad of 6L6's for my Stiletto, and he was seious and tried to really talk me into them, like thats what EVERYONE was using. I have to give him an A+ for persistence.
 
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