TAD 6L6GC STR or SED Winged C or JJ 6L6s

Who makes these.

How do they compare with the SED Winged C or the JJ 6L6s.

I would like glassy, dynamic, harmonic cleans and gained tones.

I prefer Jeff Beck, Gregg Howe and Nuno Bettencourt tones.

I have a Tremoverb Combo (two), and am spinning with information, but confused.

Clarity, sparkling, shimmering, bell chimey single coil clean and pushed is important when finger picking leads.

I like to run Red channel on Modern and take the gain to almost full and then back off the volume on my Jem and pick leads with great sustain, dynamics and harmonic feedback and think that a change from Mesa stock tubes might benefit me.

Please advise.

Thanks gurus.

They are a Chinese tube made to a spec provided by TAD. Supposedly a black plate RCA copy. A very good sounding tube. I own all three of these brands and I can say the wing c's are my least favorite. The JJ are very good tubes as well, my favorite of the 3. Either the TAD or JJ could fit your bill. I'm sure others will prefer the wing c but I am not overly impressed with them.

Thanks R_ADKINS80!

Please elaborate.

If you wish you can critic each of them.

I think you are the first to not like the SEDs.

I want tight, percussive and very articulate ouput in both clean and pushed/high gain.

I love sustain and silky smooth harmonic feedback along with it if I play a passage that calls for it.

Don't get me wrong the Mesa stock works, BUT I started reading the posts on this forum and thought I might benefit from a change.

I would really enjoy and value your input, thanks again.

I also have a tremoverb (head) that was running mesa 430s. I put a set of SED 6L6s in and felt like it was an improvement. To me they sounded clearer overall and added definition. In comparing these two sets I would say the SEDs are closer to your description than the 430s were. I don't have any experience with TADs and pretty limited experience with JJs as well, so I can't comment toward those.

Well I am a metal player and I go for a more dark heavy sound that is really percussive. The reason I don't use SED is that in my triple its pretty bright and kinda hairy on the top end and it just doesn't have the thump I look for. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a new production 6L6 that has a thump as hard as the TAD. It has the biggest fastest low end of any of my 6l6's. The high end is perfect. Very glassy and chimey. Its got good mid but its in a very focused range. Run your mid knob to high and it can get honky. The JJ is the most well rounded. Not as deep in the low end as the TAD but the mids are much more pleasant and not honky in any way. If you really want a surprise, and don't have a bias mod then run your boogie tubes in el34 mode on tube rectifiers to get the bias right and those boogie str440's will really impress you, guaranteed.

Thanks Guys.

I don't use much Mid, maybe dialed in on both channels to about 7-8 if looking at a clock face.

Bass and Treble are dialed in at about 11-1 if looking at a clock face.

Presence is dialed in at about the same as the Mid.

I don't like brassy, harsh, scratchy highs. They just kill the tone.

So I am confused about the last post regarding EL34/Bias/Mid/Tube Rectifier.

I am sort of a newbie so please elaborate, thanks Brother.

I've tried all three, and I love the Winged C the most. Unrivalled clarity and definition IMO...

Thanks

How will they effect my gain.

I know in the clean channel they will be great.

I am unsure about the gain channel.

The preamp should still produce gain in the form of push, smooth and HIGH gain.

Will they just highlight that and produce even more smooth and creamy vintage and modern gain but with more clarity and without the fuzz or screeching noise, but instead real harmonic sustain that is dynamic and sensitive with more detail and percussive tight low end.

Will they allow for heavy gain that is bone crushing but pleasing to the ear?

Thanks all.

TremoJem said:

Thanks

How will they effect my gain.

I know in the clean channel they will be great.

I am unsure about the gain channel.

The preamp should still produce gain in the form of push, smooth and HIGH gain.

Will they just highlight that and produce even more smooth and creamy vintage and modern gain but with more clarity and without the fuzz or screeching noise, but instead real harmonic sustain that is dynamic and sensitive with more detail and percussive tight low end.

Will they allow for heavy gain that is bone crushing but pleasing to the ear?

Thanks all.

Click to expand...

Smooth and creamy I can't remember, but with clarity, harmonics, headroom, detail and tighter low end, the Winged C 6L6s are better than the stock Mesa 6L6s IMO...

I don't know about the 6L6s (yet) but the Winged C EL34 kick a **** ton of ***.

I'll probably get an octet of =C= 6L6s too. I like Russian power tubes (Sovtek and =C=) a lot for their sort of "pleasant" tone and great clarity and nuts with a high-gain preamp.

Just BTW, to me the Chinese power tubes (TAD, GT) sound a bit mushy, JJs I don't like because they're too dark and compressed. That's a huge generalization but it's what I noticed so far.

Jackie said:

I don't know about the 6L6s (yet) but the Winged C EL34 kick a sh!t ton of ***.

I'll probably get an octet of =C= 6L6s too. I like Russian power tubes (Sovtek and =C=) a lot for their sort of "pleasant" tone and great clarity and nuts with a high-gain preamp.

Just BTW, to me the Chinese power tubes (TAD, GT) sound a bit mushy, JJs I don't like because they're too dark and compressed. That's a huge generalization but it's what I noticed so far.

Click to expand...

I have a matched quad of Winged C EL34s in channel B of my Simulclass 2:90 poweramp (has been modded to have variable biasing). It sounds really good. I'm thinking of getting a matched quad of my Siletto Deuce II head further on down the road. As for your last statement, I pretty much would agree with you. And yes, I've even tried them with fancy bias ratings, which includes running them "hot", but they still exhibit more or less the same qualities as you've just mentioned...

Very good information, thanks guys.