Has anyone tried putting yellowjackets in their stiletto?

Was wondering if anyone has ever put yellowjacket tube adapters in their stiletto especially a duece? Been reading about this being done in the lonestar amps to get the volume levels down and get a earlier breakup of the tubes since to could turn it into a 20 watt or 40 watt amp using the yellowjackets with EL84's. What were the results?

Hey:

I posted a reply to you on the Lonestar site...but I'll repeat part of it here:

I'm awaiting delivery of a Stiletto within a week or so; and I already have the YJs and 6V6s on hand for a tryout. I will post my findings ASAP.

Charles

Yes... I bought two and put them in the 50 watt output tube sockets. I took them out the next day and returned them. They did change the sound a lot in my opinion. The cleans were a little more spongy and boxy and channel 2 was mushy and boxy. I took them out and preferred the sound with the EL34's much better. I was thinking I could get closer to the U2 sound with them and I found the EL34's in the Stiletto did it better than the EL84's. I think I'm just not an EL84 person. I didn't like them in the Lone Star Classic either. Although I did really like the F30. I thought that was an amazing amp. Try them if you can... you may like them.

Hey JLBoogie:

I finally received my Stiletto Deuce and have done limited testing with 6V6s and Yellow-jackets. By 'limited' I mean I haven't gigged with it yet...I will this weekend.

I agree 'somewhat' with srf399...in that use of the YJ does make things 'spongier'...but then again that's to be expected with use of EL-84 tubes. Since the Stiletto is more 'high-gain' than the Lonestar...the effect tends to be more pronounced. Cutting back somewhat on your gain settings when switching from EL-34s to YJs helps somewhat. Also, I found that the YJs sounded best on 'silicone-diode' rectifier...and 'bold' rather than 'spongy' settings. But REALLY...you're gonna have to try them yourself to decide.

I also tried JJ-brand 6V6s in the Stiletto. The Tubedepot 20 & 21 hardness JJ-6V6 tubes which work so well in my Lonestar (on EL-34 bias setting) were WAY-WAY-TOO-COLD in the Stiletto. I had on hand a pair of 24s and a pair of 25s. The 25s JUST nudged into the warm bias range. (A pair of 27s MIGHT be 'spot-on).
I tried the pair of 25s in both the outer AND inner pair of sockets (paired with Yellow-Jackets) and the sound was very nice.

I preferred the 6V6s in the outer positions...they retain more of the stiffness of the EL-34s the amp was designed to use. They don't 'mush-out' like the Yellow-Jackets (with their EL-84s) even on the spongy mode with the tube-rectifier in the circuit. The combination of the JJ-6V6s and the YJs worked very well in my opinion.

The Yellow-Jackets ALSO worked very nicely with the amp's original EL-34s. I would advise you try a pair in both the inner and outer position on the 100-watt setting.

I will know much more how these combinations stand up to the 'realities' of 'gigging' after this weekend. I will be carrying the EL-34s...the 6V6s....and the Yellow-Jackets with me and making trial swaps during set breaks.

Regards: Charles

I didn't try the 6V6's in the Stiletto.... Thanks for the information. Very good stuff.

Another tube issue:

Today I tried a 5751 in the V1 preamp socket and it REALLY helped when using Yellow Jackets...they weren't as easily OVERWHELMED by the gain as before.

Worked well with 6V6s and even the EL-34s in my opinion. If you crave maximum gain....maybe this choice isn't for you...but if you've still got some gain on reserve with your settings now...you may like what this tube does for your sound irregrdless of what power tubes you are using.

Charles

Hey:

I used my Stiletto this past weekend gigging. I wanted to report on the use of Yellow-Jackets and 6V6s in a live band context.

As any Stiletto owner knows by now...with the stock EL-34s this is one heck of a loud amp! I brought my EL-34s, 6V6s and Yellow-Jackets (with EL-84s) along. As it turned out; I could not possibly have gotten the EL-34s up loud enough to really 'sizzle' at this location (even though it is fairly large)...so I used Yellow-Jackets and 6V6s both nights.

At home I found the YJs a bit too 'mushy' when used in the outer sockets, so initially I gigged with the 6V6s in the outer sockets. That setup sounding spectacular. Although I would have preferred to have been using the EL-34s...I must say that 6V6s (and YJs) sound better 'pushed' than EL-34s sound when they're NOT pushed...so the 6V6s and YJs were a resounding success.

On Saturday night I started off with the YJs in the outer sockets and the 6V6s in the inner sockets. (reversed from the night before).
I don't know if it's the difference between the acoustics at my house and the gig...or a line voltage issue...but...the YJs which I found too 'mushy' at home were NOT too 'mushy' at the gig...even on the 50-watt setting! Just goes to show...you can't ever really make a lasting judgement on sound qualities sitting around the house and playing!

I left the YJs in the outer sockets the entire evening...sometimes playing in 50-watt mode...at other times toggling into 100-watt mode. The sound was great in either setting.
Some of that I do attribute to the use of a 5751 preamp tube in the V1 socket, which helped to keep the YJs a little cleaner.

Just thought I'd let you know...that if you really want to play your Stiletto at smaller venues without sacrificing your tone by turning down...or getting yelled at for being too loud...the use of 6V6s and YJs do offer a viable alternative.

Charles

Great report Charles, plan on trying this myself in the future. Just have to ask, have you ever tried just using a attenuator like the THD so you could use the EL34's ?

Hey:

Yes, I've tried attenuators...and they just didn't work that well for me 'sound wise'. They seemed to diminish the dynamic range...and actually they seemed to me to add more 'mush' to the tone than switching to Yellow-Jackets with EL-84s did!

I think whether or not they work for someone depends on the actual tone they are seeking. Attenuators work for many folks and I wouldn't dream of 'second-guessing' their results...if it works for them great...just not to well for me.

I've had limited success routing an attenuator between one of the two speakers in dual-twelve cabinets...(while retaining a 2-speaker impedence match) which knocks off about 3db of sound...but for the most part I've gotten better results by using 'tube substitutions'.

BTW: Found a pair of Electro-Harmonix 6V6s I bought from TubeDepot a few years back (and had forgotten about). These were their number #27. Tries them today in my Stiletto Deuce in both the inner and outer tube sockets...mated with both a pair of JJ #25 6V6s and a pair of Yellow-Jackets. Truly excellent results. The pair read 22ma and 20ma respectively...a just about perfect bias match for 6V6s.

Charles

Just thought I'd mention:

I imagine most people are trying to get 'more-gain' out of their Stiletto Amps (the cause no doubt of the Series II incarnation) but for us few 'old-time-geezers' seeking the more 'traditional' gain structures we 'cut our teeth on'....

Well I've used my Stiletto Deuce (Series I) for the past several weekends (gigging) and have been 'tweaking' it both 'tone-wise' and 'tube-wise'.

I am now using 5751 tubes in both the V1 and V2 preamp sockets. I can now get that traditional 'M'-Crunch on Channel-1....and I can use all 3-modes on Channel-2 without doing any tone and Gain tweakings when changing modes. Very useful...for players like me.

Personally....I don't have much use for the 'Tight Clean' or 'Fat Clean' Modes on Channel-1. No disrespect meant (if you like 'em more power to ya') but those modes are simply NOT what I bought the amp for. My Lonestar can do the 'Clean-Thang' far better anyway. But for 'traditional' English Crunch at Near Original Gain the Stiletto Deuce (Series I) does it for me.

For the 'old-timers' out there (either the real ones or the ones seeking that tone); just thought you'd like to know that the Stiletto can be your ideal amp too.

Cheers: Charles