HCarlH
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
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I'm using Mesa branded EL34s direct from them.
Here's a quick, initial review of the EL34s. I did make sure to flip the bias switch.
Due to others living in the house who just came out to the main room where I set up the gear, I couldn't get a decent volume without bothering them so I did about a 30 minute test drive.
I'm running the head into two 1x12 ported cabs, each with Warehouse Guitar Speakers
(Retro 30, 8 ohm ) for a 4 ohm amp load.
The EL34s run hot! I left the tube guard off on purpose so I can see if the new tubes are working correctly. You can really feel the heat coming off the back of the head!
If we play outdoors in the Summer with this thing, I may put another fan on it just in case.
I can actually turn the treble and presence knobs up a bit. Those frequencies are usable now whereas before the presence was close to off and treble around 6 at the very most.
Channel 1 took a bit more tweaking to get a good clean tone. Not as brilliant as the 6L6s, but not piercing either. It's MUCH easier to get workable tones with the Strat/single coils. Before it could get really brittle.
Channel 2 and 3 is where the more Marshall-y sounding tones are happening. Once again, very usable with both Les Paul and Strat pickups. I'm having to rethink how I approach the tone knobs on the amp along with additional EQ since the 6L6s required totally different settings. Right now I'm sticking to the same channel modes I'm used to (Crunch on Ch.2 and MkIV on Ch.3) I haven't tried Tweed mode or Variac Power modes yet.
With the quick run through, I'm not hearing a lot of difference between Ch.2 and Ch.3. That will probably change once I try the different modes and switch positions. They both have a Marshall tone. If I was using this amp *totally* with humbuckers (and especially a Les Paul) through a 4x12 I could see staying with the 6L6s, but the EL34s seem to work better with both Les Paul and Strat guitars. I'm really impressed with the Strat tones. It almost veers into Fender Deluxe land on the over drive tones.
I will have to take phone snapshot pictures of the settings as I find good ones. So far, I'm glad I switched over. The cool thing is, it's easy to go back and forth with the flip of a bias switch. I don't think I'm going to switch back...at least for a while. The Mesa tube codes on the 6L6s were RED 10 and the EL34s are BLU 10. Not exactly sure what that means other than they are supposed to be matched pairs.
Here's a quick, initial review of the EL34s. I did make sure to flip the bias switch.
Due to others living in the house who just came out to the main room where I set up the gear, I couldn't get a decent volume without bothering them so I did about a 30 minute test drive.
I'm running the head into two 1x12 ported cabs, each with Warehouse Guitar Speakers
(Retro 30, 8 ohm ) for a 4 ohm amp load.
The EL34s run hot! I left the tube guard off on purpose so I can see if the new tubes are working correctly. You can really feel the heat coming off the back of the head!
If we play outdoors in the Summer with this thing, I may put another fan on it just in case.
I can actually turn the treble and presence knobs up a bit. Those frequencies are usable now whereas before the presence was close to off and treble around 6 at the very most.
Channel 1 took a bit more tweaking to get a good clean tone. Not as brilliant as the 6L6s, but not piercing either. It's MUCH easier to get workable tones with the Strat/single coils. Before it could get really brittle.
Channel 2 and 3 is where the more Marshall-y sounding tones are happening. Once again, very usable with both Les Paul and Strat pickups. I'm having to rethink how I approach the tone knobs on the amp along with additional EQ since the 6L6s required totally different settings. Right now I'm sticking to the same channel modes I'm used to (Crunch on Ch.2 and MkIV on Ch.3) I haven't tried Tweed mode or Variac Power modes yet.
With the quick run through, I'm not hearing a lot of difference between Ch.2 and Ch.3. That will probably change once I try the different modes and switch positions. They both have a Marshall tone. If I was using this amp *totally* with humbuckers (and especially a Les Paul) through a 4x12 I could see staying with the 6L6s, but the EL34s seem to work better with both Les Paul and Strat guitars. I'm really impressed with the Strat tones. It almost veers into Fender Deluxe land on the over drive tones.
I will have to take phone snapshot pictures of the settings as I find good ones. So far, I'm glad I switched over. The cool thing is, it's easy to go back and forth with the flip of a bias switch. I don't think I'm going to switch back...at least for a while. The Mesa tube codes on the 6L6s were RED 10 and the EL34s are BLU 10. Not exactly sure what that means other than they are supposed to be matched pairs.
