EH 6CA7

After a long period of procrastination, I finally tried a quad of EH6CA7s in my V. I set the amp bias to EL34, set the front to variac power, and fired her up. Wow. Just wow.

I've had a long relationship with these tubes in a different amp, and that love carried over to the V. There are some things I miss, though. Those shimmering highs 6L6s bring to the clean channel aren't quite there, but I got it pretty close. I am still debating on whether they will stay in the amp, but what a nice spread of tonal differences.

If standard EL34s don't do it for you, try these.

So I actually prefer EL34 in my V to the 6L6, which is the first time I can say that in any Mesa. So, I've been looking around at this.

Let's take JJ tubes as an example. The 6L6 and EL34 tubes have a max voltage rating of 450. The 6CA7 have a max rating of 500.

My Mark V in Variac mode runs 420 PV and in full power mode runs 460 PV.

Also, the guy from The Tube Store told me that he'd recommend JJ 6CA7s in Mesas because the EH 6CA7 tend to bias out too hot.

Just food for thought. I'd love to hear the 6CA7s in the V.

I did smoke a pair of JJ 6L6 in my Mark IIC+ today that runs 470 PV.

I do like the EL34. I actually liked every channel; the tones were just not so tame and it sounds like everything is just pushed harder. The clean channel was a little gritty but not like distorted or driven more like the sound was punchy and being held back. The drive channels were as though the guitar was screaming to get out of the amp. The sustain was great, the tone was more focused to my playing styles and the volume on the guitar worked very well when dialing in and out of lead and rhythm. It seemed as though there was more usable play with the guitar volume from the barely on position to wide open. There was more available, usable gain for different textures much of which had enough gain to still achieve harmonic feed back when I wanted it. The 6L6 tubes do have the ability to achieve a crystal clean but have a more rounded attack. With the 6L6 tubes the drives are awesome but after playing with the EL34 tubes I prefer the EL34.

My problem with the EL34 is not anything to do with the EL34. I didn’t like the ramp due to the Variac setting. That to me was disappointing. I like the Crack. The feeling of staccato notes was a bit mushy. I could feel the delay. I wish that Mesa would make a mod that would allow for EL34 in Full power. Those EL34 tubes for me make the amp into a monster.