New Heartbreaker! Super-flubby low-end due to 6L6's?

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JT_Marshmallow

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I was lucky to score a mint condition Heartbreaker head from GC for $700. It arrived today and, oh boy, the last 4 hours just flew by as I was having so much fun playing it. I set up channel 1 for a crystal clean Fender-ish tone, and it's just great. However, when I switched over to channel 2, it completely blew me away. Instant Eric Johnson lead tone! It doesn't have a ton of gain, so I stuck my Tubescreamer in front and a delay pedal in the loop... WOW! I have been trying to get this kind of warm/throaty/violin EJ tone out of my Studio Pre and Triaxis forever now, and kinda get close sometimes, but I'm never quite satisfied with the feel.

And now the reason for this post: On both channels of the Heartbreaker the low-end is just completely out of control. I kept double-checking if the bass knob was actually on zero and it was... now I remember when I had my Studio Pre running through a Mesa 50/50 power amp, there was this huge grunt in the low-mids that I strongly disliked for lead guitar tones, though of course it complemented clean tones beautifully. I concluded that I just am not a big fan of 6L6's for any kind of lead playing. It took me years to figure this out, and now I tend to avoid them.

So to all you Heartbreaker players out there, what experiences have you had with El34's or 6V6's in the amp? I am definitely looking to make the tone a little skinnier and squishier, and I know EL34's would be the prescription for this. And what about 6V6's in a Heartbreaker? How do these other tubes affect the clean tones?
 
Problem solved. Just ran to GC and bought a couple of Mesa STR-447 EL34's. Just what the doctor ordered! This amp is a masterpiece.

Still, if anyone on here can comment on their experiences with 6V6's I would love to hear it...




...unless everyone sold their tube amps and bought an AxeFX instead.
 
6V6s will roll off some of the deep bass, but also the glassy highs.
Try a 5V4 rectifier tube for more squish. But you still need to crank it for best results.
 
The Tungsol 6v6 is a good crossover tube for both Ch1 and 2. The JJ 6v6 is very much like the best 6L6 you will ever hear, and makes Ch1 nearly perfect, but Ch2 just gets too far away from good tone for my liking.

There could be a lot of reasons why the low end is flubby with a 6L6. Some (most) 6L6's have a big big bottom end and a very extended high end, as well. The amp itself has a very deep voiced bottom, so that makes for an awful lot of low frequency energy.

Further, the power tubes may have been out of spec for the fixed bias of the amp from the get go, or, the impedance of the cab an incorrect match for your 60/100W position, or the speaker may simply not be a good match for that voicing, or....the tube rectifier helped it flub and/or moved the tubes out of their optimal bias range. The "Bold" setting helps keep the bass tighter, too, at least it feels punchier.

This said, 6L6's simply don't sound great with the amp, as nearly anyone with the HB will attest. You picked well with EL34's, and a Tungsol 6v6 will give you a similar feel, but more low-mid focussed tone. EL34 is best in my books - "most" of the time....

Once you start playing with non-Mesa tubes, however, the risk is that your tube vendor won't pick them quite right and you will need your tech to put in a bias mod to dial them in to their sweet spot. If you think the amp is a life-keeper, go for it! its worth it, IMO.

Next piece of advice: if you like the feel and overall comparative tone from wherever you land with power tubes, keep in mind that the speaker you currently use may not be optimal. I ended up with a closed back 2x12 diagonal with scumbacks after a lot of mixing and matching. I also have an open 1x12 and closed 4x12 for comparison, and the 2x12 CB works out really great for me.
 
Thank you for your input fellas! I guess I'll order some 6v6's for some more flexibility when I'm looking for another sound. I might post some sound clips showing off all the nice tones in the amp.

:D
 
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