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Author
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Topic: EL84 or 6L6
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Pete Burak
Member From: Portland, OR USA
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posted 28 October 2004 01:48 PM
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EL84 or 6L6
or
Kono as ZuluWhat's the difference???
(Book'm Dano)
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Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 28 October 2004 02:04 PM
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Pete, all the tech gurus will soon weigh in and give us the goods, but I think of it simply as:EL84 - British (i.e. Vox AC30)
6L6 - American (Fender...)
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Greg Simmons
Former custodian of the Unofficial Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
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Pete Burak
Member From: Portland, OR USA
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posted 28 October 2004 02:24 PM
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Thanks Greg,
I was wondering about some of the Peavey Classic series amps that have EL84's, a Music Man I once had that had solid state pre-amp, EL84 power tubes, vs the Fender Twins and some other higher powered amps that use 6L6's.
Are there EL84 powered amps that run above 100W's, or is that 6L6 range?
All things being equal, do they sound noticably different?
Advantages for steel specific applications?
etc...
Thx!
~pb
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Bobby Lee
Sysop From: Cloverdale, North California, USA
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posted 28 October 2004 02:52 PM
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Both sound good to me. They're just different. The difference is tactile, more than anything. They say that the American sound emphasizes the even harmonics, and the English sound emphasizes the odd harmonics (or is it the opposite?).
EL34 tubes are the higher powered English sound. 6V6 tubes are the lower powered American sound. |
Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 28 October 2004 04:14 PM
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Pete, yeah I forgot about the Peavey stuff, and I'm pretty sure Mesa/Boogie still makes a single-rack space stereo power amp called a 20/20and it also uses EL84s.------------------
Greg Simmons
Former custodian of the Unofficial Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
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James Quackenbush
Member From: Pomona, New York, USA
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posted 29 October 2004 10:01 AM
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A lot of manufacturers use EL84's in their lower wattage amps...Most of the EL84 amps have a brite tone to them, and will break up nicely when pushed....Very few companies will make an EL84 amp rated at more than 50 watt's because you can not get much more than about 40 -50 watts out of 4 - EL84' s.... When going to higher powered amps, most companies will go with larger tubes that can handle the watt's, and have a certain tone to them
A lot of Marshalls will use EL34's for their tone.....Fender uses a lot of 6L6's for it's higher powered amps......Mid powered amps use 6V6's ..... Then you can go to the highest powered tube amps that use KT88's and 6550's.... Different tubes for different tones, and different wattages...
I like an EL84 powered amp for guitar as it has a really nice break up to it ....If I want a cleaner tone with more clean headroom, I will go to a 6L6 based amp..
If I want a ripping distortion, I will tend to go with an EL34 based amp .... If I want the highest of clean headroom, that I can also get rippin tone from via a preamp setup , I will go with a KT88 based amp...
You will hear talk of the VHT 2/90/2 power amp....It's got plenty of clean tube headroom for pedal steel .... It's got a MASSIVE tone and power to it .... DIfferent amps /different tubes/different applications.......Jim |
Pete Burak
Member From: Portland, OR USA
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posted 29 October 2004 10:07 AM
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Thanks for your descriptions, Jim.
Very helpful!
~pb |
ajm
Member From: Los Angeles
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posted 30 October 2004 09:21 AM
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"I was wondering about some of the Peavey Classic series amps that have EL84's, a Music Man I once had that had solid state pre-amp, EL84 power tubes, vs the Fender Twins and some other higher powered amps that use 6L6's."I am not aware of any Music Man amps that used EL84 tubes. My guess is that they used 6L6 or EL34 or 6550.
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Artie McEwan
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Dan Tyack
Member From: Seattle, WA USA
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posted 30 October 2004 12:39 PM
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I've got amps that can use either 6L6 tubes or EL84s (as well as EL34s, 6550s, KT 88s or 6V6s and just about everything out there). The big differences between the 6L6 and EL84s are that the 6L6 has about twice the power, and starts to distort later in the power curve. The EL84 starts getting squishy and sparkly relatively early, with a very sweet, compressed distortion. I've done some recording with a KT88 and an EL84 running at the same time (in my THD BiValve) and that was really sweet.------------------
www.tyack.com
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Pete Burak
Member From: Portland, OR USA
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posted 30 October 2004 06:15 PM
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I guess I was mainly thinking ELxx vs 6x6 (as well as any others that are commonly used and/or available) as the main generality in tonal and other differences.
'Wouldn't be the first time I got my 34's and 84's or V's and L's mixed up .
Maybe fat tubes vs skinny tubes?
Thanks for all the info, though!
~pb
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Dan Tyack
Member From: Seattle, WA USA
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posted 31 October 2004 12:19 AM
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Here's my totally subjective opinion (hell this is all subjective).6L6 -fairly powerfull, 'fender twin' sound, distorts fairly late in the power rating. Sweet high end.
EL34 -about the same power as a 6l6, distorts earlier in the power rating, 'british', 'midrangey'.
6550,KT88, KT90 (same family): the most powerful tubes out there. Big low end, transparent, distorts very late in the power rating, but when it distorts, it's a mother! Very tranparent.
EL84 -low power, distorts fairly early (about the same as an EL34). Sweet, 'chimey', compressed distortion. 'Brian May', AC-30. ------------------
www.tyack.com
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Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 31 October 2004 08:07 AM
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Dan, speaking of these great tubes and THD stuff, have you had a chance to check out the new THD Flexi-50?!?!------------------
Greg Simmons
Former custodian of the Unofficial Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
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Dan Tyack
Member From: Seattle, WA USA
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posted 31 October 2004 08:16 AM
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I've played with one a little bit, and got the most amazing plexi-ish overdrive sounds (like the best Marshall you have ever played, except beet). I need to fool around with one some more to see if the clean sounds are there. ------------------
www.tyack.com
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