6l6 tubes/bias

[Soulthief]

So, one of my tubes of my randall RD100 died.
Just at te point I wanted to do some recordings!!
Now I have 2 questions:
- Is there a big difference between 6l6 tubes of different brands?
- can I bias the amp myself (or actually my brother in law whom is a skilled electrician)

So the first question is straight forward. Randall comes stock with Ruby tubes.
I don't have anything against them as some people seem to have so I have no problem buying new rubys. But when searching the net I couldn't find anythink about the differences in sound of 6l6 tubes of different brands. Only the 6l6 vs el34 etc.

The second question... If I have a tech to bias my amp, it will be gone for several weeks and pay a good amount of money.
Now my brother in law as well as my own father know there way around when in comes down to electronical stuff.
Since it's a matter of setting the milivolts correctly and plenty of info how to bias an amp, they both were like "no problem, I can bias your amp!"
The only thing I couldn't find though, are the bias settings (of something) of the RD100.
So if someone know where I could find those, I whould love to hear.

Anyhow, my english is probably questionable once again so sorry for that!

 

[mnemonic]

If they are skilled electricians they should be able to bias it, there are videos on youtube that can show you how. There’s probably a video for your specific amp out there.

Tube pairs generally need to be matched, so if you pop one, you’ll need to buy a new set.

Brands like Ruby don’t make tubes, they buy from manufacturers, match and brand them with their own brand. Same as MESA, Groove Tubes, etc. There are I think only 3 manufacturers left, new sensor (Russia), jj electronic (Slovakia) and shuguang (China).

You’ve also got NOS tubes from various out-of-production manufacturers if you want to get into that.

 

[HerbalDude420]

The differences between brands of the same tube in my experience has always been there is very subtle differences. The power tube on modern amps does not affect tone as much as the preamp tubes will.

 

[DudeManBrother]

Tonal difference will be pretty minimal for power tubes. Quality difference could be larger. That said, many find JJs to be a bit darker in many amps, whatever that’s worth. I’ve always liked the JJs, Mesa, & Svetlana “winged C” 6L6GC tubes a lot too.

 

[Soulthief]

Alright, but if I buy the same Ruby's, the amp still has to be biased right?

 

[mnemonic]

Alright, but if I buy the same Ruby's, the amp still has to be biased right?

Yes