... and the results are interesting. First off I'd like to point out that I've only been able to use this at bedroom levels, which equates to just over 2 on the volume (even that's very loud on this beast) so I don't know how the change affects the high volume sounds.
Well the first surprise is that the amp appears to have slightly less gain than it did with the EL34's. However that cleaned up the sound and made it less "fizzy". It sounds more usable over a range of tones.
The second surprise was that it now sounds more like a modded Marshall than it ever did running EL34's. Circuitry wise it basically is just a hot rodded Marshall, but I am really surprised that it's the 6L6's rather than the EL34's that really bring that out. There's still a hint of modern high gain sound there though, and something I just can't quite put my finger on that's a definite character trait of the sound of this amp. No matter what settings I try there's always that sound there. It's kinda cool, but I'd like to know what it is!
Overall I think I'm going to stick with the 6L6's for now, but I'd like to hear the sound of this amp really cranked. I think power tube saturation will really bring the best out of this amp and with it being single channel I don't have to worry about affecting the clean sound, it doesn't have one! Until I can get hold of an attenuator of some sort so I can do that at home I think I'll have to book a session at a local rehearsal rooms just to mess with the settings on this at a decent volume.
Well the first surprise is that the amp appears to have slightly less gain than it did with the EL34's. However that cleaned up the sound and made it less "fizzy". It sounds more usable over a range of tones.
The second surprise was that it now sounds more like a modded Marshall than it ever did running EL34's. Circuitry wise it basically is just a hot rodded Marshall, but I am really surprised that it's the 6L6's rather than the EL34's that really bring that out. There's still a hint of modern high gain sound there though, and something I just can't quite put my finger on that's a definite character trait of the sound of this amp. No matter what settings I try there's always that sound there. It's kinda cool, but I'd like to know what it is!
Overall I think I'm going to stick with the 6L6's for now, but I'd like to hear the sound of this amp really cranked. I think power tube saturation will really bring the best out of this amp and with it being single channel I don't have to worry about affecting the clean sound, it doesn't have one! Until I can get hold of an attenuator of some sort so I can do that at home I think I'll have to book a session at a local rehearsal rooms just to mess with the settings on this at a decent volume.