6ca7 Tubes

[electricevil]

Hey guys, LOOOONG time boogie board surfer, first time rider. I know this forum is all but dead as theres not much love for the Stiletto anymore. But I just need to chime in.

I bought a used Stiletto Deuce a year or 2 ago. Ive tried mesa tubes, GT, and many preamp tube combinations. EQ's in the loop, BBE sonic stomps. All of these attempts have been to try and tame the "fizziness" that we all know and love(hate).

I recently took the plunge on a matched quartet of JJ 6ca7 tubes from thetubestore.com (great site btw). I specified its for a stiletto and they sent 4 tubes with a "31" rating on them. let me just say...wow. at band practice it was night and day, they round out the sound so much better than el34's. giving you the "body" that i was after and totally eliminating the "fizz".

We had a show last night, and the Stiletto sounded the best its ever been, aggressive, raw, and clear.

http://www.hellchamber.com

I play in a thrash metal band. emgs, tite gain, gain at 12:30 (believe it or not, but the trick is to crank the output section and roll back the channel volume)

oh yeah and a tungsol in V1 is key.

just needed to pipe up about this amp. Ive been wanted to love this amp, but could never get there.

PEACE

 

[Jak0lantern01]

I totally agree. Even though it's currently not my main amp, the 6CA7's definitely sound sweet in my Stiletto.

 

[AndySe7en]

Sounds interesting. I've had a stage I deuce for a few months now...still experimenting with the voicing. Do you need to re-bias for the 6CA7s?

 

[Jak0lantern01]

No re-bias necessary, they are in the EL34 family along with kt77's.

 

[kguitars]

I also went with the JJ6CA7 in my Trident. It really helped beef up the lows and tame the high end shrillness. It is no longer collecting dust!

 

[abe]

Do you know if there is a difference in sound between those and the KT77's? I am due for tubes and may try something different. I've used stock Mesa EL34, JJEL34L and JJKT77 power tubes in mine. A majority of the time I've kept the KT77 in there because I like the added low end, but I do occasionally go back to the Mesa EL34 because I like the tightness and bite. The EL34L are warm and sound good, but for whatever reason I don't like them as much.

I remember reading an article that Randall Smith wrote basically saying that the power tubes don't affect your tone, but I definitely hear a difference between these sets of tubes, especially the EL34 and KT77. I don't think that the stock Mesa tubes sound bad at all in that amp, it just depends on what I like at the time.

Over the past couple of years, I've also been in the habit of using the tube rectifier on my dirt channel and using the spongy power setting. That seems to choke everything back a little and I like the way that it feels to play

 

[Jak0lantern01]

Hmmm, it's been a while since I've had KT77's in the Stiletto, but they didn't set my world on fire and I prefer the 6CA7's. Now, in all fairness, I have my Stiletto's tone setting dramatically different these days. Personally, for a more classic sounding hard rock sound, I run the tube rectifiers on spongy mode myself. Gain is about noon'ish, treble and presence at 9:00, mids 12-1:00, bass the same as mids. At least, that's my rough recollection of my settings. I did a side by side with my Marshall AFD100 (my main amp these days) to achieve a similar tone.

 

[singsinthetimber]

I remember reading an article that Randall Smith wrote basically saying that the power tubes don't affect your tone, but I definitely hear a difference between these sets of tubes, especially the EL34 and KT77.

I did a quick search and it looks like Smith meant there isn't a difference between tubes of the same type. Sp basically most EL34s will sound a lot lot other EL34s, despite manufacture and bias. Is that right?

I'm thinking about throwing some 6CA7s into my Stiletto Ace.

 

[kguitars]

I used to turn the treble, presence almost all the way down and the bass all the way up. With the 6CA7s installed, I have a lot better eq control than when the stock tubes were in. It is not a completely different sounding amplifier but certainly the new tubes made a significant change.

 

[electricevil]

absolutely, my presence is still basically zeroed out, but i can roll my bass back to basically 1 O'lock, and my treble around 11. raising the treble inherently raises the gain, so you can back off the gain to get a better tone. crank the master to get the power tubes cooking and this amp sounds better than ever.

 

[kguitars]

I absolutely agree with you. This amp sounds a whole lot better when the power tubes are being pushed.

V1 : Tung-Sol RI
V2 : JJ ECC83
V3 : Shuguang
V4 : Shuguang
V5 : JJ ECC803 Gold Pin

Power : JJ 6CA7

Rectifier : JJ GZ34

 

[rocksalt7]

This all sounds like a grand experiment!! Any issues with fitting these into an Ace combo? It's kinda crowded in there... :mrgreen:

 

[kguitars]

This all sounds like a grand experiment!! Any issues with fitting these into an Ace combo? It's kinda crowded in there... :mrgreen:

I am sure you should be able to fit those into your Ace. I have a Stiletto Trident Head and it is crowded! Man this thing uses a lot of glass.

 

[Elbowselbows]

Got some for my stage 2 trident , can't wait to push them and see how it goes!

 

[Elbowselbows]

Got some for my stage 2 trident , can't wait to push them and see how it goes!

 

[Jak0lantern01]

All this Stiletto chatter made me break mine back out and dial it up as close to my AFD 100 as possible, it sounds great with the 6ca7's. I might actually switch back to my Stiletto as my main amp.

 

[Elbowselbows]

That's great to hear!!! Since buying my stiletto I've come back to it three times, from a peavey triple x, a recto and a jcm800. The peavey most resently, trying to sell that off now.

 

[sellen]

Hey guys, LOOOONG time boogie board surfer, first time rider. I know this forum is all but dead as theres not much love for the Stiletto anymore. But I just need to chime in.

I bought a used Stiletto Deuce a year or 2 ago. Ive tried mesa tubes, GT, and many preamp tube combinations. EQ's in the loop, BBE sonic stomps. All of these attempts have been to try and tame the "fizziness" that we all know and love(hate).

I recently took the plunge on a matched quartet of JJ 6ca7 tubes from thetubestore.com (great site btw). I specified its for a stiletto and they sent 4 tubes with a "31" rating on them. let me just say...wow. at band practice it was night and day, they round out the sound so much better than el34's. giving you the "body" that i was after and totally eliminating the "fizz".

We had a show last night, and the Stiletto sounded the best its ever been, aggressive, raw, and clear.

http://www.hellchamber.com

I play in a thrash metal band. emgs, tite gain, gain at 12:30 (believe it or not, but the trick is to crank the output section and roll back the channel volume)

oh yeah and a tungsol in V1 is key.

just needed to pipe up about this amp. Ive been wanted to love this amp, but could never get there.

PEACE

Have to try those tubes!! Had put this amp away, but have bought a new cab and put in schumback speakers. Have now two 2*12 cabs, one with 2 schumbacks and one with 1 schumback and 1 v30. Sound very promising for that rock crunch sound i'm looking for.

Only drawback is that it seem to handle distortion/overdrive pedal bad with my settings, When i hit the pedal for those long singing notes it kinda dies out like it can't handle it. I set the pedal volume and gain pretty low (mad professor sky blue overdrive)
Settings on amp
master 11'o clock
output 2 o'clock
gain 1'o clock
It's pretty loud but could it be a bad tube chocking the pedal from sustaining.

 

[Desperate_Hero]

I dont get that at all...I just got a Stiletto ace and it still have the mesa el34's in it....sounds killer....not buzzy at all,very articulate and full tone....reminds me of a regular recto without the Fuzz...still want to try the 6Ca7's though....I like the idea of even more clarity.I have KT88's in my Kstein and it kills......huge,tight and articulate tone....trying to decide which to use now....lol...I like them both.....and still want to try a regular recto again...had one very briefly and sold it......

 

[V3]

Old thread I know, but I wanted to add that I also made the switch recently in my Roadster head to JJ 6ca7's and couldn't be happier! I also tried different el34's and some kt77's and just couldn't find what I was looking for over the stock Mesa 6l6's. The 6ca7's have all the good qualities of a 6l6 and the best parts of an el34 without the major change in tone that they bring. I wish I would have swapped these in as soon as I got my Roadster! I have been looking at picking up a Stiletto Deuce II and if I do, I bet I will be adding these into that amp as well.