6L6 GC STR 440 colour codes

[gatya]

Hello!
I need some help about 6L6 GC...
I have a single rectifier series 2 head, and i want to
retube it now.
I see different colours of this tubes: green, white, red, etc.
Please help me, what kind of 6L6 should i buy to this amp
for hardcore/punk music (like pennywise, rise against, nofx,...) and why!
I read infos about this, but i don't understand it perfectly!
White tubes have cold sound, somebody offered this to me...
But i have a fender vintage 52 telecaster and i think maybe
i need warm sound with it...What do you think about it???
How it affects the master, gain levels and my sound?
You can listen our sound here:
http://myspace.com/gimme5hun
Listen the first song...
Thank You very much!
Gabor[/url]

 

[Rocky]

The color codes indicate where the amp is biased..you should be replacing your current tubes with the same color code.

Tubes won't make your amp work better for any particular style of music....that is up to your fingers.

 

[gatya]

Thank You!
My problem is that my current tubes are STR 430s without color code...
Which one do you offer for me? red or white??? (without music styles)

 

[Rocky]

If you arent sure I'd pick one of the middle colors, off the top of my head I don't recall the color order though.

I know it is on h ere somewhere.

Most recs I have looked in (not a rec guy so take this with a grain of salt) have had grey if memory sreves.

 

[tetsubin]

Hey Gatya,
just buy any of the color coded tubes. They will all sound great. (http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/What_s_New_/Amplitudes/Tone_Tips/tone_tips.html)

They will have small differences in how much current they draw, so that the ones on one end of the spectrum will give you SLIGHTLY more headroom, while the ones on the other end will go into power tube saturation SLIGHTLY earlier.

Don't fuss too much about that. Go buy any Mesa tubes, stick them in and play!

P.S.: Better get some Mesa 5881s for a tonal change (more mids); they can be used instead of the 6L6 without changing anything. Plug and play.

 

[MesaDCLP]

FWIW, Mesa has always sent me Yellows when I've ordered direct from them, unless I specified a color.

My single rec had Green 430's stock.

The Yellows are just a notch above the Reds and have always sounded good, not cold or grainy.

I think the White would give you the cleanest cleans, and the Red would put a bit of hair on the cleans when the amp is up loud. The Reds will compress the overdriven sound more than the Whites too.

Look up the Mesa rating scale, and you will find a lot of facts and opinions on the colors.

 

[dodger916]

I've always had good results with Yellows too. Ratings are as follows:

Red/Yellow...earliest breakup. Equivalent to Groove Tubes rating of 4
Green/Gray...medium breakup. Equivalent to Groove Tubes rating of 5
Blue/White...latest breakup with most clean headroom. Equivalent to Groove Tubes rating of 6.

As mentioned earlier, the differences in breakup characteristics represent very small increments within the narrow Mesa operating range, and come into play when really driving the power tubes at higher volumes.

 

[gatya]

OK, thank You for the answers!!!