changing the tubes in my dr

[emo killer]

hey guys im thinking about putting el34's in my dr what would it do to the tone? and also would the dr sound good with a reverb pedal or would it just be a waste of money?

 

[redmax61]

Changing to EL-34's will take the harsh edge off and give it a rounder tone. Go ahead and experiment.

 

[Turumbar82]

The el34's will sound nice. It will change this and how you use your eq. The bass won't be as huge sounding. The cleans will sound very pretty and glassy. I prefer 6l6's but I do really like el34's too.

A reverb would sound great especially on leads and cleans. Just alittle reverb on clean for some nice "room" effect or a ton for a big Sigur Ros type sound. On leads once again a little for added depth or lots of reverb for a Van Halen style "cathedral" lead sound. Personally i love the EH holy grail if you can find one that isn't noisy. I have heard lots of complaints about them being noisy. My buddy tried mine with his XXX and it was noisy but it sounded great with my Single Rectifier. IMO, it's the best pedal reverb around.

 

[MesaENGR412]

If you like the low end of the 6L6 you could also try the EL-34L's. These are supposed to add in some of the bass response that the 6L6's do, but also give you the dynamics of the EL-34's. Check them out at http://www.eurotubes.com

-AJH

 

[Turumbar82]

Definitely check out eurotubes. great tubes and great customer service. Fast shipping. Check out all the other options for rectifiers on there like using KT-88's and other tubes options. They all sound very interesting but I would say you can't go wrong with getting your tubes from eurotubes.

 

[Undeadpaladin]

I just asked the same thing.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=18526&sid=fe884b3a97e8feff882d590e0b99aa13

I think i may go with either the El34's or the power sections from the "Personal Favorite" That was one of the options the guys over at eurotubes suggested based on the criteria i listed(Warmer sound, break up sooner, crips cleans)

I sent Eurotubes and email and this is some info i got, it was regarding EL34's but they seem to think a 6V6/KT77 combo would give me the best of the El34's and more.

All of the KT (kinkless tetrodes) tubes are very smooth and dynamic where as a typical EL34 is kind of two dimensional and the E34L is like an EL34 on steroids. Basically the two options I threw out there are the warmest and most dynamic options we offer. Nine times out of ten when somebody brings there dual rec into the studio they leave with either the KT66/KT88 or the 6V6/KT77 set up.

This is what i'm most likely going with :

Another option that we have been using in lots of Dual Recs is an Integrated quad using two 6V6’s in the middle two sockets and two KT77’s in the outside two sockets. This gets a great clean tone and the 6V6’s have a deeper thump than 6L6’s do. At higher volumes the 6V6’s break first and the mixture of these with the complex harmonics that the KT77’s have is a killer combination. These are run in the EL34 mode using the GZ34 rectifiers in either the Bold or Spongy setting.

 

[clutch71]

If you like the low end of the 6L6 you could also try the EL-34L's. These are supposed to add in some of the bass response that the 6L6's do, but also give you the dynamics of the EL-34's. Check them out at http://www.eurotubes.com

-AJH

+1 for the EL34L's. I have them in my older 2 Channel DR, Groove Tube LS's which are the same as the JJ/Tesla EL34L's. The bass response and EQ settings almost remained the same with a warmer over all tone and less mid scooped sound. I paired them with a GT 12AX7C Gold series preamp section. I went with the GT's because I got them for a great price, they are readliy available, and I didn't have to wait to have them shipped or worry about damage during shipping.

 

[alex1fly]

Do it. They vastly improve the Recto tone IMO.