Discovered my favorite power tube for my 2 chan. Dual Rec...

[scotbot]

seriously. get some.

 

[Russ]

Here's a little interesting reading. Read this...

http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi-bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf

My 2 ch. Dual Rec has the JAN Phillips 7581A's and they really rock. I have a pair of 1960 GE 6L6GC's too. Old tubes are great aren't they? Even some not quite so old tubes are nice though. The 420's rock.

 

[Russ]

Here is their slightly older report.

http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi-bin/documents/testreport_34.pdf

 

[Kung-Fool]

I had those in my 5150II. They sounded really good.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

Great tubes. I prefer the Phillips or GE 7581As because I like the additional headroom they give on the clean channel, but these little 6L6WGBs are kick *** tubes if you want earlier breakup than a 6L6GC..

 

[scotbot]

since putting these tubes in, i've noticed that the bass has become fuller and tighter, the mids are smoother, and the highs just sparkle.

mixed with a preamp setup like this:

V1 Tung Sol
V2 Tung Sol
V3 JJ
V4 JJ
V5 Mesa Russian-2

i've never been happier with my tone.

 

[clutch71]

Great tubes. I prefer the Phillips or GE 7581As because I like the additional headroom they give on the clean channel, but these little 6L6WGBs are kick *** tubes if you want earlier breakup than a 6L6GC..

I've heard the phrase "earlier break up tubes"...Do they lose anything as you start turning the amp up?

Where do I find some of the 6L6WGBs or Tung Sols? Eurotubes?

 

[scotbot]

dougstubes.com or thetubestore.com

 

[edgarallanpoe]

've heard the phrase "earlier break up tubes"...Do they lose anything as you start turning the amp up?

Where do I find some of the 6L6WGBs or Tung Sols? Eurotubes?

No, they just don't stay as clean when you begin to dial up the volume. They have fantastic tone though.

The 6L6WGB is a different animal than a Tung Sol 5881. I would doubt the TS 5881 could handle the plate voltages in our Boogies. The 6L6WGB can handle the higher plate voltages...it is much closer to a 6L6GC than a true 5881 like the Tung Sol.

Keep in mind, when I am talking about the Tung Sol I am referring to the vintage tube, not the currently made tube. They are completely different tubes.

 

[clutch71]

've heard the phrase "earlier break up tubes"...Do they lose anything as you start turning the amp up?

Where do I find some of the 6L6WGBs or Tung Sols? Eurotubes?

No, they just don't stay as clean when you begin to dial up the volume. They have fantastic tone though.

The 6L6WGB is a different animal than a Tung Sol 5881. I would doubt the TS 5881 could handle the plate voltages in our Boogies. The 6L6WGB can handle the higher plate voltages...it is much closer to a 6L6GC than a true 5881 like the Tung Sol.

Keep in mind, when I am talking about the Tung Sol I am referring to the vintage tube, not the currently made tube. They are completely different tubes.

Thanks for the clarification on the 5881's. I had a Mesa 5881 set in a 5150 Combo and wasn't that wild about them. The Tung Sol's I was interested in were for the pre amp stages.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

Thanks for the clarification on the 5881's. I had a Mesa 5881 set in a 5150 Combo and wasn't that wild about them. The Tung Sol's I was interested in were for the pre amp stages.

No problem. The confusion started when Sovtek decided to capitalize on the popularity of the Tung Sol 5881 and released what was essentially a 6L6gc in a stubby bottle. It was *not* a real 5881. Since that time, there are a lot of people who assume that the 5881 is a direct replacement for a 6L6gc...it isn't. The modern ones are...the vintage ones aren't even close to being able to handle some of the high plate voltages of modern amps. Some of the DRs are biased cold enough that they would work provided you weren't using the amp on bold with the diodes active. The vintage TS probably wouldn't last too long in that situation.

The Phillips 6L6WGB is a tweener...it sits right in between a real 5881 and a 6L6GC.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

Here is a pic I took of a real 5881, a GE7581A, and a Phillips 6L6GC. You can see the major difference between the tubes. Most of the new tubes I see, simply have different glass, but the internals are all identical. I would bet that if you took a pic of a Sovtek 5881 and a Sovtek 6L6GC you would find that they have minimal internal difference. Sovtek just put the 6L6 guts into a smaller bottle and relabeled it a 5881 to capitalize on the popularity of the TS 5881.

 

[scotbot]

yeah, my JAN phillips look closest to the Tung Sol in that pic.

 

[brandon9271]

If I ordered these will they send me a matched quad or will I have to mod my head to have bias pots added? I always heard you'd have to do that if using not Mesa tubes.