Got the Roadster Set Up

[3SpeedChicken]

I spent some time on the phone with Bob at Eurotubes last week. I told him I loved the Roadking's tones on the EL34 settings, and would like to get that out of my Roadster. Heh...

He suggested a quad of JJ 6V6's and a pair of GZ34's to replace the rectifier tubes. Set the bias to EL34, and I'm good to go.

I got the tubes today, and all I have to say is HELL YEAH!!! The clean channels are WAY better, and the 2 distortion channels just SING.

Imagine a Roadking on tonal steroids set in EL34 mode, and that is what I have. The stock Stilleto amps don't come anywhere CLOSE to the tone I'm getting out of this Roadster. I'll even go as far as to say there isn't a Marshall on this planet that sounds this good ( )

I know I'm talking big. But I've been searching for 'My' tone now for about 20 years. And I have finally found it. And it is good.

 

[JamesD]

Awesome. You have any way to put some clips up? Would love to hear it..Congrats on tonal heaven.

 

[tele_jas]

I've always wondered about 6v6's in a Rectifier. I wonder if there is a way to put 6V6's in a Road King to run in the 6L6 slots with the cooler 6L6 bias and still sound as good?

 

[Micah]

I spent some time on the phone with Bob at Eurotubes last week. I told him I loved the Roadking's tones on the EL34 settings, and would like to get that out of my Roadster. Heh...

He suggested a quad of JJ 6V6's and a pair of GZ34's to replace the rectifier tubes. Set the bias to EL34, and I'm good to go.

I got the tubes today, and all I have to say is HELL YEAH!!! The clean channels are WAY better, and the 2 distortion channels just SING.

Imagine a Roadking on tonal steroids set in EL34 mode, and that is what I have. The stock Stilleto amps don't come anywhere CLOSE to the tone I'm getting out of this Roadster. I'll even go as far as to say there isn't a Marshall on this planet that sounds this good ( )

I know I'm talking big. But I've been searching for 'My' tone now for about 20 years. And I have finally found it. And it is good.

Can you describe to me what the tonal differences are between the 6V6's and the 6L6's? Also what kind of music are you playing with it? :?:

 

[disassembled]

http://eurotubes.com/euro-n.htm

I have not used 6V6 tubes but I am sure Bob would be happy to explain the tonal differences to you.

 

[xscottx9]

i had some 6v6/kt77's in a dr to achieve the same thing from Bob .. it sounded good, but I prefered the 6L6 growl better.

 

[3SpeedChicken]

I spent some time on the phone with Bob at Eurotubes last week. I told him I loved the Roadking's tones on the EL34 settings, and would like to get that out of my Roadster. Heh...

He suggested a quad of JJ 6V6's and a pair of GZ34's to replace the rectifier tubes. Set the bias to EL34, and I'm good to go.

I got the tubes today, and all I have to say is HELL YEAH!!! The clean channels are WAY better, and the 2 distortion channels just SING.

Imagine a Roadking on tonal steroids set in EL34 mode, and that is what I have. The stock Stilleto amps don't come anywhere CLOSE to the tone I'm getting out of this Roadster. I'll even go as far as to say there isn't a Marshall on this planet that sounds this good ( )

I know I'm talking big. But I've been searching for 'My' tone now for about 20 years. And I have finally found it. And it is good.

Can you describe to me what the tonal differences are between the 6V6's and the 6L6's? Also what kind of music are you playing with it? :?:

I'll try.....the 6L6's on the Rectos produce a rather mid-scooped tone. And there is a 'grain' to the tone that is natural to them (that's not a bad thing...just a characteristic....and one that has made them very popular, actually). Unfortunately, that spills over to (IMO) not-so-great clean tones.

The 6V6's run in the EL34 bias mode, and produce more of a British tone. The upper mids and highs are really present, but the low end is still there. Comparing this setup to a Roadking set in EL34 mode...it is very similar. But with the better tubes, the tone is richer (the highs are very creamy, if that makes sense). And the clean channels now have a bright and sparkly punch, but not bright to the point of harshness.

Here's what Bob had to say about this config....

'The pics above show a quad of the JJ 6V6's running with two of the JJ GZ34's. These are running in the EL34 bias position and the Bold setting and in the tube rectifier mode utilizing the two GZ34's which gets the plate voltage to 450 volts and the current draw to 28mA per tube which is perfect! Using the solid state rectifier gets them a little too hot.

Using the GZ34's will get you that tube rectifier sound without the saggy feel that the stock 5U4 rectifier tubes give you so it's like playing in solid state bold but you get the rectifier tube dynamics.

The sound? Very cool! The JJ 6V6's have a very big low end that is tight and well defined. The mids and highs are thick, sweet and harmonically rich and at higher volumes they crunch up like only a 6V6 can do. To date this is the warmest clean tone I've heard from a Dual Rec.

So if you want to get a little more of that cranked up tone a bit earlier and want a great clean to go along with a very warm and punchy drive tone from you Dual or Triple Rec the JJ 6V6's and GZ34's may just be what your looking for!'

 

[3SpeedChicken]

Sorry...as for the type of music we play....we're kind of all over the board. Here are some scratch mixes from the new CD we are working on. These have not been mixed or mastered yet, so there are a lot of things to work on. (plus I didn't have the Roadster until we were almost done recording )

http://www.deroche.co.uk/andy/mp3/Minuteman.mp3
http://www.deroche.co.uk/andy/mp3/Heart.mp3
http://www.bluecrystalsoftware.com/download/DaybreakShort.mp3
http://www.bluecrystalsoftware.com/download/Meltshort.mp3
http://www.bluecrystalsoftware.com/download/Neverenoughshort.mp3
http://www.bluecrystalsoftware.com/download/Strangeshort.mp3

You can hear a few older tunes here:
http://durham-music.com/our_music.html

 

[Platypus]

Cool, glad you're happy with your amp. I use EL34L's for the same reason.. low end and midrange growl.

 

[JamesD]

Interesting, might be something to give a shot in the future.

 

[3SpeedChicken]

Believe me...you will like it. The one setback I found is that there is just a tad less gain using these tubes. I had to push my two hard channels' gains about 2 notches to make up for it.
But I still have several notches left. And I'm not playing elevator music :wink: