Hot Diggidy Dog!!! Just put EL34's in my Mark V!!!!!

[jjboogie]

Just got my EL 34's from Mesa to pop into my Mark V and let me tell ya that is exactly what was missing tone and feel wise!

It is now perfection for me!

Much smoother tone and feel! The 6L6's had too much of a treble spike and was more gritty to my ears!

I think I knew all along that I preferred EL 34's but now that I got to A/B them it is blatantly obvious that I am an EL 34 type guy! Hallelujah!!!!

 

[rika_gd]

haha congrats mate! what kind of music do you play??

 

[jjboogie]

I play with two groups. The one I tour with is a Hip Hop band and all in one show I go from bluesy clean to low gain to high gain depending on the song.

With my wife's band just about the same is true. Running all over the map with tones but her music is acoustic rock I guess. Check out my links when you get the chance.

Nanyana is my wife and Arrested Development is the main band I tour with.

peace
JJ

 

[jb's 52]

grrr...yet another one of you guys tempting me to try el34s :evil:
/me shakes fist at jjboogie

i love the sound with the 6l6's but all this talk is tempting.
i have an el34'd amp with a matched pair and a spare set,
just not certain if they're in the sweet spot for the MarkV

 

[Scary]

grrr...yet another one of you guys tempting me to try el34s :evil:
/me shakes fist at jjboogie

i love the sound with the 6l6's but all this talk is tempting.
i have an el34'd amp with a matched pair and a spare set,
just not certain if they're in the sweet spot for the MarkV

El34's are nice, but they dont have the balls the 6l6's have. Two different flavors that are great in their own right.

 

[BluesRock]

I've liked EL34's in my Lonestar, Roadster, and Electra Dyne a lot better than 6L6's. When I got my Mark V, I immeadiately ordered a set of EL34's for it. Surprisingly, in the V I like the 6L6's a lot better.

 

[jjboogie]

grrr...yet another one of you guys tempting me to try el34s :evil:
/me shakes fist at jjboogie

i love the sound with the 6l6's but all this talk is tempting.
i have an el34'd amp with a matched pair and a spare set,
just not certain if they're in the sweet spot for the MarkV

El34's are nice, but they dont have the balls the 6l6's have. Two different flavors that are great in their own right.

If I need any more balls all I have to do is crank up the bass knob a notch or two!

Actually after switching I didn't ever get the feeling that the amp was lacking now in that department.

Definitely different flavors. I am just now realizing that I have always been an EL34 guy but kept getting amps with 6L6's.

I have made the transition! It's just what is best for me.

To me it smoothed out the amp just the way I needed it.

The 6L6's were too harsh for me personally. Now the amp purrs and feels so smooth, creamy & buttery! My mouth is watering as I think about it! :mrgreen:

 

[Barry]

It took me a little while but I got mine dialed in with the 6L6s . The Mark series amps are designed around the 6L6 and always have been but they put the bias switch on their to make everyone happy and as long as you are happy thats the bottom line . Amps sound alot different in the context of a band than they do in a bedroom .I find at home Im dialing back the treble but when I get on stage with the full band Im having to add treble back in . Glad you are digging your amp no matter what tubes you select .

 

[rika_gd]

It took me a little while but I got mine dialed in with the 6L6s . The Mark series amps are designed around the 6L6 and always have been but they put the bias switch on their to make everyone happy and as long as you are happy thats the bottom line . Amps sound alot different in the context of a band than they do in a bedroom .I find at home Im dialing back the treble but when I get on stage with the full band Im having to add treble back in . Glad you are digging your amp no matter what tubes you select .

In the last gig, I felt the crunch mode so thin in the mix, any ideas? raising the treble made the sound harsh, not fuller :|

 

[golfnguitarz]

Cool dude, glad you found what you were looking for! I have jumped back and forth on the 6L6 vs EL34 thang. They both do some cool things, but I just found (for me) that I like the 6L6 a little bit better in channel 1 and 3. Now, channel 2 friggin blossoms with EL34s. If money and design issues were irrelevant, I'd say make a Mark with 1&3 dedicated to 6L6s and channel 2 dedicated to EL34s. On another note, jjboogie, I think we have the same vertical slant cab which means you likely have the V30s in there. I have gotten some pretty dramatic tone changes by trying different speakers and have been able to roll off some of that piercing high end.

 

[Barry]

It took me a little while but I got mine dialed in with the 6L6s . The Mark series amps are designed around the 6L6 and always have been but they put the bias switch on their to make everyone happy and as long as you are happy thats the bottom line . Amps sound alot different in the context of a band than they do in a bedroom .I find at home Im dialing back the treble but when I get on stage with the full band Im having to add treble back in . Glad you are digging your amp no matter what tubes you select .

In the last gig, I felt the crunch mode so thin in the mix, any ideas? raising the treble made the sound harsh, not fuller :|

I use the sliders with the crunch mode and its awesome . If its too thin for you trim some treble/presence or add some bass . I suggest turning all of your tone knobs to zero and then start plucking to low E string . One at a time add Treble,presence,mid & bass to taste .

 

[screamingdaisy]

I've gone back and forth between 6L6s and EL34s a couple of times and I find the 6L6s sound stiff and kind of lifeless compared to EL34s. I suspect it comes down to the EL34s having a bit more compression to them.

I also found it hard to get the midrange I want out of a 6L6s. It's not that the 6L6s lack mids, they just has a different character that's different from what I'm after.

 

[jjboogie]

Cool dude, glad you found what you were looking for! I have jumped back and forth on the 6L6 vs EL34 thang. They both do some cool things, but I just found (for me) that I like the 6L6 a little bit better in channel 1 and 3. Now, channel 2 friggin blossoms with EL34s. If money and design issues were irrelevant, I'd say make a Mark with 1&3 dedicated to 6L6s and channel 2 dedicated to EL34s. On another note, jjboogie, I think we have the same vertical slant cab which means you likely have the V30s in there. I have gotten some pretty dramatic tone changes by trying different speakers and have been able to roll off some of that piercing high end.

That would be cool to have that option of tubes but I personally wouldn't need it. I am happy with the EL34's on all channels.


And actually I am using C90's for my personal cabs. After talking with my rep at Mesa that is what he suggested for my style. Actually the music I play covers huge amounts of territory as far as sound scape goes. From clean to low gain to high gain all in one nights worth of work! Usually though the cabs that are provided for me via back line have V30s.

 

[MBJunkie]

Glad to hear you are digging it jjboogie! Personally, I haven't tried EL34s yet, but have a set staring at me to try.

I am very pleased with the sounds I get out of my V combo with the 6L6s in all channels, but the bottom line is that I think it is great that the V offers the option of swapping tubes with no more effort than flipping a switch in the back. ALL....be sure you flip that bias switch to EL34s when changing from the 6L6s and vice versa! :wink:

 

[jjboogie]

Glad to hear you are digging it jjboogie! Personally, I haven't tried EL34s yet, but have a set staring at me to try.

I am very pleased with the sounds I get out of my V combo with the 6L6s in all channels, but the bottom line is that I think it is great that the V offers the option of swapping tubes with no more effort than flipping a switch in the back. ALL....be sure you flip that bias switch to EL34s when changing from the 6L6s and vice versa! :wink:

Let us know what you think when you finally try them out!

 

[MBJunkie]

I just finished playing my V for about 2 hours with the mesa boogie EL34's in place. All that I can say is WOW!

I am not saying that I prefer the V with the EL34s (at least not yet anyway), but I am pleasantly surprised that the cleans in channel 1 didn't take a big hit. Yes, a hit but channel 1 still has good clean sounds with the EL34's in place.

I am really digging the great crunch sound out of the crunch mode of channel 2, and some great hi gain rhythm and lead tones out of channel 3. I have not yet had a chance to really experiment with all modes (especially channel 2), but did put each channel through all power settings (10, 45 and 90). I was very pleased with what I heard!!

I used to think that I had 9 amps in one with the V......after playing through it tonight with the EL34s, I need to up that to 18 amps in one with the V!

I will be continuing to experiment with my V with the EL34s in place for a while. I am definitely digging it without question!

 

[jjboogie]

I just finished playing my V for about 2 hours with the mesa boogie EL34's in place. All that I can say is WOW!

I am not saying that I prefer the V with the EL34s (at least not yet anyway), but I am pleasantly surprised that the cleans in channel 1 didn't take a big hit. Yes, a hit but channel 1 still has good clean sounds with the EL34's in place.

I am really digging the great crunch sound out of the crunch mode of channel 2, and some great hi gain rhythm and lead tones out of channel 3. I have not yet had a chance to really experiment with all modes (especially channel 2), but did put each channel through all power settings (10, 45 and 90). I was very pleased with what I heard!!

I used to think that I had 9 amps in one with the V......after playing through it tonight with the EL34s, I need to up that to 18 amps in one with the V!

I will be continuing to experiment with my V with the EL34s in place for a while. I am definitely digging it without question!

I am not sure what people mean by the cleans taking a hit to be honest.

It actually made my cleans better.

I hated the glassy sound. To me it just softened the harshness and made the cleans warmer in my opinion. But everyone hears stuff differently I guess.

You are right though about saying how the Mark V is more amps than 9! Especially with the options of tube swapping!

 

[DrummerChas]

I just finished playing my V for about 2 hours with the mesa boogie EL34's in place. All that I can say is WOW!

I am not saying that I prefer the V with the EL34s (at least not yet anyway), but I am pleasantly surprised that the cleans in channel 1 didn't take a big hit. Yes, a hit but channel 1 still has good clean sounds with the EL34's in place.

I am really digging the great crunch sound out of the crunch mode of channel 2, and some great hi gain rhythm and lead tones out of channel 3. I have not yet had a chance to really experiment with all modes (especially channel 2), but did put each channel through all power settings (10, 45 and 90). I was very pleased with what I heard!!

I used to think that I had 9 amps in one with the V......after playing through it tonight with the EL34s, I need to up that to 18 amps in one with the V!

I will be continuing to experiment with my V with the EL34s in place for a while. I am definitely digging it without question!

I am not sure what people mean by the cleans taking a hit to be honest.

It actually made my cleans better.

I hated the glassy sound. To me it just softened the harshness and made the cleans warmer in my opinion. But everyone hears stuff differently I guess.

You are right though about saying how the Mark V is more amps than 9! Especially with the options of tube swapping!

After spending a couple of weeks with the EL34's in my V , I can tell you that the 6L6's are going to be on the shelf for a while. This amp really comes alive with the EL34's in place. I use a piezo pickup for playing most of my cleans and it sounds great. I actually like the glassy 6L6 sound too, but this clean is plenty good. I was playing this morning in 45w mode on Ch 3 Mark IV and I 'm getting more bottom end out of this than I was with the 6L6's. For lead playing there is no question that this is a better set up, at least for the type of music I play. Maybe the 6L6's are better suited for blues or something else. Anyway, congrats jjboogie on getting this amp sounding the way you want it to!

 

[MBJunkie]

jjboogie.....my concerns about achieving great clean sounds out of channel 1 with EL34s in the V were dismissed after doing the swap...and without question "great" clean sounds are subjective to begin with as you have mentioned.

My past experiences with amps using EL34s is that the clean sound breaks up quicker and with less headroom than 6L6 based amps. There again this isn't necessarily a bad thing either....it just depends on what sound you are after.

I am pleased to discover that using EL34's in my V does still allow me to achieve great clean tones....with plenty of headroom without breakup. Maybe it is because the other "EL34" amps I experienced in the past only had 2 power tubes rather than 4. Either way.....I am really liking the clean sounds that I am achieving using the EL34s in my V so far....not to mention the distorted rhythm and lead sounds I am achieving out of channels 2 and 3.

I plan to keep the EL34's in my V for the next several weeks and will try to determine which power tube combination works best for me. So far, I really like both!