KT77's in a LSC?

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jaxonmills

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Has anyone tried kt77 tubes in a lone star classic? if so here are a few questions...

1) What style of music do you play?
2) Were you happy with the sound with kt77s?
3) Would you recommend them over el34's?
4) What are some adjectives you would use to describe the tone?


I feel like my 6L6s have a little too much clean headroom and as a result im using more preamp gain than id like to. from what ive read kt77s seem like a good mix of characteristics that i like from both 6l6 and el34 tubes. i want to be able to cover hendrix's chimey clean tones up to black crowes overdrive. id like a some grind, but im not looking for a high mid buzzsaw sound, more of a smooth grind with an even balance of lows, mids, and highs. i like the voicing of the lsc, but i want a little more power tube breakup and chime.
 
That's a new one. Haven't heard anything around here. I know bob at Eurotubes recommends them for a EL-34 flavor with a 6L6 punch or something like that. The rage around here is 6v6 and or a pair of EL-84's in combination. Those tubes will knock down your head room.

Here's a quote from Charles Reeder on those tubes:

Whether you use 4 X 6V6s, or 4 X Yellow-Jackets(with EL84s), or 2 X 6V6s combined with 2 X Yellow-Jackets(with EL84s)...you'll get about the same wattage...which is:

#1. On full power at 100-watt setting: 30 to 40 watts
#2. On 'tweed' power at 100-watt setting: 25 to 30 watts

#3. On full power at 50 watt setting: 15 to 20 watts
#4. On 'tweed' power at 50 watt setting: 12 to 15 watts

These wattage approximations are based upon using the Solid-State-Rectifier. Using the 'Tube-Rectifier' will drop a few more watts.
 
If you try them post your thoughts, I am going to try them myself.... Here is Bob's spiel ...... We do not care for the yellow jacket adaptors, they will cut the power but they will also make the amp sound less full. Here are some options.

The Lone Star amps are fixed bias at a pretty cold setting but not as cold as the Dual Rec's so any matched quad of 6L6's or EL34 type tubes including the JJ Electronic 6L6GC or JJ E34L's are just plug and play and you also have the option of using a quad of the JJ 6V6's in the Tweed mode. Because of the cold setting I would go with a hotter set of tubes and five of the JJ ECC83S preamp tubes and I would make one of the ECC83S tubes a balanced one for the phase inverter which is in the back row farthest from the input jack. The JJ's have a very deep tight low end, a natural harmonically rich mid and a smooth sweet high end with a nice sparkle that's not brittle.

If you want a little more of a Marshall type tone that has more of a mid and upper mid focus then the E34L’s will do it. The JJ E34L's provide a deeper low end and are more aggressive and punchy than a standard EL34. The E34L is tighter with slightly more headroom and power with a more aggressive crunch, very articulate British tone.

The new KT77's would also be an option. These are not quite as tight as the E34L, but tighter than an EL34. The 77's have even a bit more low end extension than the E34L's and they have a nice sizzle in the top end that is not brittle. The clean tone is very fat and full and the crunch has more of a chunk to it and it's very punchy but not quite as aggressive as the E34L, a great tube for rhythm and solo work.

We can also do Integrated quads with a pair of the 6L6GC’s and a pair of the E34L’s or even the KT77’s. These quads consist of hand picked 6L6GC's and E34L's that all draw the same exact amount of natural plate current which is how tubes are matched. In an amp that has between 470 and 500 plate volts which is what these amps have. These quads can be run with the amp set in the EL34 position. The integrated quads do provide a very cool mixture of tones combining the deep thump and clean smooth highs of the JJ 6L6GC's and the aggressive punch and classic British sound of the JJ E34L's or the KT77’s.

Rectifier tubes are the only tubes that are not directly in the tone circuit, they rectify AC voltage in to DC voltage, they either work or don't work and rectifier tubes will out last power tubes about 20 to 1, so if your 5U4 is working you don't have to replace it. I do have NOS 5U4's for 30.00 and these will give a slight improvement in dynamic response.

Another option if you’re looking for the smoothest richest tone you can get would be to use two of the Gold pin ECC83S’s in V1 and V2, with two standard ECC83S’s in V3 and V4 along with a balanced Gold pin ECC83S for the phase inverter in V5. This option would add 29.50 to the prices below.

The only other option would be if you want any of the preamp tubes premium graded for gain. The high gain ECC83S's have about 10% more gain than standards which adds a bit of bite and a sharper dynamic but does not hurt the clean tone. The other attribute that these tubes have is a faster filament rise time which is great for an EVH, Petrucci or Satriani type style and is also good for fast palm mute styles. If you decide to use these I would use them in V1 and V2 which would add 10.00 to the cost below.

I will give the yellowjacket 6v6 combination a try also
 
I put the 6L6's back in a while ago. The KT77's, at least in this particular amp, didn't have the sparkle that the 6L6's did, nor did they have the chime I've heard from EL34's in other amps. The KT77's did add some upper midrange and touch sensitivity, but it just didn't sound as good as I had hoped. Not bad by any means, just not exactly what I was looking for.
 
Cool, thanks for the report! Let me know if you have a good recommendation on some EL34s...
 
Yeah thanks, That'll save me a couple of bucks. I heard JJ's El-34's are as good as they get for current production models.
 
Just for giggles, I put the kt77's back in my amp to try with my new les paul. the les paul likes the kt77's better. the plot thickens...

I think the improvement in my les paul tone is greater than the slight loss in my strat tone, so the kt77's could be here to stay, at least for a little while.
 
IMG_0720.jpg
 
Ahh, jaxon, great minds... sweet GTLP. Are we talking a brand new one? And is that a Standard?
 
If I can get up the nerve to spend more money on power tubes, I'm going to try those. Do you know how they compare to the kt77's?
 
Nice, a black beauty! Your cab matches well, so do the logo's. Must be nice having your own name on it. Most of us wouldn't mind that. Yeah, I want some JJ's 34's too. I borrowed some GT's, 34's and they sounded good. The differences weren't that dramatic from 6l6's.
Is that a closed back? What speakers are in it? Is that a G&L guitar?
 
Thanks. The cab is a Mills Acoustics closed-back 212B with v30's. The guitars are a 1972 fender strat and a g&l asat classic bluesboy.
 

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