mark III power tubes --- 4 6L6s or 2 el34s + 2 6L6s??

[sotosprince]

Currently my blue striped mark is running 2 el34s + 2 6L6s, but I 've been told that I should try the all 4 6l6s thing. I'm interested in high gain tones (old Metallica tone). My amp is really bright and lately I've found myself lowering both the 6600 and the presence pretty low. What's the difference tonally between the 2 setups? Thanks in advance.

 

[kippiejr]

Gain does not come from power tubes. Well not in a Mark anyway. You might get power tube break up but the paint would be peeling of the walls from volume being so high. :lol: Try EFT pre's is V1 and V3 i believe in a III.

 

[sotosprince]

Gain does not come from power tubes. Well not in a Mark anyway. You might get power tube break up but the paint would be peeling of the walls from volume being so high. :lol: Try EFT pre's is V1 and V3 i believe in a III.

Also I remember u telling me..."Remember, these amps are really all about the V1 preamp tube. I always end up going back to Mesa SP12AX7-A or the gold JJ. Same tube.Also, Get a pair of GC 6L6 USA twin halos sylvania's and a pair of SED winged =C= EL 34's. Run it in simul-class. And your really close to the mark IIC+

 

[lowercasee]

My blue stripe came with all 6L6s. I picked up a pair of EL34s just to try something different. At "sane" volume, I don't really notice any difference. At louder volumes (2 or more), I do notice a little bit more "squish" but it's not night and day. The place I notice it the most is in Class A mode, which makes sense to me.

 

[bgh]

My blue stripe came with all 6L6s. I picked up a pair of EL34s just to try something different. At "sane" volume, I don't really notice any difference. At louder volumes (2 or more), I do notice a little bit more "squish" but it's not night and day. The place I notice it the most is in Class A mode, which makes sense to me.

I don't have a Mark III (I play through a Mark IV), but I too find that the biggest difference is when I switch to Class A mode. (I run EL34s in the outer sockets).

 

[Promethean]

I find 4x 6L6 to be slightly warmer and with more bottom end than a mix of EL34 and 6L6 but only just.

As others have said, by far the biggest difference is when they are used in Class A mode. EL34 are harder and tighter and 6L6 slightly more full and rounded to my ears.

Worth having both sets around to try different things.

Aggressive use of the presence control is how I manage overall brightness myself. It gets less bright as it gets louder though so I often adjust it between gigs and practice.

 

[gts]

I find 4x 6L6 to be slightly warmer and with more bottom end than a mix of EL34 and 6L6 but only just.

As others have said, by far the biggest difference is when they are used in Class A mode. EL34 are harder and tighter and 6L6 slightly more full and rounded to my ears.

I'd agree with this except when it comes to Mesa STR-416's (aka Sylvania EL-34's).
There's the chime of an EL-34 but they still retain the bottom end and you find with a 6L6.
It's hard to put in words.

I was so stunned how good my C+ sounded with these versus all the other EL-34's I'd tried.
It's true they shine in Class-A but I never felt Class-A alone sounded all that great, that is until putting in a pair of STR-416's.
The bottom end was there, they were warmer than all other EL-34's, but you still get that EL-34 chime. It was (and still is) magical!
Unfortunately they are no longer made but they do come up for sale from time to time.

Fwiw the next best thing to Mesa STR-416's was the Svetlana "Winged C" El-34's (=C=).
But unfortunately these too are no longer made.

 

[dlpasco]

It's most noticeable in class a. I went with all 6l6s, not really finding el34s pleasing in this context.