need more headroom...

[JW123]

jdurso,

When I read up on them the KT77s run a higher plate voltage, of course it sounds like you know that. Higher voltage would equal less life. If you still have your stock tubes you might want to try them. I seem to get plenty of headroom on my combo and Im comparing it to my Triple Rec.

How did the KTs sound in your amp? I mean when they were fresh.

I have a bunch of old 6550s out of my old Sunn amps lying around. I might have to try some and see how they sound.

 

[jdurso]

jdurso,

When I read up on them the KT77s run a higher plate voltage, of course it sounds like you know that. Higher voltage would equal less life. If you still have your stock tubes you might want to try them. I seem to get plenty of headroom on my combo and Im comparing it to my Triple Rec.

How did the KTs sound in your amp? I mean when they were fresh.

I have a bunch of old 6550s out of my old Sunn amps lying around. I might have to try some and see how they sound.

the kt77s are still pretty new (less than 35 hrs)... my 6l6s that came with the amp had over 225 hours on them and those last 25 hours were with a hotplate so those are shot. i would say the kt77s still sound as they did day 1, but i think i never noticed the lack of headroom until after playing the express.

 

[user 7737]

well... i don't know a lot about tube... but... if your amp is designed to receive 6l6 why did you put kt77 ?... especially if it have to be load with 6l6gc... with those you don't have a lot of choice... there's not a lot of substitute for the 6l6gc...

 

[JW123]

meursalt, When you put KT77s in a recto formatted amp you are tricking the amp into producing more plate voltage, thus producing a more "brown" sound.

I know that Mesa doesnt recomend this and there are tone snobs on here that freak out when you use different tubes than recomended, but it doesnt mean that the tubes will not work. It just means if you mess up the amp its your baby. I guess unless your amp is under warranty its your baby anyway.

 

[user 7737]

meursalt, When you put KT77s in a recto formatted amp you are tricking the amp into producing more plate voltage, thus producing a more "brown" sound.

and take the risk to burn it out ? :?

well... i don't know much about rectos, but i will never put anything else that 6l6gc tube in my caliber

i read somewhere that the only substitute to a 6l6gc are kt66 and 7581...

 

[fishyfishfish]

You should be able to get around 2 to 3,000 hours of tube life from the 6l6's(or even more) from the stock tubes because of the bias being on the cold side, so I don't think your stock tubes are shot unless they are shorting out (Blowing fuse's).
The Roadster does have a little bit of the "clean recto curse" compared to say the Mark Series, just different amps.
As far as the KT's, they run a little hotter than the 6L6, and they have a lot more upper mid-range, so with a hot humbucker guitar you get to hear the soft breakup of the pre-amp section that the 6l6's don't produce or produce well.
For your home work: Pop the stock 6l6's back in, bypass the loop to isolate the clean channel and adjust to taste, then engage the loop and adjust the dirty channels from there.

 

[jdurso]

You should be able to get around 2 to 3,000 hours of tube life from the 6l6's(or even more) from the stock tubes because of the bias being on the cold side, so I don't think your stock tubes are shot unless they are shorting out (Blowing fuse's).
The Roadster does have a little bit of the "clean recto curse" compared to say the Mark Series, just different amps.
As far as the KT's, they run a little hotter than the 6L6, and they have a lot more upper mid-range, so with a hot humbucker guitar you get to hear the soft breakup of the pre-amp section that the 6l6's don't produce or produce well.
For your home work: Pop the stock 6l6's back in, bypass the loop to isolate the clean channel and adjust to taste, then engage the loop and adjust the dirty channels from there.

2 to 3000 hrs?? honestly ive usually always changed my tubes out every 1-2 years depending on how everythings sounds. my 6l6s still sound pretty dull compared to when they were fresh so i dont know, maybe i put more hours on them than i thought but no where near 2-3000. whatever the case i'm just going to pick up some more 6l6s because it cant hurt to have some backups. i think i'm done with my kt77 phase. it was good at first but i think the honeymoon is over, at least through the roadster

 

[user 7737]

i think i'm done with my kt77 phase.

as i said, why not try a kt66 ? this one is usually considered as a good substitute to 6l6gc...

even if i think you'll never have more headroom with a not 6l6gc tube...

(sorry for my english... i'm tired)

 

[jdurso]

meursalt, When you put KT77s in a recto formatted amp you are tricking the amp into producing more plate voltage, thus producing a more "brown" sound.

and take the risk to burn it out ? :?

well... i don't know much about rectos, but i will never put anything else that 6l6gc tube in my caliber

i read somewhere that the only substitute to a 6l6gc are kt66 and 7581...

the jj kt77s from eurotubes are selected specially to meet the plate voltage tolerance of the DR in the el34 mode. i originally tried it to get a more el34-6l6 hybrid which it does in spades. i think i'm coming to the conclusion i really like the 6l6 tone more than the el34 tone, at least in a recto.

how would you compare the kt66 to the 6l6?

 

[carlsoti]

I know it's a completely different animal, but in my Rocket 44 combo, I run the master all the way up, and the gain around 4, then dial the guitar volume to where I need it. Beautiful glassy cleans with just a bit of power tube compression when I really whack at the strings.

 

[desertcj]

You could always try running a 12AT7 in your Phase Inverter, that should give you more clean headroom, and then you could turn your gain up on your lead channels.

 

[lyman]

You could always try running a 12AT7 in your Phase Inverter, that should give you more clean headroom, and then you could turn your gain up on your lead channels.

it's worth a try. i have a NOS mullard 12at7 in my PI slot and i feel like the headroom increased a little compared to when i had a 12ax7 there. i haven't been able to really crank it up since then though.

 

[jdurso]

i actually just traded one of my guitars for a schecter semi-hollow and the pickups seem to be a huge factor. in the schedter i combine the piezos with the duncan pickups (which seem to be medium-low output) and it creates a great clean sound with a lot of hearoom and some nice natural reverb