Question for Roadster Owners.... 6L6's or EL34's?

[GuitarGuy503]

Roadster Owner's.... What's your preference for your Roadster?.... 6L6's or EL34's? Personally, I prefer the 6L6s due to their thickness and thump..... :mrgreen:

 

[LithiumZero]

The amp just sounds too congested and compressed with EL34's for me. It really killed my clean sounds when I tried them. The high gain sounded pretty good and seemed to have more saturation but overall I like the 6L6's.

 

[BostonRedSox]

The amp just sounds too congested and compressed with EL34's for me. It really killed my clean sounds when I tried them. The high gain sounded pretty good and seemed to have more saturation but overall I like the 6L6's.

+10,000

I agree. I tried to love my Roadster with EL34s, but it just didn't do it for me. 6L6s, while they do have a lot of bottom end, sound much richer and fuller -- the cliche "rounder" sound is definitely a true characterization of these tubes. The EL34s definitely smooth out some higher gain settings, but not enough for me to keep them employed full-time. The cleans still sound good with the EL34s, but they surely sound thinner. The manual's "skinny skank" setting sounds incredible with the EL34s by the way, as does the Brit mode on channel two. All in all, I find the amp is overall much better sounding with 6L6s for the applications of music that I play. It's definitely good to experiment with different sounds. I still remember smiling a lot at how different my amp sounded at higher gain settings with the EL34s. While the differences are subtle, they are there and noticeable.

I suspect when this thread reaches a better sample size most people will say that the EL34s sound better.

 

[Yetti]

Check it this is an le topic I did in comparing 6l6 and el34also will link to my net musicians profile for more comparisons in different amp settings.
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=46511