tele_jas
Well-known member
A few months back, I didn't know the answer to this question and there may be a few others out there that don't know the difference... So here's what I found out.
As many of you know, you can run your boogies with 6L6's or EL34's. I never new the difference in the sound and actually thought it was a bunch of bologna that there could be a big difference in tone ....until this past Sunday! This was just on the Distortion side.......
I've got a 1994 Tremoverb combo that has EL34's in it running at 50 wts and it sounds very similar to my 1995 Tremoverb head that has 6L6's in it running at 100wts.
* So, I started out by playing with my most common settings: (Vintage: Bass noon - Mids 10.30 - Treb - 11:00 - Pres 11:00 - Gain 3:00) on my combo with the EL34's and it was sounding pretty good, then I powered down, and swapped the tubes for some 6L6's and turned it back on. WOW!!!! It was like I took the bass knob and turned it up all the way, slid the mid frequency down (not the actual knob, but the frequency at which the mids run at), and added a touch more presence (which added sizzel). It was thumping a lot harder, but it lost a bit of that higher mid frequency and the low end was deeper, but a bit looser too.
* I put the EL34's back in to see what the difference was and my above findings were supported with the EL34's giving a higher mid frequency, less but tighter low end, the treble was a bit higher and it wasn't quite as "Sizzely".
I swapped out several times to just hear the difference and I realized that I personally like the sound of the 6L6's better, but for my band the EL34's seem to fit better. My band does 80s, 90s and modern rock - no real hard stuff though, more along the lines of: Bon Jovi, Poison, Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Brian Adams, Maroon 5, Foo Fighters, ect....
I think that if I ever start playing in a harder band or played more country or clean stuff, I'd probably switch to the 6L6's for a warmer - darker sound (more Fender-ish).. Or if I ever get tired of my tone, I'll try swapping tubes for a while and see if that helps me out.
Hope this help someone! :wink:
As many of you know, you can run your boogies with 6L6's or EL34's. I never new the difference in the sound and actually thought it was a bunch of bologna that there could be a big difference in tone ....until this past Sunday! This was just on the Distortion side.......
I've got a 1994 Tremoverb combo that has EL34's in it running at 50 wts and it sounds very similar to my 1995 Tremoverb head that has 6L6's in it running at 100wts.
* So, I started out by playing with my most common settings: (Vintage: Bass noon - Mids 10.30 - Treb - 11:00 - Pres 11:00 - Gain 3:00) on my combo with the EL34's and it was sounding pretty good, then I powered down, and swapped the tubes for some 6L6's and turned it back on. WOW!!!! It was like I took the bass knob and turned it up all the way, slid the mid frequency down (not the actual knob, but the frequency at which the mids run at), and added a touch more presence (which added sizzel). It was thumping a lot harder, but it lost a bit of that higher mid frequency and the low end was deeper, but a bit looser too.
* I put the EL34's back in to see what the difference was and my above findings were supported with the EL34's giving a higher mid frequency, less but tighter low end, the treble was a bit higher and it wasn't quite as "Sizzely".
I swapped out several times to just hear the difference and I realized that I personally like the sound of the 6L6's better, but for my band the EL34's seem to fit better. My band does 80s, 90s and modern rock - no real hard stuff though, more along the lines of: Bon Jovi, Poison, Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Brian Adams, Maroon 5, Foo Fighters, ect....
I think that if I ever start playing in a harder band or played more country or clean stuff, I'd probably switch to the 6L6's for a warmer - darker sound (more Fender-ish).. Or if I ever get tired of my tone, I'll try swapping tubes for a while and see if that helps me out.
Hope this help someone! :wink: