THD Yellow Jackets

[PatrickL101]

Has anyone tried these in a DC?

I have a DC-5 combo and i'm interested in experimenting with the sound of EL84's in it.
The main attraction would be the reduced wattage as at the moment i'm playing it either at home or on small stages (I know that it'd only be a few decibels difference when it comes to volume but the idea of getting the amp working a bit earlier is heaven)

If anyone has any experience with them i'd be glad to hear of it.
Cheers,

Patrick.

PS did I just say 'heaven'? Well thats it... i'm a loser

 

[stephen sawall]

I have some and have used them in a number of amps. The only Mesa amps I have tried them in is my IV , Trident and Tremoverb. It does little to controlling the volume. But it does change the shape of the sound ... tone, attack envelope, point of break up, etc and gives the great harmonics of the EL84. What EL84 you use with it well have a big impact on the sound. They do sound better in some amps than others..... this is only a matter of taste.

 

[jutsin]

I have some and have used them in a number of amps. The only Mesa amps I have tried them in is my IV , Trident and Tremoverb. It does little to controlling the volume. But it does change the shape of the sound ... tone, attack envelope, point of break up, etc and gives the great harmonics of the EL84. What EL84 you use with it well have a big impact on the sound. They do sound better in some amps than others..... this is only a matter of taste.

Agreed. I used some yellowjackets in my Mark IV, .50 Cal + and Peavey 5150 (back when I had them). It did change the tone quite a lot, but didn't cut the volume nearly as much as I would have expected. THD does have some triode yellow jackets that are supposed to lower your power even further ( THD says- "These are for use in most amplifiers with 6L6, 6V6, EL34 or 6550 power tubes. They are for use in "grid-biased" amplifiers, NOT "cathode-biased" amplifiers. The Yellow Jacket Triode version converts the amp from Pentode to Triode operation, reducing the power even further, and giving the amplifier a smoother, less aggressive overdrive when driven hard. This model Yellow Jacket will drop the power of your amplifier by roughly 75% to 80%)
May want to give those a try.

 

[stephen sawall]

The truth is that well not change the volume much either. A ten watt amp is almost as loud as a 100 watt amp.

 

[Fxrs]

I tried the GT equivalent (Substitubes) in my DC-5, I liked what it did for the rythm channel (creamier), the lead channel, not so much. Kinda mushy, and I did find I had a volume loss on the lead channel. We do play loud though.

 

[billboogie]

I use GT Substitubes in my DC5 and I love them. I do run the clean channel with pedals for dirt so I can't say how they work with the gain channel (The gain pot is broke right now). They do change the overall tone. My amp got very bright, but for me in a good way. I always thought the amp was a bit dark but it was something I could get around with an EQ in the loop. When I got the L84's the EQ went bye-bye. My Substitubes came with No.1 G.T's (not much headroom) so I bought some gold pin L84's G.T's No.7's and that brought the headroom back. Stephen is right on, both sets of L84's I have do sound different from each other (not just a headroom dif. but tone as well) but both were good in their own right. This was my first intro to L84's and IMO they are the most touch responsive tubes available. You can control your gain with pick attack and the chime they produce is sweet. I hope you find this helpful. Good luck in your tone search :mrgreen: