tubes with most clean headroom ?

[paleamberglow]

i'm using 5881's and I find that when I play with my band unmic'ed I don't have as much headroom on my mark iv clean channel as I did with 6L6gc's . i'm guessing it has to do with the lower wattage of the 5881's. can anyone recommend some 6L6's (or other) with a lot of headroom on the clean channel? i do a lot of clean lead guitar so this is kind of important to my sound

 

[Russ]

You might try running a pair of 6L6s with a pair of KT88s. I remember guys using KT88s for more headroom in Marshalls. They also provide more bottom. It feels like someone hitting you in the chest with a cinder block. Just be sure to get ones that have a bias range that works with the Mark IV.

 

[MikeKCA]

Either the SED 6L6GCs or the Groove Tubes 6L6GEs should do nicely.

Mike K
KCA NOS Tubes
www.kcanostubes.com
World's largest selection of guitar amp tubes.

 

[paleamberglow]

interesting that you mentioned kt88's , i was considering them and i've heard they have a lot of headroom. i read somewhere that billy corgan used them in his marshall jcm 800's around the siamese dream era

 

[Russ]

Actually he did...

 

[Guitarzan]

interesting that you mentioned kt88's , i was considering them and i've heard they have a lot of headroom.

KT88's are very nice tubes. They have gigantic headroom. if your predominantly looking for clean w/o break up, KT's will have no problem doing just that.

 

[RR]

You stated your post: "tubes with the most clean headroom?"

I guess 6550s, but I realize you meant for a Mark IV.

 

[paleamberglow]

could you go into a little more detail about what spec's the kt88 tubes must have in order to jive with the mark iv (in terms of bias) ? I looked through the manual but it doesn't say specifically. I'll probably have to call mesa and ask , but they'll probably just say ' the mark iv isn't meant to handle kt 88's'

 

[Guitarzan]

Call Bob @ Eurotubes. He'll walk you through it.

 

[paleamberglow]

cool, i'll give him a call
thanks for the tip