6L6's in a Marshall

[wixedmords]

Anyone have any experience with putting 6L6's in a Marshall.

I am wondering how they changed the sound.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Well Marshall installed 5881's in their amps from the mid through the late 90's. Those are essentially 6L6 type tubes. They install 6L6/5881's in JTM45's and Blues Breaker combo's and that does produce a more Fendery tone, but it's still not a Fender tone, it's still a Marshall. The original Marshall sound was built around the KT66 tube, and they were like a super duty ballsier 6L6. Hendrix at Monterey and early Cream are good examples of KT66 Marshall tone.

I have installed 6L6's into a Jubilee amp and it sounded great, but the tubes were running fairly hot. 6L6's require more bias voltage than EL34's, so it would have required major changes to the bias circut for a permament swap. I just went back to EL34's. Amps wired for EL34's can take 6L6's no problem, provided they can be biased. However, Amps exclusively wired for 6L6 tubes may require rewiring of the sockets to accept EL34's.

[tone?]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

the funny thing is that a tech here put 6L6's in my sold JTM60 once and i didnt know it. when i got it back i was like wow! it sounded that much better.
makes me laugh now cause techs here in Greece ( it was the authorized Marshall dealer!) just do whatever.

anyway, it sounded waaaay better and i didnt know what the heck was up with it.

try it out

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

The old SuperLeads had 6CA7's, they had that rounder bottom than the EL-34's.
Very American sounding in some respects.

[wixedmords]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Great input guys.

I was thinking more aloing the lines of taming those spikey Marshall's.

IE: I am wondering what one of my 4203's would sound like with 6L6's.

It just seems that it could create an interesting change to a Marshall.

[aleclee]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

The old SuperLeads had 6CA7's, they had that rounder bottom than the EL-34's.
Very American sounding in some respects.

+1. They add a fair bit of 6L6-ish-ness and are electrically equivalent to EL34s.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Yeah had a funny blend of British and US
Very nice indeed.

[Benjy_26]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

It works out really well. Go out and try a tweed Bassman.

[OlinMusic]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

KT66'd have balls and a nice top on the crunch. I like 5881's, give you clarity, controllable mids, and GLASS on the top and upper mids.

I am an El34 guy myself though.

[jeremy]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

i run kt66's in my 4210 and it sounds amazing, loud as hell and biased way hot, but sounds great

[Nite_Maresz_25]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

I heard once that Jeff and Kerry from Slayer run 6L6's in their Marshalls. Is this true?

[Willis]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Can KT66s go in a 6L6 amp without rewiring the tube sockets? How does their sound vary from a 6L6?

[Scott_F]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Tubes are beautiful... Music's equivalent of beer. Lots of flavors, but they all taste good.

[ex-250]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

I heard once that Jeff and Kerry from Slayer run 6L6's in their Marshalls. Is this true?

i think they use 6550's

[DesertRose]

Re: 6L6's in a Marshall

Well, I've got a JCM800 lead combo, i once mentioned in my earlier threads. I said that the amp uses 6L6 tubes and I can't remember who(sorry mate), told me to trash those and replace them with EL34s, which is suppose to give the classic Marshall tone. Well, i don't know if the amp is bias or re-wired to make compatible with 6L6s. But whatever the amp comes with it, I just play safe to stick to what it has until it tubes blows and I get the tech to check it out for me. =)

P.S the amps i've got are pre-owned