6v6 amp owners, wussup

PVFan

PVFan

Fudgeitallologist
what 6v6 amp(s) do you have, and do you think there *can be* anything unique about 6v6 amps that other designs (ex: el84-based, 6L6, whatever) don't do as well?

For instance, beefy bass. Is that a general characteristic? Big round tone in general is something I've noticed with 6v6 amps, with the bass being somehow larger and more prominent.


(I understand that the design around the tubes is more important than the tube type. I want to talk about characteristics of the tube type anyway, and how amp designers exploit them)
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

My Reason Bambino Grande has a 6V6 power amp, as does my old Groove Tubes Studio preamp. 6V6's seem to have a certain recognizeable midrange character to me. I can hear it in my Studio preamp and in a Marshall Haze amp I plugged into at a guitar shop. I don't hear it as much in my Bambino combo amp.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

My Laney Pro Tube 30 uses 6V6s. I've never been a big fan of the amp, and I can't say whether it's the amp's design that I dislike or if the power valves have any part in my not liking it all that much. Every other amp I've owned up until a year ago has had EL34s ...
 
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Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

warm, smooth and thick at any volume. My main gigging amp is a Princeton Reverb II. I have a sf princeton reverb here too. Deluxe reverbs are also killers. Great for jazzy cleans and also for smooth power tube breakup. 6v6 amps are the lesser known champions of working players all over the world.
El34 amps of course are killer, but louder and more robust.
6l6 are all about headroom.
El84s are about spank and drive.
6v6 is like having 6l6s, but not needing to run them as loud to get creamy and full tones.
Winner for fat cleans at club volumes.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

My Mesa Blue Angel uses 6v6s..and EL84s- both together or separately. So it can have the low middy thing of the 6v6s mixed with the chime of the el84s.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

I've had a few...

1964 Fender 6G2 Princeton

6G2reverbstack1.jpg


1963 Gibson GA-19RVT Falcon

HMFalcon.jpg


1965 Fender Vibro Champ

VCKlon.jpg


1965 Ampeg Reverberocket (this one has 7591As for output, but they are very 6V6-ish)

HMAmpeg.jpg


1965 Supro S6416T Trojan Tremolo (sold)

64Supro16T.jpg


1962 Magnatone Custom 440 (sold)

440b.jpg


No pictures of the 1965 Deluxe Reverb or '60s Silvertone 1481, both sold long ago unfortunately.

I obviously love 6V6-based amps. To me, they offer the perfect blend of fat but clear cleans and a really rich sounding overdrive that still has bite. I've owned EL84s and 6L6ers and neither have the 'right' mids for me. The only other tubes I really like to hear are EL34s/KT66s and those designs are typically way more power than I need.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

This thread has inspired me to pull out my Laney and give it a go thru my Wizard-loaded cab!
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

I've got a little Princeton inspired amp head a guy made for himself and I traded him for it, and he said it was biased to take a 6L6. I used it that way for a long time, and then took it in for a check up. The tech said he wondered why that tube was used and recomended a 6V6, so I got one and put it in there.

There's not a ton of difference in the basic tone, but I can say for certain, that now that amp sounds like it isn't trying so hard to sound good. It just made it sound right. It's a little crunch machine when it's dimed, and takes my pedals well enough. Not quite loud enough for any kind of headroom without micing it, but the tone is really good now.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

guitfiddle said:
There's not a ton of difference in the basic tone, but I can say for certain, that now that amp sounds like it isn't trying so hard to sound good. It just made it sound right. It's a little crunch machine when it's dimed, and takes my pedals well enough. Not quite loud enough for any kind of headroom without micing it, but the tone is really good now.
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6V6-based amps more than just about any other need to be treated almost like fuzz pedals - crank 'em up and roll back your guitar's volume knob for cleans. You'll still have plenty of volume happening and they'll be the best sounding cleans you've ever heard.

Listen to the '50s jazz players - they were all playing through 6V6-based amps - plenty of clean headroom on those records.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

Both of my two amps run 6v6s. The main amp is a THD Univalve which can run almost any tube in it and the other one is a VHT Special 6.

I've tried EL34, 6L6 and 6550 in addition to the 6v6 in the THD and I like the 6v6 the best. The differences aren't ground breaking but somehow it's the most pleasing and characterful tube to my ears in the amp.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

Is there one type of design that exemplifies the 6V6 sound? For 6L6, I think big fenders, EL34's are JTM/JMP/JCM's, EL84's are Vox's, but what about the 6V6? Deluxe Reverb?
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

Agileguy_101 said:
Is there one type of design that exemplifies the 6V6 sound? For 6L6, I think big fenders, EL34's are JTM/JMP/JCM's, EL84's are Vox's, but what about the 6V6? Deluxe Reverb?
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My favorites are ones with 6-series preamp tubes (like 6EU7s, etc) and single tone controls, so the smaller '50s tweed-era dual 6V6 Fenders like the 5E3 Deluxe and similar Gibsons like the Falcon and Ampegs like the Jet or Magnatones like the 213A from around the same era would be my picks.

Deluxe Reverbs are cool (I owned an original fom 1965 a few years ago), but I think they are incredibly overrated amps. The cabs are too small for one, and I can't stand the tone stack in them.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

erksin said:
My favorites are ones with 6-series preamp tubes (like 6EU7s, etc) and single tone controls, so the smaller '50s tweed-era dual 6V6 Fenders like the 5E3 Deluxe and similar Gibsons like the Falcon and Ampegs like the Jet or Magnatones like the 213A from around the same era would be my picks.

Deluxe Reverbs are cool (I owned an original fom 1965 a few years ago), but I think they are incredibly overrated amps. The cabs are too small for one, and I can't stand the tone stack in them.
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Yeah, I was thinking 5E3 or something like that. I've still yet to play into a 5E3 circuit - I really need to find one to play.

Oh, and absolutely AWESOME amp collection. I'm so jealous
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

I've owned an SCXD, a tweaker, and now a DRRI. I love 6v6 breakup in that you get the amp to that warmth and sustain without as much compression and sizzle as EL84s and without the massive volume of EL34s.

Never owned a 6L6 amp.

And, I could say that while the deluxe reverb may be overrated, I think it still serves as at least a good benchmark. The reissue anyways, I think it's sort of at the "low end of the higher end amps" and it's such a widely recorded tone that almost everyone can hear something familiar in it.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

FuseG4 said:
And, I could say that while the deluxe reverb may be overrated, I think it still serves as at least a good benchmark. The reissue anyways, I think it's sort of at the "low end of the higher end amps" and it's such a widely recorded tone that almost everyone can hear something familiar in it.
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Have you clipped the bright cap in yours? It'll take pedals roughly 100x better if you do.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

Agileguy_101 said:
Yeah, I was thinking 5E3 or something like that. I've still yet to play into a 5E3 circuit - I really need to find one to play.

Oh, and absolutely AWESOME amp collection. I'm so jealous
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5E3s are really fun amps - like little fuzz boxes with built-in speakers.

And thatks for the kind words - I feel very lucky to have found the amps I did when I did, no way I could afford these guys now!
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

the deluxe reverb cab is too small, compared to what? they are a pretty decent size 1x12 combo. bigger than a tweed dlx for instance.

in general i dont think the 6v6 has a big bottom end, it has a great mid range and sweet top end.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

jeremy said:
the deluxe reverb cab is too small, compared to what? they are a pretty decent size 1x12 combo. bigger than a tweed dlx for instance.
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Two completely different amps going for two different sounds - IMO, the Blackface circuits want to reproduce a wider freq spread and move some air in the process. The shallow depth of the DR's cab really inhibits this - it's why they're typically so muddy sounding, the bass freqs have no room to fill out. You can't run the Bass knob above 3 on those things without them turning to a sloppy mess.

The 5E3 is a little fuzz box - more focused and honking in the midrange, it doesn't require a bigger cab to reproduce that.

If you ever listen to a DRRI and a PRRI side-by-side (I have), the PRRI actually sounds bigger in terms of freq spread even though it has a smaller speaker.
 
Re: 6v6 amp owners, wussup

i run my dr with the bass on 3 :) i was out in california a few weeks ago and a '66 princeton reverb was the amp i ended up using at the gigs since i couldnt travel with an amp. it was a good little amp but sounded alot smaller than the dr im used to.

ive thought about making a deeper cab for the dr recently actually
 
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