Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

M

Mephis

New member
So I bought some GT tubes since one of the tubes in my 6505+ was pretty much shot, all the pins feel like they're about to fall out.

Anyway, I went to guitar center and they wanted nearly $200 for a quad and I told them no way.

They sold me 2 duets with the same power rating for $50.

I just got home and checked the numbers on the tubes and something isn't right.

One set is GT6L6R (AKA 6L6B) and the other GT6L6 GE.

Are these safe to run in my amp at the same time? They're both power rated at 6. I know one set will wear out before the other, I just want to know if I'm taking any risks with my amp.

I just looked it up and the 6L6R is a 5881 copy and the 6L6GE is a copy of the GE clear top tubes. I assume it's perfectly safe to run these and maybe even make for an interesting tone. I just want to make sure my tranny don't go up in smoke.
 
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Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

Should be OK. Make sure to pair each set together, as they push/pull off each other. Put one pair in the two middle slots, and the other pair in the two outer slots. Make sure to bias them. I personally would rather have all tubes the same type, but I don't believe you'll hurt anything as long as you pair and bias them.
 
Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

Ok I installed them. I'm gonna power it up and see what we have.
 
Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

You can always call GT. They're pretty responsive.

I agree with disturb. You should be ok. The one thing that GT receommends is that you stick with tubes with the same rating numbers (if you're using GT tubes), in order to avoid having to re-bias. If the numbers are different, then you should definitely check the bias to avoid problems.
 
Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

I just powered up and played for a bit, the amp sounds wonderful.

The 6L6R's don't see to glow as bright as the 6L6GEs, but it's clean as hell and sounds good.
 
Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

Mephis said:
I just powered up and played for a bit, the amp sounds wonderful.

The 6L6R's don't see to glow as bright as the 6L6GEs, but it's clean as hell and sounds good.
Click to expand...


Check the bias anyway, to be safe. If they're not glowing as bright they may be running cool, or the 6L6GE's were running too hot.
 
Re: Bought some new tubes, question about GT numbers.

It's a 6505+ the bias adjustment isn't going to do much.

When it's too hot you lose lowend and definition, when it's too cold it just sounds like piss, to me it sounds pretty well dead on. It's by far the best the amp has ever sounded, geesh the clean channel sounds amazing now.


I've had it running balls out for a little over an hour now, everything is working great.
 
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