EL34s and Clean Tone

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shogunlegend

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i've read that EL34s just can't produce the sparkling clean tones that 6L6s can. from my experience, 6L6 amps do tend to sound cleaner, smoother, and a little more sparkly.

marshall, for instance, has legendary clean tones as well. some people even like them better that fender cleans. i'm not an experienced amp expert by any stretch of the imagination, but i have owned and played many tube amps. in my experience, this does tend to be true. what i want to know is what EL34 amps, besides marshall, have the best most sparkly and pristine clean tones.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

I think the difference in tones has more to do with the overall design of an amp's circuit than it does the types of power tubes being used (all other things being equal).

While it may be true that most amps running EL34s tend to break up sooner (and more warmly) than those which traditionally use 6L6s, there are enough exceptions to the rule to make me wonder if it's as due to tube type as most people think.

The Bogner Uberschall is one amp that runs on EL34s that has an astoundingly clean & chimey clean channel.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

with the price tags on those bogners, i would expect perfection!
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Magnatones and some hi-fi designs run EL34s or variants pretty clean...the big bottle 6CA7 is a great sub if you want more of a 6L6GC/beam power character
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Yes, the sound does depends on the circuit also.

Nevertheless, I would say that if you like chimey and bell like clean tone, EL34 would provide that.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

shogunlegend said:
i've read that EL34s just can't produce the sparkling clean tones that 6L6s can. from my experience, 6L6 amps do tend to sound cleaner, smoother, and a little more sparkly.
Click to expand...

I find 6L6s are generally stronger on the top and bottom end, with more dynamic cleans.

EL34s have a stronger midrange and tend to compress a little sooner.

marshall, for instance, has legendary clean tones as well. some people even like them better that fender cleans. i'm not an experienced amp expert by any stretch of the imagination, but i have owned and played many tube amps. in my experience, this does tend to be true. what i want to know is what EL34 amps, besides marshall, have the best most sparkly and pristine clean tones.
Click to expand...

Hiwatt

Orange is also a relatively clean EL34 based amp, but it's known for it's early overdrive and always having a little bit of hair on it's tone.... hardly a sparkly or pristine clean IMO.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Good call on the Hiwatt.

A Matchless Chieftain might get you there, also.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

I'm pretty sure the Mesa 5:50 is loaded with el34's... when I demo's the 5:50, I was blown away by the cleans. I compared this to the Rectoverb combo (not my fav), a lone star, and the Roadster. The 5:50 had the best cleans IMO, even better than the lone star which just seemed waay over the top bright and very loud (piercing), although to be fair, some eq adjustment might have helped. The Roadster was better (and louder) than everything, but also 3 times as much.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

na, it has 5 12ax7 and 2 6L6 tubes. but you're right, it has supreme cleans. that's what saved me from trading this amp was the cleans. the distortion and crunch is uber good too, but can't get enough for metal. with a pedal though, it's everything and then some. metal muff + mesa = DEATH METAL!

the 5:25 is the one with el34s. it sounds like vox and marshall mergered or something. best sounding 25 watt combo i've ever played in my life. great in studio, but won't make a dent live.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Well, so far my Matchless Chieftain with E-34L's has beaten all the Fender 6L6 amps I've put next to it, like the Bassman LTD, Concert Reverb, Blues Pearl Texas Tornado, Peavey Classic 50, and a few others.

EL-34 cleans don't sound exactly like 6L6's, but depending on the overall amp, it can be better, worse, or different. I don't have any strong preference.....I like any amp that sounds great, no matter what the tube type is. I'm not even a big fan of 6V6's, but the Tone King amps are about the best I've ever heard for cleans.......Knopfler thinks so too.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

maybe there are plenty of people who disagree, but i think marshall cleans are up there with the best. my DSL 100 head cranked about halfway has some of the best cleans i've EVER heard. unlike the DSL 50 which breaks up quite a bit past a quarter of the volume turn, the DSL 100 has superb cleans and sounds better the louder it gets.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Marshall cleans are definitely nice. But I think they're more known for their crunch and brawny, thick distortion. Marshall is definitely a good amp maker, but the smooth-as-butter cleans you get from a Mesa or sparkling and chimey cleans Fenders put out kind of steer me more in their direction. I agree that 6L6s do send to sound cleaner and purer but I wouldn't say that EL-34s can't sound perfectly clean, they'll just sound different.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Firstly, 6CA7 is just the US designation for EL34, they aren't different tube types, just as 12AX7/ECC83 are the same tube.

I have a custom made, 100w 2 x 12 combo based on a Fender Bassman's preamp circuit, but with 4 EL34's, and it has absolutely stunning clean sounds. I think people tend to associate 6L6's with the Fender tone and EL34's with the Marshall tone for the obvious reasons, but I believe that has more to do with the preamp designs than the power tubes. The only way you could really tell would be to run the various preamp stages into both types of power tubes to define the difference. In a way, that's what this amp has done, and the result is that because of the preamp design, the amp leans heavily toward the Fender side and really doesn't sound like a Marshall at all, despite the fact that it is running EL34's. As a power stage to drive the speakers, the EL34's deliver clarity and punch at any volume, whilst still staying clean and well defined.



Cheers............................wahwah
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

Its retarded to argue with whah whah, but I have to say being a total brit tone freak and EL34/E34L junkie, I have to say that sometimes I jones for 6L6's definition in the low end, I guess that where I my knewly developed erection for Soldano Avenger comes from. But anyways, people mentioned Hiwatt, yes, Hiwatt has amazing cleans but dont think that the cleans on classic Pink Floyd albums are Hiwatt, most of those cleans are actually Fender on the recordings. I am perfectly happy with my cleans on my AOR as it gets me that Live in Japan/Catch the Rainbow kinda cleans that I love the most. I think that Fender can do great cleans with any guitar, with EL34/E34Ls you need to be more concious about the wood. Les Pauls sound of control to my ears through clean Marshalls,
Alder/Ash/Basswood strat based guitars, especially with the neck pup on sound fantastic through brit circuits with EL34s.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

all i can say is that all those expensive amps can probably be rivaled by the mesa boogie 5:50. that little amp has some of hte best cleans i've heard (6L6 by the way). i'm quite happy with the cleans on that amp. as for my marshall, that's where my main rhythm/lead tones are going to come from. as far as marshall cleans, i'd put them up there with the best of the best.
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

The 'fat boy' 6CA7 is to a small bottle EL34 what a 7581A is to a 5881...while an equivalent in electrical terms, a very different critter in terms of performance.
Try one sometime...
 
Re: EL34s and Clean Tone

My EL34 equipped Genz Benz El Diablo 60 head gets nice sparkly clean tones from the clean channel.
But I still had to get a 6L6 equipped head too so I got a Fender SuperSonic. The cleans sound fantastic on that one too.
Sometime I should do a closer comparison of the El Diablo's clean to the SuperSonic's Vibrolux clean and really listen to the lower mids and bass. But they both sound sparkly, and the El Diablo doesn't have a hint of grit until I turn the gain up.

I don't have much experience with big-buck amps.
 
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