THD yellow jackets

[firebirdVII]

I was wondering if these actually produce good sounds. I know that it would depend on your amp and such, but if there is some fundamental flaw that makes everything sound bad, I would like to know.

I was thinking that putting two el84s into a 60 or 100 watt mesa would be fun, so you can get all of the preamp and power tube distortion at reasonable levels...

Lastly, these can't damage anything, can they?

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: THD yellow jackets

they are interesting
It makes everything yu put them in a bit Vox like.

The kicker is that a lot of amps were designed with certain things in mind as far as how the components such as Tranny's and caps etc work with certain tube types. We all know tube types change tones with different harmonics accentuated.

There is MUCH debate on this topic.

That being said, I can tell you I used to mix them with the 6L6's in my heartbreaker with AMAZING results. Tightened up the amp and creamed up the distortion.

on the other hand THEY SUCK in my Marshall. Mixed with El34's it gave a certain Harshness and to top it off a QUARTET of JJ's ain a MArshall have a magic tone meant to be preserved - therefore I prefer a Hot PLate.

I ran them again in my Mesa Mark 2b with 6L6's and it gave a great chimey tone but they lack the fullness the amp was built to have (of course)

So if you want to attenuate volume or get certain creaminess to the tone of your amp, and a class A feel - they are a safe, unobtrusive and easily reversible mod. They are a good price as well.

On the other hand, on certain amps (incl my Mark 2) you will bring out certain frequencies that are subtle but annoying to tone geeks like us. So you never know. A well designed amp usually has some Mojo that the maker intended. I can attest to that with Bogners, Mojave's, Roccafortes, etc where Yellow Jackets while giving you a unique tone, will take from the magic mojo that the amp had built in. Mojo being that subtle flavor you just can't explain, but it's a magic tone.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: THD yellow jackets

I used them in a Crate Blue Voodoo and it sounded terrible with the 84s.

 

[aleclee]

Re: THD yellow jackets

Unlike OM, I thought that they sounded good in a Marshall. We probably had different tonal expectations, though. Even with the YJs, the amp was still pretty loud before it gave up the goods.

 

[Koreldyre]

Re: THD yellow jackets

I was wondering if these actually produce good sounds. I know that it would depend on your amp and such, but if there is some fundamental flaw that makes everything sound bad, I would like to know.

I was thinking that putting two el84s into a 60 or 100 watt mesa would be fun, so you can get all of the preamp and power tube distortion at reasonable levels...

Lastly, these can't damage anything, can they?

There is a fundamental flaw in yellow jackets in that they are designed to reduce the power each power tube delivers and therefore generate more power tube distortion. However the actual desired effect is "power amp distortion" which comes from the power tubes driving the output transformer into saturation; this is "sag", "sing", etc. So what happens is you get 30 watts out of the tubes which can in no way drive a 100 watt transformer into saturation. What you are hearing is signal clipping/distortion, sure, but it sounds nothing like actual cranked EL84 amp magic.

 

[firebirdVII]

Re: THD yellow jackets

Thanks to all.

 

[aleclee]

Re: THD yellow jackets

However the actual desired effect is "power amp distortion" which comes from driving the output transformer into saturation; this is "sag", "sing", etc.

OTOH, "crunch" is often an artifact of PI clipping. The funny thing about that is that in many of those amps, it's difficult if not impossible to drive the power tubes into clipping.

 

[firebirdVII]

Re: THD yellow jackets

Well it still seems like a relatively cheap thing to have fun with. Not that cheap though.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: THD yellow jackets

would they reduce the strain on the PT because of less heater current? I'm pondering sticking these in my DRRI....

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: THD yellow jackets

I've used them with both good & bad results:

Great with a UniValve
Good with a Hiwatt DR504
So-so in a Marshall JCM800
Not good in a Splawn Quick Rod

So I'm guessing certain circuits maybe just don't jive with them or it could be a taste vs expectations kind of thing.

If you can find a few inexpensive used ones, they are fun & worth trying.

If they don't work for ya' you can always sell them on the UniValve Forum...good place to look into picking them up too!