What are the best power tubes for metal ?

What are the best power tubes for metal ?

  • EL 34

    Votes: 19 42.2%

  • 6L6

    Votes: 17 37.8%

  • 6550

    Votes: 4 8.9%

  • KT88

    Votes: 5 11.1%
  • Total voters
    45
fab.regnaut

fab.regnaut

New member
Between those type of tube witch one do you favor , and why , to play metal in a high gain amp ?
For exemple the little i know is EL 34 tend to be centered on mids with agressive highs , 6L6 have big but loose bottom end and relaxed highs , 6550 have big bottom end but more percusive and lot of headroom but sound colder because don't distort early , and KT88 i don't know .
More experiences ?
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

I didn't vote because the main i know is about EL 34 and i am waiting for a help with this pool to eventually change to an other type ...
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

My choice is most definitely EL34. IMO good metal sound means huge bass sound + defined, middy, biting guitar sound. Because of its defined and moderate low response an EL34 loaded amp leaves pretty much space for bass guitar frequencies and the overall sound of the whole band will be heavier and more focused.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

For sure the 6L6 are bottomy which means they keep the bass sounds clear and not mudded but loud. The highs are tight but with a feeling of slight reverb. They are generally good. I like those
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

6550. Big, tight, focused. Metal/high-gain requires preamp tube gain, so I wouldnt care too much about their late break-up.


6CA7EH is a great metal tube too :D
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

I like the lower midrange sound of a 6L6 loaded Mesa.....I use an EQ to cut off the lower bass frequencies to keep things from getting as loose.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

I like 6L6's for rhythm, lots of very tight lows and low mids, then again I like the EL34's for leads and clean, nicer mids range and and a low end that is centered a little bit higher than the 6L6s. My happy compromise are the JJ/Tesla E34Ls. I have run all three in my Peavey Triple X, the E34Ls have great lows with excellent mid range bite (kind of Uberschall-ish)
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

Yes some EL 34 have more bottom end than others , like the Svetlana logo C have been told , and how are those 6CA7 by Electro Harmonix ?
They say it is a EL34 that sound like a 6L6 ; it would be ideal to mix the strong points of EL34 and 6L6 ?
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

It depends on the amp, because the whole amp is designed around a tube type.
Marshalls and Bogners sound best with EL-34's. Mesas, Soldanos, and Peaveys sound best with 6L6's. My preference is EL-34 for distorted tones and generally 6L6's for clean or bluesy tones. EL-34's distort in a smoother way, so I like them the most.

If you're retubing an amp for metal, I'd go for Svetlana, JJ, or Siemens EL-34's and for preamp tubes, the GT12AX7C's and Sovtek 12AX7LPS are the best two, in my experience.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

Hi,
I use kt88's in a 2-channel dual rectifier with ecc83 preamp tubes and it F**KIN' SMOKES! Well there are my 2 cents.
DJM
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

diatribe said:
Hi,
I use kt88's in a 2-channel dual rectifier with ecc83 preamp tubes and it F**KIN' SMOKES! Well there are my 2 cents.
DJM
Click to expand...
How does it smokes ? i read that KT88 are tonaly in between 6L6 and 6550 ?
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

GJ is right... its more than just a certain tube type its the whole amp... And even within tube families there can be huge sound differences... If its a early MV Marshall I like EL34's With my JCM800 I like 6550's My Mesa MkIV has a pair of 6l6's and a pair of EL34's in it...
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

I really love the sound of el34's especialy when there in a dual recto. but i love the sound of a 5150 even more (el 34 amp)
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

Gearjoneser said:
It depends on the amp, because the whole amp is designed around a tube type.
Marshalls and Bogners sound best with EL-34's. Mesas, Soldanos, and Peaveys sound best with 6L6's. My preference is EL-34 for distorted tones and generally 6L6's for clean or bluesy tones. EL-34's distort in a smoother way, so I like them the most.

If you're retubing an amp for metal, I'd go for Svetlana, JJ, or Siemens EL-34's and for preamp tubes, the GT12AX7C's and Sovtek 12AX7LPS are the best two, in my experience.
Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better. :)
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

Asking what are the best tubes for metal is kind of like asking what is the best fret wire size for playing metal ... there too many variables, as GJ mentioned.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

Nite_Maresz_25 said:
I really love the sound of el34's especialy when there in a dual recto. but i love the sound of a 5150 even more (el 34 amp)
Click to expand...

5150's are 100% 6L6 amps.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

fab.regnaut said:
How does it smokes ? i read that KT88 are tonaly in between 6L6 and 6550 ?
Click to expand...
I had some 6l6 tubes in it before and they seemed kinda harsh and boxy in my amp, the kt's handle the preamp being cranked in a different way, more breath, head room, warmth, before going fuzzy and sounding like crap. These are in the 6l6 family i do beleive and sound kinda the same as a 6l6, but i honestly don't know a whole lot about tubes. www.eurotubes.com Look around on there and you will find out some of the differences and you can e-mail bob with any q's. Make sure you get TONS of info before you make up your mind-It is out there-use it!
DEREK
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

I used to use 6L6s before in my rack setup and I thought they sounded excellent for heavy rythm, but when it came to lead work, I kinda thought they sounded a bit not as good.

Switched my poweramp and the current one has EL34s, it sounds excellent for lead work, but for heavy rythm, i felt those tubes were lacking some low end.

So I decided to go with JJ E34Ls as they have more headroom and they have more lowend punch and a deeper sound then regular EL34s while still keeping the mids crunch. Other wise, go for KT88s.
 
Re: What are the best power tubes for metal ?

+1 on JJ E-34L's. They're just basically EL-34's with 10% more output, so the bass is bigger and there's more clean headroom. I prefer using those on 50W Marshalls, and prefer EL-34's for 100W Marshalls, just because they don't need more headroom.
One thing to consider is that the amp needs to be biased hotter with E-34L's, so if you've got a fixed bias amp for EL-34's, you should just stick with those. If you have a bias trim pot inside, you can generally use the beefier E-34L's.
 
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