Tube discription article

All Those Yesterdays

really descent tube description article. Especially for the newbies.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22739-power-trip-a-guide-to-power-tubes-and-their-signature-sounds

dudeman

Cool article. Thanks for sharing it.

Power tubes definitely play a significant role in guitar tone, particularly in overdrive characteristics but speakers, pickups, strings, technique, outboard processing gear and amplifier circuit topography all play significant roles, too.

Nonetheless, it was a good article with some interesting historical aspects of power tubes.

All Those Yesterdays

And in the end its just the person playing. They will always sound like them. No way around it.

dudeman

That's the truth. The key is to find the right combination of gear so that the equipment you own doesn't limit what you want to achieve with your playing.

mccreadyisgod

Pretty helpful, although I would have liked more depth on the tonal differences between tubes. I discovered a long time ago that power tubes are the most important component in my signal path. I use 5881s in my Sovtek amps, and 6V6s in my Deluxe Reverb and Vibro Champ. I've tried EL34s and EL84s, and could never make my peace with the type. I've even struggled with the traditional 6L6. I don't have much experience with KT66 or KT88, or anything more exotic than that. It's mostly about gain structure and dynamics, drive versus compression, etc. I like to hit those power tubes right at the break-up point, and then use volume controls and overdrive pedals to control where it goes from there. It's a shame (at least for me) that so many good low-wattage tube amps these days are made with EL84s, that is by far my least favorite tube to play thru. I'd almost prefer a Peavey Bandit over EL84 tubes.

All Those Yesterdays

mccreadyisgod said:

Pretty helpful, although I would have liked more depth on the tonal differences between tubes. I discovered a long time ago that power tubes are the most important component in my signal path. I use 5881s in my Sovtek amps, and 6V6s in my Deluxe Reverb and Vibro Champ. I've tried EL34s and EL84s, and could never make my peace with the type. I've even struggled with the traditional 6L6. I don't have much experience with KT66 or KT88, or anything more exotic than that. It's mostly about gain structure and dynamics, drive versus compression, etc. I like to hit those power tubes right at the break-up point, and then use volume controls and overdrive pedals to control where it goes from there. It's a shame (at least for me) that so many good low-wattage tube amps these days are made with EL84s, that is by far my least favorite tube to play thru. I'd almost prefer a Peavey Bandit over EL84 tubes.

I jumped on the low wattage amp train when it first came out with the heavy push. So I had that valve junior. I thought it was power tube drive that I was seeking. And it was. However what I found out over some time is that A: Single ended amps are not my thing. and B. EL84's are way way to fizzy for me. I grew to love the company of dual 6V6s. I've evolved some when I bought a old bassman amp that I intended to play "Bass through" (ODD I KNOW). And I do play bass through it, I bias it really cold (for bass). What I found out though with this amp and its 6L6's is that it is a pretty dang good guitar tone. Through the right cabinet. Now I miss match the cabinets ohms with the head. At first because I didn't have a 4 ohm guitar cabinet. But even after trying 4 ohm cabinets, I prefer the 8 ohm cabinets because the 50 watt head doesn't want to cut my head off to get the tone I want out of the head. So extremely cold 6L6 biased heads are pretty descent tone in my ear. But again I prefer 6V6's