6L6 vs 5881 in the SLO family

[barnesjd]

So my buddy IRL (Mr. Willy here on the forum) jammed with me a week ago and heard my amp (50-watt SLO clone. Mr Willy says it sounds more like a Dual Rect) and me complaining about too much low-end. I also have long giggled about how I keep my mids DIMED and never experiment otherwise. Well, mine has 6L6 and his Soldano SLO100 has 5881s. He hated 6L6s in his because they were really scooped, and the 5881s give a little more compressed tone. Well, sounds like that might solve my lows and mids problems!! BTW, I experiment with treble and presence across the entire spectrum. I don't have this permanent too much/too little feeling about it. That's how I'd like my other controls to be.

Anyone else concur with this experience between 6L6s and 5881s in SLOs or SLO-inspired amps like Dual Recs, 5150s, etc?

Spoiler: I'll probably try it no matter what y'all say but I'm excited and want to geek out until I satisfy my GAS.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Did you check with Curt and see if that is a possibility? If it is, it seems like a good place (less expensive) to start before you have him open the amp up and change parts to tweak the circuit.

 

[baron55]

The 5881 that the SLO's were shipped with is a Russian Military tube which is not a 6L6GC or a 5881, they just happen to be compatible and are very robust and can handle quite a bit of abuse. When Mike Mathews invested and bought the old Reflector Plant these were sold as Sovtek 5881WXT. Many amp companies shipped amps with these tubes because they were almost indestructible and last a long time.

The problem is a REAL 5881 is a 20 watt tube and would die in a SLO. But Since Sovtek sells these Russian Military tubes as 5881's it creates confusion. Now to create even more confusion. New Sensor (Sovtek) sells a tube called a Tung SOL 5881 which is a real 5881 and is only rated for 23 watts and 400v on the plates.

So yes that would explain the sonic difference between a 6L6GC and a Sovtek 5881wxt because they really are not the same tubes.

 

[Racerxrated]

All I know is, when I had my first SLO I tried KT66, 6L6 and even the Sylvania 6L6GC and came back to those wafer bottom Sovtek 5881s as the best sounding tube for my SLO.

 

[DET1973]

All I know is, when I had my first SLO I tried KT66, 6L6 and even the Sylvania 6L6GC and came back to those wafer bottom Sovtek 5881s as the best sounding tube for my SLO.

That's exactly what I thought about my Avenger.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Check out 6L6-WGS Sino tubes. It has a similar EQ and output of 5881s, but is a 6L6 tube. I experimented with a few different tube types in my Hot Rod because I didn't really like the Sovtek 5881's that Soldano uses. I liked the Sino tubes best.

Check out this web page:

https://www.amplifiedparts.com/tech-cor ... made-tubes

 

[barnesjd]

Did you check with Curt and see if that is a possibility? If it is, it seems like a good place (less expensive) to start before you have him open the amp up and change parts to tweak the circuit.

Not yet, but thanks for reminding me.

 

[barnesjd]

The 5881 that the SLO's were shipped with is a Russian Military tube which is not a 6L6GC or a 5881, they just happen to be compatible and are very robust and can handle quite a bit of abuse. When Mike Mathews invested and bought the old Reflector Plant these were sold as Sovtek 5881WXT. Many amp companies shipped amps with these tubes because they were almost indestructible and last a long time.

The problem is a REAL 5881 is a 20 watt tube and would die in a SLO. But Since Sovtek sells these Russian Military tubes as 5881's it creates confusion. Now to create even more confusion. New Sensor (Sovtek) sells a tube called a Tung SOL 5881 which is a real 5881 and is only rated for 23 watts and 400v on the plates.

So yes that would explain the sonic difference between a 6L6GC and a Sovtek 5881wxt because they really are not the same tubes.

Thanks for the thorough details! This will probably go a long way to helping me get this right.

 

[Chester Nimitz]

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[Mr. Willy]

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This is a helpful post. Good job!

 

[Chester Nimitz]

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This is a helpful post. Good job!

Actually i was going to comment about what poor taste Mr. Barnes had regarding a young child in his avatar having a tobacco roll in her mouth but since you asked ...

Is that suppose to be "cool" ? I find it appalling.

 

[Mr. Willy]

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This is a helpful post. Good job!

Actually i was going to comment about what poor taste Mr. Barnes had regarding a young child in his avatar having a tobacco roll in her mouth but since you asked ...

Is that suppose to be "cool" ? I find it appalling.

Oh, I've had avatars off for years now. Never see them.

 

[Mr. Willy]

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This is a helpful post. Good job!

Actually i was going to comment about what poor taste Mr. Barnes had regarding a young child in his avatar having a tobacco roll in her mouth but since you asked ...

Is that suppose to be "cool" ? I find it appalling.

Looked at his avatar. That's his daughter, and I'm 99% sure that's a candy cigarette. It's a spoof on the Randy with a cigarette photo. You can chill out now.

 

[barnesjd]

Looked at his avatar. That's his daughter, and I'm 99% sure that's a candy cigarette. It's a spoof on the Randy with a cigarette photo. You can chill out now.

yeah hell... I thought that would be a hit here on the forum where we love our idol guitarists and crude jokes.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Looked at his avatar. That's his daughter, and I'm 99% sure that's a candy cigarette. It's a spoof on the Randy with a cigarette photo. You can chill out now.

yeah hell... I thought that would be a hit here on the forum where we love our idol guitarists and crude jokes.

Don't mind Chester. He's the local village idiot.

 

[Dale B]

In a real SLO, there wasn't much of a difference for me when I swapped power tubes between a 6L6 and a 5881. I kept the bias where Bill said to keep it which was 25 mA per tube.

 

[SpiderWars]

barnes avatar is awesome and obvious spoof if you've ever seen the original pic. I was just thinking this morning how cute it is. I couldn't even remember who the orig pic was (I was thinking Clapton). Mr Willy's avatar is awesome too (huge Gilmour fan).