Herbert Power Tubes

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tlingen

tlingen

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What's everyone's favorite power tubes or mix of tubes in their Herbert? I just bought a Herbert last week and the tubes age was unknown. So I don't really have a direction yet and wanted to hear what others prefer and why. I've seen Peter's recommendations for EL34BG, EL34BSTR or KT77's. Then on the Diezel site it says EL34BHT or 6L6GC. Is anyone using KT88's or 6550's also? Thanks in advance.
 
most people dont agree with this but i think all 6L6 just roars insanely............and i stand by that
 
others say 6550's are killer, like sed winged ones or i was thinking of getting some old Electro Harmonix ones, or even kt88's in either of those brands, idk

good luck,
 
For me, running six 6550's in the Herb was WAY TOO MUCH power, bottom end and high end.
The power transformer did not like ot either, very hot.

Went to six EL-34BSTR and also tried four EL-34BSTR and Two GT JJ E34L. For some reason I kept the two GT JJ E34L and four EL-34BSTR. Lastly, I tried two SED EL-34 and four SED 6L6GC to see if it had a Simul-Class vibe. It, to my ears was very Boogie esqe, but overall I liked the compression of the six EL-34's.

The VH4 however was instant gratification with four SED 6550's.
 
I have 2 ruby el34bht, 2 winged =C= el34, and 2 winged =C= 6L6 in mine. When I bought it, it came that way and I loved the way it sounded so when I retubed it I bought the same ones.

-Alex
 
MARK2C":92nmln7v said:
For me, running six 6550's in the Herb was WAY TOO MUCH power, bottom end and high end.
The power transformer did not like ot either, very hot.

Went to six EL-34BSTR and also tried four EL-34BSTR and Two GT JJ E34L. For some reason I kept the two GT JJ E34L and four EL-34BSTR. Lastly, I tried two SED EL-34 and four SED 6L6GC to see if it had a Simul-Class vibe. It, to my ears was very Boogie esqe, but overall I liked the compression of the six EL-34's.

The VH4 however was instant gratification with four SED 6550's.
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Mega +1 :thumbsup:
 
For my Herbert KT77s are the best sounding tubes. Very musical tubes.
 
Guten Morgen Onkel Mo.

Es war schön in Dillingen.

Bis später,
Papa Peter
 
Thanks Peter. I have a 2007 Herbert with the bias test points on the back. So I should adjust each pair to 70ma then correct? I have set them at 62ma per pair now and their running very hot even at very low volumes. Any ideas?
 
tlingen":24nligbo said:
Thanks Peter. I have a 2007 Herbert with the bias test points on the back. So I should adjust each pair to 70ma then correct? I have set them at 62ma per pair now and their running very hot even at very low volumes. Any ideas?
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Have you done this before?
 
Ventura, yes I have changed tubes in it before when I owned it a few years ago. Now I just bought it back. This head has the three test points and bias pot for each one behind the back panel. Before powering the head on, I pull the fuse for the pair I want to set/check. Then I power it up with all masters, volumes and gains at zero. Take off standby and set the bias for the pair. Then I flip off standby, power it off, put in that fuse and pull the next fuse out and repeat on each pair 2-3 times total. If I'm doing something wrong, please let me know. I don't understand why at 62ma per pair, playing at volumes you could talk loudly over, why they're getting so hot. I have a temp gun and the back panel was reading 120-125. I'm not blowing fuses and it sounds great. The Marshall cabinet I'm using has four 8ohm WGS speakers and i'm measuring a 6.7ohm load and I'm plugged into the 8ohm jack.
 
tlingen":by5dl7lc said:
Ventura, yes I have changed tubes in it before when I owned it a few years ago. Now I just bought it back. This head has the three test points and bias pot for each one behind the back panel. Before powering the head on, I pull the fuse for the pair I want to set/check. Then I power it up with all masters, volumes and gains at zero. Take off standby and set the bias for the pair. Then I flip off standby, power it off, put in that fuse and pull the next fuse out and repeat on each pair 2-3 times total. If I'm doing something wrong, please let me know. I don't understand why at 62ma per pair, playing at volumes you could talk loudly over, why they're getting so hot. I have a temp gun and the back panel was reading 120-125. I'm not blowing fuses and it sounds great. The Marshall cabinet I'm using has four 8ohm WGS speakers and i'm measuring a 6.7ohm load and I'm plugged into the 8ohm jack.
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Are you reading the right socket points on the exterior chassis? Something tells me you've biased EACH TUBE to 60mA, judging by the heat you mention, and the sound of it.
 
I don't think that's the case but am open to ideas. There are only 3 test points and one common on the back of the head. It looks like this if you can see them in the pic I attached. I don't have a better one right now. There are three red sockets and one back on the right of them to measure each pair. Then each black socket in front of each red sockets is the bias pot for that pair.
 
And for what it's worth, when I bias my amps, the standby is OFF, the power is ON, and there's a load attached to the head - usually my cabinet.

It's a bit more "tense" of a process, due to the live wires, but this is the only way to bias. Furthermore, you want to let the amp run for a while - play it for a bit - and re-test the bias after a good in-house jam-fest to make sure there's not too much deviation from the original bias set up as often, new tubes drift.

Hope this helps, don't get crispy.
 
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