Mod 50

[Jeff Hilligan]

Give the JJ 6V6's a run! I am really diggin them...

 

[Buckeyedog]

Man, I just put the JJ E34L's in and they smash man!! Wow!! They sounded just ok in my Egnater amp build, but kill in the Mod 50. Funny, the KT77's sounded pretty good in the Mod 50 but awesome in the class build! Interesting.

Just got the 5881's and 6v6's in the mail, so I'll have to try them this week. Tough to take the E34L's out though.........sweet

I do need that footswitch though.......I'll be mega pissed if I can't gig this thing in Sep. due to no footswitch. Got a Randall RF4 on order from Sam Ash, so hopefully they'll get in by the end of the month like they said. All the stores are out of stock right now.

 

[Buckeyedog]

I'm so ate up. I have Winged C el34's, GTM EL34's, JJE34L's, Chinese 6L6's, Ruby EL34's and I ordered some Tung Sol 5881's and JJ 6V6's!! I love tubes!! I think the Winged C's are my fav so far. Gotta try the JJE34L's next. Man, this amp is fun..........

Jesus Christ thats alot of tubes! Ive been running the Tung-Sol 5881s because my main sound is a mix of Fender and Marshall modules and those seem to give me the best compromise. If I were running VX and SL2, Id absolutley use EL34s. Similarly, if I was using T/D and E-Rect, Id use 6L6s.

The Tung-Sol 5881s are great long lasting tubes though. Mine have been pushed alot loud for a few months.

Yeah, I just can't help myself!! It's so addicting man............especially now with this amp and the ease at which you can do the power tube swap. So cool

 

[richedie]

Man, I just put the JJ E34L's in and they smash man!! Wow!! They sounded just ok in my Egnater amp build, but kill in the Mod 50. Funny, the KT77's sounded pretty good in the Mod 50 but awesome in the class build! Interesting.

Just got the 5881's and 6v6's in the mail, so I'll have to try them this week. Tough to take the E34L's out though.........sweet

I do need that footswitch though.......I'll be mega pissed if I can't gig this thing in Sep. due to no footswitch. Got a Randall RF4 on order from Sam Ash, so hopefully they'll get in by the end of the month like they said. All the stores are out of stock right now.

What do you like about them over the Winged EL34s? Keep us posted on your findings bro! I may order some of those JJs as well! I loved the JJ EL34s in my H&K.

How about preamp tubes?

 

[richedie]

What do you like about them over the Winged EL34s? Keep us posted on your findings bro! I may order some of those JJs as well! I loved the JJ EL34s in my H&K.

How about preamp tubes?

A very strange occurance as well. I have the stock EL34s. After I biased a bit hot to about 40.5, I took it to rehearsal. At reheasal I noticed I had a lot less cut than the prior week and it was more muddy.
I got home and checked the bias. It had drifted to about 49! WTF?

So, I set it back to about 39.5 or so which is how it was stock and now it sounds great. Why the drift?

Also, do I need to bias both tubes individually or just one and then check the other as I did the other night? Weird. The manual talks about checking the second tube at +3 to the first tube to check for a matches pair. It is all a bit confusing but I think I am getting it straightened out.

 

[jmgman69]

What do you like about them over the Winged EL34s? Keep us posted on your findings bro! I may order some of those JJs as well! I loved the JJ EL34s in my H&K.

How about preamp tubes?

A very strange occurance as well. I have the stock EL34s. After I biased a bit hot to about 40.5, I took it to rehearsal. At reheasal I noticed I had a lot less cut than the prior week and it was more muddy.
I got home and checked the bias. It had drifted to about 49! WTF?

So, I set it back to about 39.5 or so which is how it was stock and now it sounds great. Why the drift?

Also, do I need to bias both tubes individually or just one and then check the other as I did the other night? Weird. The manual talks about checking the second tube at +3 to the first tube to check for a matches pair. It is all a bit confusing but I think I am getting it straightened out.

A slight bump or something like that could cause that,it happens,you can check both tubes to see if they match by simply taking both probes of the DVM in test points 1&2 and the reading should be within .05 or something close to that..

 

[richedie]

I assume before you can test to see if it is a match, you have to bias each tube individually...correct?

 

[Buckeyedog]

I assume before you can test to see if it is a match, you have to bias each tube individually...correct?

You'll be able to tell when you switch your red lead to the other tube. They should be reading close to the other one already. Just go back and forth a few times and tweak them.....they should be within a few ma of each other. The tubes are either fairly closely matched or they are not. If the readings are way off, then they are not a matched set.

Oh, and it's tough to answer about the tubes. It also may be due to bias as well. I just found the E34L's to be really nice and punchy with tight bass even on the bassman. But I did bias them a bit hotter, so that may be it. I'm really beginning to believe that almost any decent power tube will sound good in this thing. It's an amazing amp. Still have to try the 5881's and 6v6's though!!

 

[richedie]

So the JJs still sound better than the SEDs? How hot were they each biased?

 

[Buckeyedog]

I don't know....probably pretty close as far as which one's are better. I had the JJ's around 40 or a bit above and I think I had the SED's at around 35. I'd have to do some quick swaps to really tell. This amp is just a scream man.