New Tubes = bad tone...

[SFW]

SO I just got in my new Sovtek 6L6WKTs. I was planning on ordering a set of Wing Cs, but I was told by a few people that the new Sovteks sounded really good. Well, not in my amp. It now sounds like I have thrown a wet blanket over my whole amp. I am not happy. What's really pissing me off is that I can't dial enough treble in or bass out- so that its not muffle sounding. GRRRR!!!!
Back to the drawing board. I guess I'll call this a $75 learning experience and go buy the Wing Cs now,

 

[Audioholic]

yeah, and power tubes are so not cheap. Sucks. amazing how tubes can negatively or positively fit an amp. Sometimes its trial and error with each amp.

best of luck

 

[TX6Strings]

Sorry to hear it! I've always heard good things about the wings so hopefully you'll have better luck.

 

[Audioholic]

yeah, winged C's, in my experience, has always been a step up in the right direction.

 

[glpg80]

i run sovtek 6L6WXT's currently and love them. excellent bass response and a nice sweet but clear top end.

how do you have them biased? it may just be the wrong type of tube for your amplifier if your amplifier is voiced dark. winged C's are great but i prefer the sovteks - built like a shit brickhouse. never had a problem with one.

 

[hunter]

I also like the JJ6L6GC, not expensive, but great, big tone.

 

[SFW]

i run sovtek 6L6WXT's currently and love them. excellent bass response and a nice sweet but clear top end.

how do you have them biased? it may just be the wrong type of tube for your amplifier if your amplifier is voiced dark. winged C's are great but i prefer the sovteks - built like a shit brickhouse. never had a problem with one.

They're loaded in my TriAmp. Usually, I have to turn the bass up and the treble adown to get a balanced tone. I've got them biased at 30mA. I can only get them down to 27mA through the bias adjustment right now.

 

[glip22]

i run sovtek 6L6WXT's currently and love them. excellent bass response and a nice sweet but clear top end.

how do you have them biased? it may just be the wrong type of tube for your amplifier if your amplifier is voiced dark. winged C's are great but i prefer the sovteks - built like a shit brickhouse. never had a problem with one.

They're loaded in my TriAmp. Usually, I have to turn the bass up and the treble adown to get a balanced tone. I've got them biased at 30mA. I can only get them down to 27mA through the bias adjustment right now.

What's your plate voltage? You may actually need to bias much hotter.Those amps average about 460 pv. For example if your PV is 460, I would bias to 41ma which is about 63% of maximum dissipation for a 30 watt tube. I never go to 70%. I have a feeling you are biased way too cold

 

[SFW]

I know that I should be able to piggy back a resistor onto the resistor (running them in parallel) to lower the bias voltage. If I have a 120 ohm resistor there now, what value to I add to bring the bias voltage down?

 

[SFW]

i run sovtek 6L6WXT's currently and love them. excellent bass response and a nice sweet but clear top end.

how do you have them biased? it may just be the wrong type of tube for your amplifier if your amplifier is voiced dark. winged C's are great but i prefer the sovteks - built like a shit brickhouse. never had a problem with one.

They're loaded in my TriAmp. Usually, I have to turn the bass up and the treble adown to get a balanced tone. I've got them biased at 30mA. I can only get them down to 27mA through the bias adjustment right now.

What's your plate voltage? You may actually need to bias much hotter.Those amps average about 460 pv. For example if your PV is 460, I would bias to 41ma which is about 63% of maximum dissipation for a 30 watt tube. I never go to 70%. I have a feeling you are biased way too cold

The Shield grid voltage is 490V.

 

[Motorpud]

What's your plate voltage? You may actually need to bias much hotter.Those amps average about 460 pv. For example if your PV is 460, I would bias to 41ma which is about 63% of maximum dissipation for a 30 watt tube. I never go to 70%. I have a feeling you are biased way too cold

This is what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure most of the time they should be in the high 30s to lows 40s, in my experience anyway.

 

[glip22]

i run sovtek 6L6WXT's currently and love them. excellent bass response and a nice sweet but clear top end.

how do you have them biased? it may just be the wrong type of tube for your amplifier if your amplifier is voiced dark. winged C's are great but i prefer the sovteks - built like a shit brickhouse. never had a problem with one.

They're loaded in my TriAmp. Usually, I have to turn the bass up and the treble adown to get a balanced tone. I've got them biased at 30mA. I can only get them down to 27mA through the bias adjustment right now.

What's your plate voltage? You may actually need to bias much hotter.Those amps average about 460 pv. For example if your PV is 460, I would bias to 41ma which is about 63% of maximum dissipation for a 30 watt tube. I never go to 70%. I have a feeling you are biased way too cold

The Shield grid voltage is 490V.

So your PV is probably around 480. This should be with tubes in. You can pull one tube and measure with your probes at pins 3 & 8 Negative througn the socket. Even with a 480 pv you should be biased to at least 39ma. Measure your plate voltage at 3 & 8 just to be sure. 10-20 volts do not make much difference in the calculation.

 

[SFW]

lol! Tubestore.com is not winning a return purchase. The tubes range in bias from 38.4mA to 32.1mA across the four power tubes. So much for the "perfect pair."

 

[glip22]

lol! Tubestore.com is not winning a return purchase. The tubes range in bias from 38.4mA to 32.1mA across the four power tubes. So much for the "perfect pair."

They suck with their matching. TC tubes has been totally awesome. They are one of the best when it comes to testing and the service is awesome as well. I have even had a single tube replaced by them that still matched perfectly with the other three. They keep records on what grades they sell you. I bought a pair of GE6L6 from them and was surprised when I got an email telling me if I still had the SED 6L6 I had purchased from them in the amp, the GE's should bias up the same. They did to the exact MA.

 

[droptrd]

lol! Tubestore.com is not winning a return purchase. The tubes range in bias from 38.4mA to 32.1mA across the four power tubes. So much for the "perfect pair."

They suck with their matching. TC tubes has been totally awesome. They are one of the best when it comes to testing and the service is awesome as well. I have even had a single tube replaced by them that still matched perfectly with the other three. They keep records on what grades they sell you. I bought a pair of GE6L6 from them and was surprised when I got an email telling me if I still had the SED 6L6 I had purchased from them in the amp, the GE's should bias up the same. They did to the exact MA.

TC tubes?

 

[SFW]

Well, as I said above, the tube bias measurements are acattered all over the place, but raising the current has helped the tone. I think I had it way too cold. I think I may actually like these tubes a bit now. Next I'll have to get a quad that are actually matched.

 

[glip22]

Well, as I said above, the tube bias measurements are acattered all over the place, but raising the current has helped the tone. I think I had it way too cold. I think I may actually like these tubes a bit now. Next I'll have to get a quad that are actually matched.

Cool!! At that PV you were so cold it was no wondor your highs and lows sucked. Vinatge Genelex would have sounded like crap at that bias. 63% is usually my favorite in most heads I have had. Some like a little bit colder but not much.

 

[glpg80]

Well, as I said above, the tube bias measurements are acattered all over the place, but raising the current has helped the tone. I think I had it way too cold. I think I may actually like these tubes a bit now. Next I'll have to get a quad that are actually matched.

Cool!! At that PV you were so cold it was no wondor your highs and lows sucked. Vinatge Genelex would have sounded like crap at that bias. 63% is usually my favorite in most heads I have had. Some like a little bit colder but not much.

i recommend 56% if you are experiencing "chewy" lows and feeling at 63% PD for any 6L6 type. bias them warmer for low volume playing, and a bit colder for high volume playing.

your response will improve, tube life will improve, and so will your cleans.

biasing can affect tone in alot of ways. this has been mine as well as other well known tech's experiences that i know.

 

[glip22]

lol! Tubestore.com is not winning a return purchase. The tubes range in bias from 38.4mA to 32.1mA across the four power tubes. So much for the "perfect pair."

They suck with their matching. TC tubes has been totally awesome. They are one of the best when it comes to testing and the service is awesome as well. I have even had a single tube replaced by them that still matched perfectly with the other three. They keep records on what grades they sell you. I bought a pair of GE6L6 from them and was surprised when I got an email telling me if I still had the SED 6L6 I had purchased from them in the amp, the GE's should bias up the same. They did to the exact MA.

TC tubes?

http://tctubes.com/

When they say they are burned in, they are. Bias drift is practically nil.

 

[glip22]

Well, as I said above, the tube bias measurements are acattered all over the place, but raising the current has helped the tone. I think I had it way too cold. I think I may actually like these tubes a bit now. Next I'll have to get a quad that are actually matched.

Cool!! At that PV you were so cold it was no wondor your highs and lows sucked. Vinatge Genelex would have sounded like crap at that bias. 63% is usually my favorite in most heads I have had. Some like a little bit colder but not much.

i recommend 56% if you are experiencing "chewy" lows and feeling at 63% PD for any 6L6 type. bias them warmer for low volume playing, and a bit colder for high volume playing.

your response will improve, tube life will improve, and so will your cleans.

biasing can affect tone in alot of ways. this has been mine as well as other well known tech's experiences that i know.

56 is cool also. We're only talking 2 ma or so difference.