Soldano Avenger 6L6 vs El34?

[skoora]

Has anyone had experience hearing this amp with the two different tube types. I'm aware of how Soldano feels about doing 34's and that the amp needs some modding to do 34's and that Soldano will do a 34 model for you but was more interested in what real folks who've played through both thought. I played one recently that sounded pretty good but honestly I can hear the 6L6 sound in there and think it could be better for rock with more of the 34 tone in the mids.

 

[SLOgriff]

I've had a handful of Avengers over the years. The standard 6L6/5881 version is the best. I had an EL34 version which sounded pretty good at bedroom levels but farted out when cranked up...lost definition. I read someone else comments that had the same experience as well. Stick with the 5881/6L6 version and you will be well pleased.

Bryan

 

[skoora]

But is it farting out because the depth and bass + preamp are too high at loud volumes? I see a lot of guys run the gain and depth fairly high on these and that's actually not a sound I dig on this amp. Preamp on 3-4 bass below noon and mid treble at about 2'Oclock with depth on 2-3 is where I seem to find a good tight hard rock/metal tone. I find (depending on the pickup) above noon on the gain can get pretty loose in the low end.

Plus I wish, considering how much gain the amp has, that the low input was useable for rock. About as much gain as a stock 2203 per se. I'm surprised bypassing just one gain stage reduces the saturation that much. It's almost as weak as the low input on a 2203.

 

[SLOgriff]

The EL34's just don't mesh well with Soldano's. It has nothing to do with low end...could have been the transformers(Mercury Magnetics) as well but Soldano won't make you an EL34 anything anymore.

The low input on the Avenger bypasses the (V2) 12AX7 which isn't a bad tone, but you do lose a lot of gain which is why there is such a drastic difference.

 

[skoora]

I wonder if there's a mod to tie the low input back into V2A but in a way to be like a stock 2203 level of gain. I know you can turn the preamp down on the high input but I wonder if it would sound better using the low input modded to be hotter. Have the high gain side but also satisfy the 2203 urges too (granted not using EL's) in the low input. The preamp turned down through high was OK but nothing great. This is for classic rock/hard rock kind of gain like a 2203's preamp on 6/7.