ajharris1215
New member
anyone know which 6L6's yield the best results in a VH4?
wasn't the VH4 originally designed to run 6L6's?
wasn't the VH4 originally designed to run 6L6's?
VH4/6L6
- Thread starter ajharris1215
- Start date
guitarobert
Member
It's a different beast with 6L6s. I have been bouncing back and forth between them and EL34s. I really like the TAD 6L6GCSTRs. It gives a tone that is very different from what you hear with EL34s. The Ruby 6L6GCMSTRs are good too.
guitarobert
Member
Just my opinion, but I'd compare them like this. For cleans 6L6s win hands-down. You get a much more full tone with more bass and high end shimmer that the EL34s don't have. 6L6s really show what the VH4's clean channel can do. In fact I noticed John Fogerty mentioned in a recent interview in Guitar Player that he switched to using VH4s and Herberts specifically for their clean channels.
For distortion they're very different. EL34s have more Marshall "growl" to them when a note is ringing out. I really like that quality. But 6L6s have a more interesting transient response to me. So when you're picking notes and releasing your fingers to change to another chord you can hear some "chunk" with it. My main complaint is that 6L6s seem to generate a lot of high frequencies though, so it can sound shrill while notes are ringing out. I run an EQ in the effects loop which has a low and high end shelf filter. I set the high so that it rolls off above around 4kHz and it gets rid of that shrill pretty well. Sounds good then!
For distortion they're very different. EL34s have more Marshall "growl" to them when a note is ringing out. I really like that quality. But 6L6s have a more interesting transient response to me. So when you're picking notes and releasing your fingers to change to another chord you can hear some "chunk" with it. My main complaint is that 6L6s seem to generate a lot of high frequencies though, so it can sound shrill while notes are ringing out. I run an EQ in the effects loop which has a low and high end shelf filter. I set the high so that it rolls off above around 4kHz and it gets rid of that shrill pretty well. Sounds good then!
ajharris1215
New member
frantic77":jgwm3x8x said:
i'm reluctant to run an eq with my VH4, but this is how it should be done...
go out the VH4's send 1, into the eq. then out of the eq into the VH4's serial return.
VH4 Send 1 --> eq input --> eq output --> VH4 Serial Return
this method will run the eq on all channels all the time. if you just want it on channels 3 and 4, you can use the channel inserts with Y-cables, or just program your midi pedal to bypass/turn off the eq when you switch to channels 1 and 2...
thanks everyone for the input on the tubes...
