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Post by ubertone on Aug 10, 2006 19:40:23 GMT -7
The KT66s were a little too "bright" for me (russian version) and I wanted to take the edge off so after several consulations with a couple amp gurus across the country, I decided to put in a JJ 6L6 that would provide early breakup (also changed the GE 5AR4 to a JJ GZ34, and replaced the inverter with a match JJ 12AX7 - left the pentode alone)....and the verdict.... - Appears to be less power, can actually run it wide open without blowing my ears out...(with 2x12 @ 4ohms) - this surprised me a bit. - Doesn't have the bright edge as before, which I like. - Bottom end is not as boomy. Much more defined and controlled. - Plenty of grit and dirt and nice breakup. I may be a little too tame , but I am not sure yet. I won't say I castrated the bull....but...
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Post by taswegian on Aug 10, 2006 20:40:01 GMT -7
I'm not sold on the whole 6L6 thing. The amp was designed for KT66's and I like that tone alot more than 6L6's anyway. I think Myles said it best and I quote,
"One thing to keep in mind about the Route 66 ... it has a very pricy ouput transformer that is implemented in ultra-linear fashion. KT-66s love to be run in this way. That is part of the magic of these amps that you miss when using a 6L6 even though they are totally swappable with a bias adjustment."
The bull might be depressed without his nuts ;D
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Post by kledbet on Aug 10, 2006 22:50:58 GMT -7
Which russian version did you have? The Saratov made ones ? they are the best.The Sovtek ones aren't very good. Routes that are to bright might need to have the bias higher... around 37 milliamps. If your is down around 29-33 it will be bright.
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Aug 11, 2006 4:22:27 GMT -7
The first thing I did when I got my 66 (I have one of the first ones) is checked the bias out of curiosity. It was 32mA. I've tried it to as high as 38mA and went back to 32mA.
Here's another Myles quote: "I have learned to just follow the good Doctors suggestions so many times that I don't think about it for as many hours any more (just a few)." I agree with Myles. I have a, *ahem, cough* few Dr. Z amps and have tried experimenting with things like tube selection, bias, etc. I have almost always returned to the stock configs. There's definitely something to be said for customizing an amp to your preferences (Myles is a freaking genius in this area) but the Doc sends out the amps sounding pretty d#$n good. I think he spends a lot of time thinking about things like how a specific tube or type of capacitor will sound best in a circuit, where some amp builders would just put in a "off the shelf" component and think "that's good enough".
PDW
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Post by ubertone on Aug 11, 2006 13:23:26 GMT -7
I came to the conclusion sometime today (before I read the replies ) that the 6L6 isn't the way to go - no harm done (except to the bull) - just need another set of tubes and a fresh rebias. That amp is clearly designed to run with the KT66. However, being a bit of a tone tweaker, I am going to leave in the 6L6 until I can hook up to a V30 loaded 2x12 (Boogie with half-back option) which arrives early next week ;D Right now I am running a closed back Crate Vintage Club 2x12 with Emi Texas Heats. Nice mids and highs, but the lows fart too fast on those speakers. The 6L6 mod made the lows very precise and controlled so I am going to play with that a bit with the other cabinet. Saratov's eh? Wheres the best place to get them? ubertone.
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Post by kledbet on Aug 11, 2006 17:41:29 GMT -7
I know Doug's Tubes... dougstubes.com has them. When I called him he had 100 left from a purchase he made from Groove Tubes. So these are Groove Tubes KT66 HP tubes (from the Saratov factory). I bought 8 of the #6 and 4 of the #4. Doug says the pickings are getting slim. I think the tubestore.com also has some in stock. Unless Sartov is able to make these again we may be out of luck. For me #4-5 seem to work fine, biased at about 36.
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Post by prowler on Aug 11, 2006 18:56:45 GMT -7
I have been buying up as many KT66HP sets as I can. I want to be sure that I'm covered for a long, long time.
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