Post by scottunzicker on Apr 17, 2017 11:44:11 GMT -7
Howdy all. After installing a matched quad of medium-grade Tung Sol 5881s in my Z-Lux and gigging that set up a few times now, I thought I'd share a few impressions.
Short Version: They're staying. I really, really like their relative clarity and extra punch over the JJ 6V6s. If I were more into "crunch," I'd keep the JJs, but, as a blues player for about 20 years here in Austin, I've come prefer articulation over grind. Think more Jimmie Vaughan ca. 1979 than Johnny Winter.
Longer Version: I'd read about Dr. Z's experimentation with the Tung Sol 5881s in another thread, and seeing as I've always been mostly a Fender guy ('71 Vibrolux, '66 Super Reverb, '95 Vibro King), I wanted to put his commentary that the 5881s made the Z a little more "fender-like" to the test. A reason I never bought a Deluxe, by the way, is that I'd never been a fan of the way 6V6s sounded when pushed really hard. Being as they were different beasts, though, I went ahead bought my Z Lux (in blackout, btw) back in January. I absolutely loved the tone straight out of the box. The built in tremolo and reverb are a MUST for me, as I'm firmly in the guitar-cable-amp camp of players (I gig about 3-4 nights most weeks, btw., in addition to my full time gig as a technical writer - yes, my wife is extremely patient). Even though it wasn't as prominent as in a Deluxe, though, the sorta-scratchiness in the upper-mids of the 6V6s were there when I had the Z Lux going really hard. It was still a great tone, but, again, after seeing the Good Doctor's commentary, I decided to try the 5881s.
Well, not only did the mid-scratchiness go away, the amp, if possible, became even more 3-dimensional, articulate, and "punchy," to my ears, anyway. There seems to be somewhat more volume than with the 6V6s, though not obnoxiously so. The treble response has smoothed out a bit, to my ears, and the bass is tighter. And yes, the mids seem more "scooped" a la a blackface sound.
Ah, I should also mention the guitar lineup. On my usual Tuesday gigs, the bandleader has expressed in no uncertain terms her preference for humbuckers, so I plug in a very convincing replica of a Jimmy Page #2 Les Paul, with Thro Bak pickups, paper in oil caps with good pots. Another gig calls for my ES335 with Lollar Imperials. And for the soul band, I use my '95 Fender Custom Shop 50's Mary Kaye strat w/old Lindy Fralin pickups. Only with the strat do I ever use the "boost" function, and then only sparingly. I find humbuckers drive the preamp plenty to get the tones I want, and, again, I only use the boost sparingly with the strat (by way of a 1/4" plug with a 500k audio taper pot I soldered onto it, acting just like the boost pedal Dr. Z sells).
Anyhoo, if y'all can think of anything else I should add to this description, let me know.
Thanks, and keep on pickin'.
Short Version: They're staying. I really, really like their relative clarity and extra punch over the JJ 6V6s. If I were more into "crunch," I'd keep the JJs, but, as a blues player for about 20 years here in Austin, I've come prefer articulation over grind. Think more Jimmie Vaughan ca. 1979 than Johnny Winter.
Longer Version: I'd read about Dr. Z's experimentation with the Tung Sol 5881s in another thread, and seeing as I've always been mostly a Fender guy ('71 Vibrolux, '66 Super Reverb, '95 Vibro King), I wanted to put his commentary that the 5881s made the Z a little more "fender-like" to the test. A reason I never bought a Deluxe, by the way, is that I'd never been a fan of the way 6V6s sounded when pushed really hard. Being as they were different beasts, though, I went ahead bought my Z Lux (in blackout, btw) back in January. I absolutely loved the tone straight out of the box. The built in tremolo and reverb are a MUST for me, as I'm firmly in the guitar-cable-amp camp of players (I gig about 3-4 nights most weeks, btw., in addition to my full time gig as a technical writer - yes, my wife is extremely patient). Even though it wasn't as prominent as in a Deluxe, though, the sorta-scratchiness in the upper-mids of the 6V6s were there when I had the Z Lux going really hard. It was still a great tone, but, again, after seeing the Good Doctor's commentary, I decided to try the 5881s.
Well, not only did the mid-scratchiness go away, the amp, if possible, became even more 3-dimensional, articulate, and "punchy," to my ears, anyway. There seems to be somewhat more volume than with the 6V6s, though not obnoxiously so. The treble response has smoothed out a bit, to my ears, and the bass is tighter. And yes, the mids seem more "scooped" a la a blackface sound.
Ah, I should also mention the guitar lineup. On my usual Tuesday gigs, the bandleader has expressed in no uncertain terms her preference for humbuckers, so I plug in a very convincing replica of a Jimmy Page #2 Les Paul, with Thro Bak pickups, paper in oil caps with good pots. Another gig calls for my ES335 with Lollar Imperials. And for the soul band, I use my '95 Fender Custom Shop 50's Mary Kaye strat w/old Lindy Fralin pickups. Only with the strat do I ever use the "boost" function, and then only sparingly. I find humbuckers drive the preamp plenty to get the tones I want, and, again, I only use the boost sparingly with the strat (by way of a 1/4" plug with a 500k audio taper pot I soldered onto it, acting just like the boost pedal Dr. Z sells).
Anyhoo, if y'all can think of anything else I should add to this description, let me know.
Thanks, and keep on pickin'.