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Post by amakitalo on Dec 6, 2008 14:56:18 GMT -7
I am a Galaxie newbie, sort, of in that I bought one from a forum member a couple of months ago already. Haven't posted anything here before, because I wanted to get some time with the amp before expressing any opinions.
Played a gig last weekend. Huge ballroom, 450 people, un-miced with the Airbrake at 3. Just a beautiful tone from both channels. Used a Keeley Katana booster for Ch1 occasionally and Ch2 for more aggressive sounds. Thanks to Tony, as I wouldn't have bought this amp without his sound clips and constant raving about the amp.
I had a set of brand new JJ KT66 tubes around, which I was going to sell. I ended up reading about using them in 6L6 amps and across the board the reviews were pretty much always positive. So, I emailed the Doc and asked if they would work, he said yes I decided to give then a try. Needed to remove the bear trap tube retainers first (KT66 are too fat) then bias the amp and boy do these tubes sound great in the Galaxie! There was nothing wrong with the 6L6 tone, this is just better. Crispier highs, fatter distortion etc., etc. Even more of a blues rock amp than before. Just thought I'll share this.
I now know that the JJ KT66's work with the Galaxie without any issues, but I don't know about other brands, so my recommendation is only for them for the time being.
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Post by T-R☼CK ♫ on Dec 7, 2008 0:26:50 GMT -7
WOW!!.........I never thought of trying KT66's in me Gal....
Curt gave me a set of 6L6WGB's..They tamed it down a little, but...
I LIKE Crisp(er)/Fat(er)..I just may hafta give them(KT's) a go.
You say you had to re-bias, remove/replace a couple parts??...PM me, & let's see what's up there...thx Bruthr...
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Post by T-R☼CK ♫ on Dec 7, 2008 2:00:38 GMT -7
Thanks amakitalo... I'm currently in the process of recovering my Galaxie and 4x10 in tweed... this might be the next step after that! Cheers! I wanna see that bro...I be DIGGIN' on me some Tweed. And.... on a Galaxie...it just seems right....
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Post by blackice on Dec 7, 2008 3:03:49 GMT -7
ARE WE TALKING ABOUT A NEW AMP MODEL
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Post by amakitalo on Dec 7, 2008 13:36:07 GMT -7
No, we are not talking about a new amp design. There are several articles around about using KT66 tubes in 6L6 amps. According to the experts they can be just popped in with a rebias in many cases, but not all. Some people warn about overheating issues with power trannies and a need for changes in the electronics for some amps, but at least with the JJ KT66 tubes and the Galaxie everything seems to be in order. Most people appear to like KT66 more than 6L6 but I think this is where our own ears have to make the judgement. The following article is good reading: thetubestore.com/kt66reviews.html It talks about using KT66 tubes in 6L6 amps. Tony, your tone is amazing, so I am not sure if any tweaking is going to improve it, however the sound out these tubes in my Galaxie is a definite improvement. Tone is so subjective that I am always cautious in making statements about what's better and so on, but the KT66's will stay in my Galaxie. If you look at the base of your tubes, there is a retainer holding the tube in place. They call these bear trap retainers. The base of at least the JJ KT66 tube is so wide that it won't fit in the retainer. I am not sure if this is the case for other KT66 makes. You can easily remove the retainers by just taking the screws out that hold them in place on the tube socket and then of course replacing the screws. In my Galaxie the tubes are tight even without the retainers, In fact, they are tighter than they were in my Route 66 that did not have any retainers at all. You can always go and buy a set of spring retainers for the KT66 tubes if you're concerned that they are not held in place well enough for travel and gigging. I biased my KT66 at around 40 ma which is roughly at 60%. The voltage from the wall in my house was about 390v. I had to bring down the bias quite a bit from what it was with the 6L6 tubes.
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