Post by headshrinker (Marc) on Feb 21, 2015 21:01:29 GMT -7
I moved way more snow today that I wanted to. My wife was proud and happy, so I decided I deserved some fun. Told her I was going to make some noise in the basement and to let me know if it got too loud. She said she was fine with it, so down I went.
I have played 8 to 10 gigs using my Therapy with the stock JJ 6L6s and really like the way it sounds. Plenty of low end thump, great mids and fine fine highs. But like a lot of you, I always wonder what if? So after running it a while with the stock tubes to get them in my head, I started having some fun. I left the amp at my gig settings. Master between 11:00 and 12:00, Bass 9:00, Mids 2:00, Treble 2:00, Volume 2:00. First tried a set of JJ EL34s. Definitely could hear a difference, more upper mid bite, maybe a little firmer low end. Found that a bit weird (it may have been do to the 6L6s having a good amount of playing time on them). The highs seemed a little rounder at the top. More midrange girth. The tube went into distortion faster as I cranked up the volume. Still sounded like an American voiced amp, but with a little British hint. Leads were a lot of fun with the added mids. Clean rhythm was not as good as the 6L6s, especially with the neck pickup. I could see using them in the right circumstances, but they weren't worth leaving in for me.
Oh, by the way the guitar was a PRS McCarty and the cabinet was a closed back with a Weber ceramic Silverbell in it. I have been using a Texas Heat with it, which I really like, but the Silverbell may have replaced it as my favorite for the Therapy.
Next I put in a set of JJ 6V6s. Wow! I loved those tubes in the amp. More sparkle than the 6L6s. More mids, but really balanced with the lows and highs. Went from clean to mean easily. Still had a firm low end and pretty sparkly highs. Neck pickup and Bridge both did great. I could get nice cleans from both with the volume down. Cranked leads were wonderful. I also found that since they were not putting out as much as the the other tubes powerwise, I could goose the Master a little to get more powertube distortion. As most of you know JJ 6V6s are not really the same as NOS 6V6s. They have a little bit of 6L6 in them and that worked great with the Therapy.
I've got a gig next Saturday and the 6V6s are staying in to see how they work over a whole night of tunes. Hope someone else tries these and maybe some other tubes in it and reports back. I'd like to hear what others think.
I have played 8 to 10 gigs using my Therapy with the stock JJ 6L6s and really like the way it sounds. Plenty of low end thump, great mids and fine fine highs. But like a lot of you, I always wonder what if? So after running it a while with the stock tubes to get them in my head, I started having some fun. I left the amp at my gig settings. Master between 11:00 and 12:00, Bass 9:00, Mids 2:00, Treble 2:00, Volume 2:00. First tried a set of JJ EL34s. Definitely could hear a difference, more upper mid bite, maybe a little firmer low end. Found that a bit weird (it may have been do to the 6L6s having a good amount of playing time on them). The highs seemed a little rounder at the top. More midrange girth. The tube went into distortion faster as I cranked up the volume. Still sounded like an American voiced amp, but with a little British hint. Leads were a lot of fun with the added mids. Clean rhythm was not as good as the 6L6s, especially with the neck pickup. I could see using them in the right circumstances, but they weren't worth leaving in for me.
Oh, by the way the guitar was a PRS McCarty and the cabinet was a closed back with a Weber ceramic Silverbell in it. I have been using a Texas Heat with it, which I really like, but the Silverbell may have replaced it as my favorite for the Therapy.
Next I put in a set of JJ 6V6s. Wow! I loved those tubes in the amp. More sparkle than the 6L6s. More mids, but really balanced with the lows and highs. Went from clean to mean easily. Still had a firm low end and pretty sparkly highs. Neck pickup and Bridge both did great. I could get nice cleans from both with the volume down. Cranked leads were wonderful. I also found that since they were not putting out as much as the the other tubes powerwise, I could goose the Master a little to get more powertube distortion. As most of you know JJ 6V6s are not really the same as NOS 6V6s. They have a little bit of 6L6 in them and that worked great with the Therapy.
I've got a gig next Saturday and the 6V6s are staying in to see how they work over a whole night of tunes. Hope someone else tries these and maybe some other tubes in it and reports back. I'd like to hear what others think.