Metropoulos Forum

NOS Mullard EL34's are a bit too expensive for me and I'm looking for the next best thing. For the Hendrix sound I could even end up with some KT77's or 6550's. The perfect Hendrix sound for me is the Live at Royal Albert Hall sound. I love how he gets the clean sound and the overdriven sounds are perfect to me. Really bluesy. I think the popular believe here is that those tubes were 6550's.
I'd like to know what brand would be a good bet? I might go NOS, but prefer current production tubes. Simply, cause I know for sure those are new tubes.
Or what about Genalex kt77 Gold Lion reissues? I heard those were some sweet sounding tubes for that kind of sound.

since it was Feb. 69 and in England and they look like new amps and I have also read that he got new amps in early 69 that they are for sure EL 34's

Ah ok... so still el34's. I can't believe how clean they sound. Makes sense though that there were EL34's in. So what current production EL34 would do the job? I was thinking about SED's winged-c's or maybe some Mullard reissues.

I think the tubes were 6550's. When you push el-34's that hard (REGARDLESS of the make, Mullard, etc) they clip in a 'smooth' way (like the WINTERLAND shows , etc). I hear a very top and bottom type 'scooped' tone in the RAH (Royal Albert....) shows. The dirty tones are a bit 'sterile' sounding, but those cleans were great ('Little Wing').


Possibly Kt-77's though. Certainly not El-34's though.

Try JJ tubes. Eurotubes is a top vendor. They have great EVERYTHING pretty much (certainly very good El-34/E34L, Kt-77, 6CA7, and 6550).

i don't want to start any 6550 vs el34 topic again. I think both could be used really. Thanks for the Eurotubes site. Looks great! I've been listening to some 6550 clips and they do have some of that clean sounds in them. I tend to lean to those now. I have tried the JJ EL34's and found them to be a bit to stiff for my taste. They definately did sound great for rock. I've been also listening to kt77's and those are no more in my list. They have too much bottom end, not enough mids for me.

Another quick question. Would I really have to push the 6550's before they start sounding good? I mean I don't want to run my amp on 10. I can't afford to put in power tubes every 3 months or so...

, He adjust his amp during the show you can see it on bleeding heart. I love the winged C EL34's

Tone Slinger wrote:. The dirty tones are a bit 'sterile' sounding, but those cleans were great ('Little Wing').

I know what you mean, but I like the dirty tones that way. The ballance between Fender twang and rock sound is perfect.

Tone seaker wrote:, He adjust his amp during the show you can see it on bleeding heart. I love the winged C EL34's

Looks like he's turning up the bass a little. Maybe a bit more presence. Definately not touching the volume knobs. And that sound OMG.

Ok I'm gonna get me some 6550. If I don't I'll always gonna regret it for not trying them. I'll problably get some JJ's from Eurotubes unless anyone else know of some other brand that should be the real deal..?
Reason for getting the 6550's is also cause of me turning the amp down to get a clean sound besides overdriven. By turning the amp down the sound becomes a bit thinner, especially with a strat. According to the Eurotubes site 6550 should thicken up the sound a bit.

Edit: Just checking up on stuff... Svetlana's are supposed to have made the best 6550's. What do you guys think of this quad??
http://cgi.ebay.com/Svetlana-SED-6550C- ... 5197fe2b0b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Also wondering, besides rebiasing should I replace any other resitor? Maybe the the bias splitter resistors 220k's for 150k's?

Maybe it was kt66, or kt88 tubes he used

6ca7's could also be an option. The Sylvania/phillips version (looks like a 6l6) have sort of a 6l6ish approaching certain 6550 type charecteristics. The JJ version is more of a el-34 type tone with better bottom and high end.

The EH6ca7's are PHYSICAL copies of the old Sylvania/Phillips 6ca7 and are VERY tight (like the JJ e34L) but sound a bit more 'open' because they have MUCH better top and bottom response. These could be of consideration for the RAH shows whether they were used or not (definately NOT since Sylvania didnt introduce this tube until '70). Still may be worth trying for Hendrix tone.

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Getting the exact sound is not that important. What I miss in el34's are the cleans. Most people don't buy Marshalls for their cleans, I'm an exception I guess. I will look at the EH6ca7's. If these are more open sounding I might give them a try.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q85THezRCzw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

First clip I found on youtube. This gets me somehwere
Definately more the sound I like. The bridge of sighs sound is very close to Hendrix's more later sounds imho.

About the kt66's. I don't think those give the RAH sound. They sound more Fenderish to me.
The kt88's on the other hand are getting closer to RAH. The Eurotubes site prefers kt88's over 6550's. Not sure why... maybe JJ doesn't make good 6550's... no idea really.

Another noob question... If I install 6550's or kt88's will my amp be 200 watts?