trinityamps.com

How much different does the amp sound when using the 6v6's as opposed to the el84's? Is the difference obvious or subtle?

I'm wondering the exact same thing. After loads of poking around here, I'm close to pulling the trigger. It would be nice to know if the v6 option is worth the extra components, cost, work, etc.

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Go Buckeyes!

Less bright/shrill than EL84. Lots more bass.

A couple of resistor values need to be changed in the PI to get the 6V6s singing. Plus the power tube cathode resistor value needs to be changed for the 6V6s.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

To add to Phil, the sound is close to a Fender Deluxe and an 18 watt grafted together. Softer, meaty, creamy. We tried changing the PI resistor and did not see any change in tone. YMMV . But the cathode definitely needs changing.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

It turns out that you actually need to change two resistors in the PI to get the 6V6s singing, not just one. I'm not just saying this with my own experience, but of the many others who have also modded their 18Ws to run 6V6s. The stock 18W PI was designed for the higher gain of EL84s, and fails to fully drive the 6V6s.

FYI here are a couple of nice clips of 6V6 18W Lite IIb, so this is somewhat along the lines of what the Normal channel of a Trinity 18W would sound like with a pair of 6V6s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4pU7cMu4TM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mea4njZHYU

Enjoy!

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Phil, I think they're talking about the V6 Hybrid with the switchable 6V6's or EL84's
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=763

There should be clips in the "clippage" section...

Joe G

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Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

Egnater has a neat control on some of their amp where they have a knob that controls the mix of the 6V6/EL84 (or 6l6/EL34). This is done with a quad gang pot though, that they have custom made for them.
Wonder how useful that would be. I would think the useful range would be the two extremes of the rotation and the middle.

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I wondered how they implemented that control. It seems like it would be a "gentler" and even more useful alternative to hard switching between two sets of output tubes.
Nice to have a large R&D budget

Joe G

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Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

It's probably a ganged pair of pots where one is log and one is anti-log, then they have the connections on one reversed.

Yes, I'm aware of that version. IMO as the design stands currently, the 6V6s and EL84s are being driven unequally. However, the original question appeared to be about replacing the EL84s with 6V6s.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

We wanted a slightly softer, creamier Marshall type 18 watt sound. We also wanted to switch easily between the two. It is not a dedicated 18 watt 6V6.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Exactly, four volume controls just after the PI (almost like a PPIMV).

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http://pdfelectronics.com

The PI could be quite easily modified to be optimal for both 6V6s and EL84s, with the 470k grid leak resistors each split into two.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Let's try it on my v6 and see what it sounds like - before & after.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Is this thread actually about modding a normal EL84 18 watter or about the switchable 6V6 tube setting on the v6 18 watter?

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Go Buckeyes!

I'm going to be adding the 6v6's to an existing 18 watt.
Has anyone done this?

Both, as we went on a bit of a tangent here. That's the fun part of a BBS. Non-switchable is always easier.


You're keeping the EL84s, or taking them out? Either way, it's already been done lots of times. However changing to 6V6s won't cure the buzz problems you've been having.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

The option to switch is a pretty low cost option at $20. The board is a little longer to accommodate the extra cathode cap / resitor for the 6V6 pair, octal sockets / retainers / DPDT switch / resistors & hardware is included. The head chassis is punched for the 2 octals.
So you can build
1. an EL84 only.
2. a 6V6 only
3. a switchable version.

The sonic difference is a nice to have option. A lot of people liked the smoother 6V6.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

FWIW, I did clips in the speaker test back in the day that should give some insight into the EL84/6V6 difference...

viewtopic.php?t=1276
viewtopic.php?t=1277

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Brent Bodrug
Producer-Engineer/Songwriter

www.slyfichapel.com

Those are great clips there Brent. Listening back to back, EL84 vs 6V6 with the same speaker, you can really here the differences. The EL84 got more grind and bite, more crunch in the top end.

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Im keeping the el84's. And its a combo.