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and my first impression is- F*CKING AWESOME! im really happy with em. they sound a lot thicker than the stock 6L6's IMO, and the low end is much tighter. the mids are also a lot less shrill than with the 6L6's, and much more usable. the 6L6's had more headroom, but the EL34s are still great. i was only able to crank it for half an hour (friends came over to pick me up just as i got the tubes in, i made em wait for half an hour while i played), but it was amazing. ill crank it some more tomorrow for a few hours. this tube installation wasnt completely clear sailing though, you can read about that here from : localhost/acapella.harmony-central.com/...readid=1010828 (my post is at the bottom), but everything ended up fine in the end.

i also gotta say todd @ revolutionguitar.com was a huge help, and the tubes got here real fast and in great shape (lotta packaging- 4 tubes in a 12x12x9quot; box). i definately reccomend buying stuff there to anybody.

so, DSS, looks like you were right, eh? haha. thanks for all your tube talk while i couldnt decide which type to get.

When I was going to get a XXX, I basically made up my mind that I was going to switch the power tubes out for EL-34s and put a lower gain preamp tube in one of (V2?) the preamp sockets. Clips?

I didn't know you were friends with FalseRevRG.....I did the same thing to my XXX and it made a world of difference to me. It had more crunch, was less harsh, and was warmer. I really liked the overall change.

It's weird though, because I also have a JSX that came stock with EL34s....but some people are saying that the JSX sounds better with the 6L6s....maybe because it's inherently smoother than the XXX?? Don't know but I might give it a shot.

haha yeah ive been friends with false for about 3 1/2 years now. anyway, yeah i really like the EL34s. and darkside- no clips. i was gonna buy an SM57 and a little recording setup, but i changed my mind cause im too cheap. so no clips, sorry.

i really cranked it today and messed around with the EQ a bit.....hot damn i love this amp. it was great before, but these tubes just push it to a new echelon of awesomeness. i can get some insanely thick tones outta here, much moreso than with the stock 6L6s, but its still clear and articulate. i think the EL34s add a lot more versatility to it, as far as settings go. back when i had the stock tubes in, id have the EQ set to the same thing always, and never touch it, but now i can screw around with the settings a lot and get a ton of different great tones. i couldnt be happier

A great alternative to EL34's are the 6CA7 tubes. They are in between 6L6's an EL34's tonewise, and have a little more headroom than EL34's. I love the sparkliness of 6L6's on the clean channel, and didn't want to lose all of the chime by switching to EL34's. Converseley on the gain channel, I wanted straight up EL34 tone, but I couldn't sacrifice my clean tone. Lo and behold, the Electro Harmonix 6CA7 tubes! I was able to keep my nice clean tone with enough headroom, while getting some mids back into the Mesa. I'm very happy with them, and they can get a much greater range of sounds without sucking. 6L6's, like you mentioned, seem to have a very narrow window of great, great tone. However, if you don't hit the sweet spot, you won't be happy. Overall, the entrire amp warmed up a bit, and I'm extremely pleased with them. I might just order a back up set or two!

Sorry to hijack this thread but these tubes rock!

actually, i prefer the clean channel with the EL34s. with the 6L6s, at least in this amp, the cleans sounded kinda stale and lifeless, but with the EL34s, theres more of a jangly liveliness to cleans, sounds much better IMO.

welcome to the dark side



Hehe, EL34's kick ASS! I need to get some new preamp tubes for the XXX sometime though, to lower the gain. I currently have it on 2.5, with my SD-1's drive at 9 o clock.

haha wow. i dont have an sd-1 though, so mines at like 5 1/2

Even without the SD-1, I kept mine at 4 . I'm not a huge gain head. Think of Opeths tone with a tad more gain.


Originally Posted by rraawwrrA great alternative to EL34's are the 6CA7 tubes.

I'll second that, I'm using them now ... two words - MARSHALL CITY.

What EL's did you go with?

I would also like to try a real good set of 6L6's to see how they sound in there, the stock ones did nothing for the amp IMO.

As for pre's try the Ruby's they work really well in mine.

Thanks Wattage. I've tried EH6L6's, and whilst they sounded a ton better than stock, it still doesn't hold a candle to the JJ EL34 set I replaced it with, and even moreso for the Mesa EL34 set I threw in this weekend.


Originally Posted by WattageWhat EL's did you go with?

I would also like to try a real good set of 6L6's to see how they sound in there, the stock ones did nothing for the amp IMO.

As for pre's try the Ruby's they work really well in mine.i used JJ's.