[Berndt]

any new production worth trying, or russian?
listening to old black tung sols in a diy pp amp, thanks bill

[rivieraranch]

Try some new Tung Sol reissues, which are very highly regarded.

[TheChairGuy]

any new production worth trying, or russian?
listening to old black tung sols in a diy pp amp, thanks bill

Bill: The new issue Tung Sols are very good.  They can take a beating like the NOS ones. I've got them in my Bell mono integrateds and they sound as nice as other NOS ones I've had there.

http://thetubestore.com/6v6review.html

John

[Niteshade]

Electro Harmonix makes a good 6V6. They are Russian too.

[JohnR]

Just curious - does the 6V6 tend to sound similar or different to other more common output tubes like e.g. EL34 or EL84?

[Niteshade]

To me it's essentially a half-size 6L6 with similar sonic properties.

[JohnR]

Ah. I'm not all that familiar with 6L6's either

[TheChairGuy]

Just curious - does the 6V6 tend to sound similar or different to other more common output tubes like e.g. EL34 or EL84?

John - maybe your question is directed at Blair who makes/designs tube gear....but, in general, I hear a lot of failings in tube amps.  I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast, per se, but a selective one.

Most of that heard is the more common EL34 or EL84 variants out there...and I come away not-too-impressed

The 6V6 gear just sounds different.  There is a near unmistakable tone to them that is glorious to listen to.  Their issue is power...I don't think I've seen more than 12 watts coaxed from them.

That tone is why guitarists crave them.  There isn't much audiophool amps made with them anymore (their heydey was in the 50/60's) as I suspect folks generally want 30watts+...but the guitarist market has many 6V6 amps available and that's what keeps new issues of 6V6's coming

My fave tube amps are my Dukane 6CD6 mono's.  It's not so the expressive tone of them (which the 6V6 has in abundance) that I fell in love with (tho any tube amp has a bit more 'love' built into the sound than solid state or various 'digital' technologies ) it's that they are very unlike other tubes amps in that they swing massive current for tube amps so speakers are driven very fully and work even in current-hungry speakers like Magnepans. 

http://tubedata.itchurch.org/sheets/093/6/6CD6GA.pdf

A lot of old tube PA amps used them as they are quite hardy...Dukane and Stromberg-Carlson here in the US most prominently.  There's probably some equivalent in Oz, too, to perhaps try.  They are scintillating to listen to and my amp purchasing was done 4 years ago about 5 minutes in to listening to these (despite the tired tubes and need for re-bias and other matters that it needed)

Most, if not all, are voltage regulated, too - which was probably done for durability considerations for the tubes on all the time during PA use hours at a time - but, it happens to benefit the audiophool as the amp sounds uncharacteristically like a tube with not only lovely bass and crystalline midrange...but, very taut and truly ample/lifelike bass which I find a failing in every EL34/84 variant heard.

6V6 amps can be found likely in Oz more easily as more were made in the 50/60's...they were used in console stereo's and were organ amps and are still pretty cheap to buy about. 

John

[Niteshade]

Some 6L6 properties:

1] Low filament current: .9 amps
2] Late breakup: Compression/Breakup is more towards the wattage limits instead of gradual
3] Very clean, not much of a signature

The 6V6 has a mere .45 amp filament draw and a 14 watt plate dissipation. She's a sweet tube to work with. Properties #2 & #3 from above apply to the 6V6.

Note: A small bottle version called the 6AQ5 was made.

[Niteshade]

In reference to 6V6 failures: People tend to abuse them. Stromberg Carlson, one of my favorite early amp manufacturers had great success with them as did most jukebox companies. They actually are very reliable when set up properly due to their efficiency and resultant low heat output.

Guitar amps AKA: Fender, use a high plate voltage and don't ease up on the screen voltage. They;re operated hot which provides an earlier breakup point and provides a warm tone.

They can be signature-less when set up around the correct parameters.

[JohnR]

Thanks John - very descriptive and helpful. Thanks Blair - from a quick look around it seems that OPTs originally used for EL84s would also work well with 6V6. A good excuse to keep an extra pair perhaps I'll keep reading

[JohnR]

I just read that the new Tung-sol 6v6s are "killer." A lot of the talk is about geetar amps tho. Anyway, looking at transformers, I see on the Triode Electronics Z-565 re-issue page (from the Dynaco ST-35) - These types of transformers can be used with many tube types, such as 6BQ5/EL84, 6V6-GT, 6AQ5, 6BM8/ECL82, cathode-biased 807, 6L6, KT66 and others."

http://store.triodestore.com/z517wadyoutr.html

The mention of 807s right there surprises me, but anyway.

Aha! See here: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Schematics/Push-Pull-EL84-6BQ5-6V6-6AQ5-Dynaco-A-410-Tube-Amp-Schematic.htm

Sorry for the sidetrack

[JohnR]

Hm. It turns out that I have an original copy of the Dynaco transformer leaflet that that schematic is from... interestingly it pre-dates the ST-35, which didn't come out until 1963 (and with a different driver circuit and of course EL84s).

I also found a very similar circuit in an Acrosound brochure, using 6V6s with the TO-310 (8k UL) transformer. The transformer is specified as +/- 1dB from 10 to 100,000 Hz...

[TheChairGuy]

Thanks John - very descriptive and helpful.

Descriptive I can do John-o...it's, as you know, the technical analysis that eludes me

John

[silver_strings]

I use some ARS tested JJ/TESLA 6v6 tubes in my audiospace amp, my amp tech turned me on to tehm and they sound great they output a very lush detailed sound . I dont buy NOS tubes anymore at least not for 6v6.

[doctorcilantro]

Try some new Tung Sol reissues, which are very highly regarded.

What are you running now in your Torii? I picked up some Swedish Military 1940's 5S2D, and they have the blue glow like the 5992; they actually like a lot like the Bendix actually.

I would like to try some of the re-issue 6V6 TS myself.

[Berndt]

just want to chime back in and say I got some rca 6v6's for the right # and tried them out. Compared to the old tung sols I was running they had a higher degree of presence and ambience but were lacking in bass control. I tweaked the feedback circuit a little bit and was able to get the bass to tighten up to be as good as the tungsols but these tubes have a higher degree of presence and soundstage than I am used to, a higher degree of dynamics, or transient response too.
Just when I thought it was as good as it got. I still can't believe I am living with an amp that puts out less than 10wpc, seeing as I'd been living with the jolida music envoys for so long @200wpc. Different beast that is for sure, now when Duke says a 30wpc amp is what he designed these speakers for I can believe him.
I sure like this 6v6 amp.

[raindance]

I've tried some black glass Chinese 6P6P tubes that are 6V6 equivalents. They were not too bad and can be found pretty cheaply.

[bdh]

How would any of you compare a 6v6 amp with a nice 300b SET amp?  Similar or very different sounding?  Preferences?  (Obviously a lot of differences are on different input tube types being used, amp build, etc., but still...)  I haven't heard either yet.  I currently have a 300b push-pull amp, but sure would like to try one of these.

[Berndt]

the sound of my 6v6 amp is very similiar to  a DRD 300set amp.
Rich tone, not quite 300b like but similiar in quality.
with the opt's in my 6v6 pp amp I believe I get a touch better bass control with the 6v6 vs the drd 300bset.