Nice! Love hearing these differences. I always thought I was a 6V6 guy and this just reinforces it. Not as bright as the 6L6 to my ears and not as dark as the 5881. Overdriven they just bloom compared to the others. They have a bite that the others just can't do. I understand if you need extra power because you are playing big rooms or something but the 6V6 just sounds better and saturates better. They are such wonderful tubes. This made me realize just how much I do lean 6v6.
I second your comment, 6v6 are my fave, they had this EL84 pentode mid bite but with the body and roundess and brightness of a beam tetrode with some creamy dynamic overdrive that just none other tube get close too, if I want more volume and headroom I’ll go with a quartet of 6v6 bias hot like on a rockerverb mkI but a pair of NOS on a tweed tremolux are to die for and everything in between from the 5e3 to Deluxe reverb those tones made history as just the best guitar tube ever existed.
Surprised at how soft 6L6s sounds in the upper mids overdriven. The bite the 6V6s have is much more practical I would think for sitting right in a mix. Clean, all of the tubes were nice, but I liked the 6V6 and the 5881. Overdriven, definitely the 6V6.
Really good comparison. Like others on here, it confirms my already established personal preference. For me that is 6V6 power tubes in this style of amp. The 6L6 did remind me of my first BF Fender, a Super Reverb, when I would run it through a 1x12 cab. I moved on years ago to Deluxe style amps with 6V6 for clean and dirty Fender sounds. I honestly think the 5881 is pretty darn good here too. I would keep a set around if I owned this amp. The verdict: 6V6 for a looser, untamed sound. 5881 when I want to tighten up the sound. 6L6 when I really just want a recording to sound like a 6L6 Fender.
You make them all sound amazing! As a harmonica player I prefer the 6L6. However, the 6V6 break up nicely with your set up. I’m gonna try the 5881. Thank you for the demo.
I think I liked the 5881s the best. I have a pair of vintage tung sol 5881s in my bandmaster that I love. (Not a vintage tube hoarder they were just in it when I bought it and still measure to spec)
I agree with the 5881; for my ears, they sounded way better especially in overdrive. The 6V6 and especially the 6L6 sounded too fuzzy for my taste when cranked. Clean, I liked the 6L6 best, closely followed by the 5881. Thanks for this comparison, it all adds to me understanding things way better and making better purchasing choices.
Bit late3 I know but I think it would be good to do this sort of comparison using a re-aamped guitar track so the playing and levels hitting the amp are identical. Otherwise the player will be influenced by the sound they hear and that might change their playing and colour the result...
I’m very use to the 6v6 and 6L6 on Fender and Tone King amps. Recorded and played live with both a bunch. 6v6 for me is a great recording style amp. Can be fussy or bright with some pedals. 6L6 I favor for live and pedals in general. Just warmer and not as sharp out the box. I can usually use a Tubescreamer, treble booster or an array of pedals on a 6L6, and mold it to what I want. 6v6 it’s a bit harder for me to do so, and it’s really down to the amps speaker and sound. So for me sometimes I favor 6v6 25w or so in the recording studio. They do cut and that’s great…but with pedals I have to be carefully if it’s a fender style with no mid. Just different character. So all around 6L6 I prefer because most amps like that take all pedals well. I can pretty much shape it, and have more lower bass response. Where as 6v6 has a nice crispy high end, mids and less bass response to me. I just like the thicker, warm lush sound of 6L6 I guess for all general purpose of I can only have one amp. But love to always have a 6v6 as a second amp for songs, or in the recording studio. I like old Fender Pro Reverbs, and currently own a Sky King after playing an Imperial for awhile. The 6v6 sound just became too boxxy at sharp at loud volumes for me. Always needed a mic on the amp…which makes a good recording amp. But showing up to a practice with no PA to stand on its own, with a diverse pedal board…gotta go with 6L6 all day. 6v6 are pretty aggressive and good for some stuff, but can really hurt sometimes and be to aggressive for multi purpose.
Very cool! 6v6 sounded more “open” or less “compressed” maybe. To my ears anyway. Didn’t notice a crazy huge difference between 6l6 and 5881, but there was definitely a difference. Maybe more felt than heard??
Fine outing as always! Maybe liked 5881s clean - - a little warmer, rounder; dirty I liked the 6V6s - - just bursting, blooming aliveness. But all sounded great. Nice little amp.. They are just "milking it" on price... But can't deny the "cream" on how they sound!
I've only ever had EL84 amps... I think I'm wanting a 6V6 to go with it. I really like the Milkman Amps but they are crazy expensive over here in the UK. Cheers for another great amp vid! 👍🏻
I love 6L6 amps, but I wasn’t as hot about them in this amp, and the 6v6s were pretty aggressive sounding to my ears. You could totally go down a slippery slope with this by trying different brand power tubes. I’ve read and felt in my own amps that the JJ 6v6 has some pretty pronounced mids, where the Tungsol 6v6s are smoother. Cool video.
The JJ 6V6S sold by Eurotubes is not like a 6V6GT. It's likely derived from the JJ 7591S, which has a differnt response character. A standard 6V6GT will not sound like that.
6v6 is much easier to push into it's breakup. Whereas the 6L6 and 5881 must be pushed much harder to get them in their breakup. So, lower wattage amps shine/bloom with the 6V6 for the simple fact they're into their limit of headroom very quickly because of they're lower peak wattage capability.
Yes, but the Creamer is a very clean amp! To start pushing it, even with 6V6s it needs to be loud! I gig with a Creamer and you need an overdrive pedal in the equation somewhere. Takes pedals really well though, great amp.
@@jameslatham2655 No problem. For what it's worth, the best valves for this amp are NOS Tungsol 5881s, from the US military. Really good blend btn 6V6 and 6L6, and last about 10,000 hours.
Very subtle differences to my ears. I think a lot of people have been influenced to think that the tubes are way more important to the character of an amps tone than they are. You hear a lot about x tubes being the core of the British sound, and y tubes being the core of the American sound and so on, but I've noticed something that flies in the face of that. I've owned tube Marshalls and tube Fenders, but I've ALSO owned good, old solid state Fenders and Marshalls from the 80s and early 90s. I noticed that without any tubes whatsoever, those solid state Marshalls had "the Marshall sound", and the ss Fenders had the "Blackface Fender sound". I've noticed as well that the new generation of ss Orange Crush amps also have "the Orange sound". That tells me that the secret sauce for the most part, is actually probably more in the EQ stacks than in the tubes.
HarveyCan 58 I’ve got a Fender Sidekick Reverb 25 from that same line. Is it as breathtaking as my ‘66 Princeton Amp? No, but it’s a damn fine amp and because it’s not fragile, it’s seen more gigs with me than any of my vintage tube amps have. Has the Blackface sound, and live, no one could ever tell it was SS.
