I love KT66, however in the dirty channel. the EL34 has more grit. I can always clearly hear and feel the 3rd-order harmonics in my EL34 powered amp, but I prefer the added noise.. A chacun son gout!
I fully expected to prefer the EL-34’s but I found the KT-66’s more pleasing to the ears than the EL-34’s. I’m a big fan of the Soldano sound so I’ve always liked the KT-88’s .. But for what I do (mostly small bedroom) they’re pretty unpractical..
For me I think that a great amp as a pedal platform is a JTM45 clone amp with KT66, when using heavy distorted pedals I think that the KT66 sounds better in a JTM45 compared to the EL34. It seem like the KT66 have more dynamics than the EL34, some people would disagree with me on that but in my opinon the KT66 is super great tubes. I don't know any better amp for a pedal platform than JTM45 or some sort..
Actually I do agree with you that if you're using a JTM45-style amp as pedal platform, the KT66s would prob be the way to go. The JTM45 is a seriously underrated amp/circuit. FYI, the SonicTone '67 Special 50W attempts to capture both the JTM45 as well as the 1987 circuits all in one (and of course you can get with KT66s or EL34s)
@@sonictoneamps I agree, even if we are not talking about pedal-platform, the JTM style amps are great, its possible to crank it and get some really nice vintage tones out of it. And, and it's possible to get really clean tones from it also, which of course will make it a really good pedal-platform. I should build a JTM45 clone with the EL34 tubes and make a full side by side comparison ... some day.
@@HearGear Fun fact - years ago, the JTM45 amp circuit was my first build. I was drawn to it for some reason. Came out great. Had a pre-PI MV. I gigged with it a good bit, before stripping it down and using the parts to make the first '67 Special prototype.
The El-34's were better with the gain, just had that great growl and compression in the midrange. The Kt-66 had a nice clean tone, but seemed a bit stiff and hard 😅 distorted.
