Russian Military spec 6L6?

[General_Lee]

As an addendum, I use EH 6v6s in my Princeton RI and find them to be exceptional, both tonally and mechanically. Like everyone here, I wish and pray that Putin's war (and in fact Putin himself) would just go away so that fair and righteous trade might resume. It's sad that the country's people and their work, have to be subject to the idiocy and misery of such small and squirming minds...

 

[hcsterg]

@hcsterg Thanks for the reply!
I have used the wafer base pair and they sounded good, the other pair with standard base i’ve not tried due to fear of them being unable to handle the voltage in my bassman.

Yes, that's it, you are wise : the Tronal / RSD type may suffer in your Bassman (particularly if it is a RI 5F6-A), where the plate voltage is circa 470-475VDC. So is the Twin-Reverb (465-470V easily)...

I use mine on 20W amps, where plate voltage do not exceed 400VDC, that is to say where 6L6G "coke bottle" can be used too, and here they give a fine, smooth Bluesy tone, progressively grinding, with compression and even harmonics...

These tubes are excellent, but not for heavy duty demanding amps - like too many are today, unfortunately !

A+!

 

[hcsterg]

As an addendum, I use EH 6v6s in my Princeton RI and find them to be exceptional, both tonally and mechanically. Like everyone here, I wish and pray that Putin's war (and in fact Putin himself) would just go away so that fair and righteous trade might resume. It's sad that the country's people and their work, have to be subject to the idiocy and misery of such small and squirming minds...

Sure ! Both for the Tubes and the Potentate...

A+!

 

[cowmoo]

Yes, that's it, you are wise : the Tronal / RSD type may suffer in your Bassman (particularly if it is a RI 5F6-A), where the plate voltage is circa 470-475VDC. So is the Twin-Reverb (465-470V easily)...

I use mine on 20W amps, where plate voltage do not exceed 400VDC, that is to say where 6L6G "coke bottle" can be used too, and here they give a fine, smooth Bluesy tone, progressively grinding, with compression and even harmonics...

These tubes are excellent, but not for heavy duty demanding amps - like too many are today, unfortunately !

A+!

6G6B Bassman circuit. Cheers

 

[pmac11]

As an addendum, I use EH 6v6s in my Princeton RI and find them to be exceptional, both tonally and mechanically. Like everyone here, I wish and pray that Putin's war (and in fact Putin himself) would just go away so that fair and righteous trade might resume. It's sad that the country's people and their work, have to be subject to the idiocy and misery of such small and squirming minds...

Exactly so. Well said.

 

[hcsterg]

6G6B Bassman circuit. Cheers

Ah, OK @cowmoo - So it's a bit different, then, because the 6G6-B is less pushed than the 5F6-A.

With a pair of Tung-Sol 6L6WGB/5881 (RI), on the 6G6-B Blonde Tolex that I restored for a friend (below, before restoration),



I have these values for the power stage :

- @ idle ---> Vp=440V / Itot amp = 77mA / bias = -47.4V at common 220K grid resistor point.
- @ onset of clipping (42W/4R) ---> Vp=418V / Itot amp = 220mA
- @ full clipping (max power possible) ---> Vp=406V / Itot amp = 310mA

Vp = plate voltage VDC
Itot amp = total HV current (pwr amp+preamp sections) mADC

For me, it is here one of the best choices of working point for a pair of 6L6 in push-pull fixed bias operation.

This gives total dissipation (measured) @ idle = 15.4W and @ onset of clipping = 22W per power tube.

A 6L6G is spec'ed at 19W plate + 3W screen = 22W total dissipation.

So if you measure such values in your 6G6-B, then the 6L6GT should work correctly, as expected.

A+!

 

[cowmoo]

Ah, OK @cowmoo - So it's a bit different, then, because the 6G6-B is less pushed than the 5F6-A.

With a pair of Tung-Sol 6L6WGB/5881 (RI), on the 6G6-B Blonde Tolex that I restored for a friend (below, before restoration),

View attachment 200896

I have these values for the power stage :

- @ idle ---> Vp=440V / Itot amp = 77mA / bias = -47.4V at common 220K grid resistor point.
- @ onset of clipping (42W/4R) ---> Vp=418V / Itot amp = 220mA
- @ full clipping (max power possible) ---> Vp=406V / Itot amp = 310mA

Vp = plate voltage VDC
Itot amp = total HV current (pwr amp+preamp sections) mADC

For me, it is here one of the best choices of working point for a pair of 6L6 in push-pull fixed bias operation.

This gives total dissipation (measured) @ idle = 15.4W and @ onset of clipping = 22W per power tube.

A 6L6G is spec'ed at 19W plate + 3W screen = 22W total dissipation.

So if you measure such values in your 6G6-B, then the 6L6GT should work correctly, as expected.

A+!

I’d need my friend to check those technical measurements, a bit too beyond my understanding. Thank you very much for the input.

 

[One-Oh-Four]

Threads like this one are making me rethink tubes. I have a tube amp, a Mesa Boogie Express 5:25, and love it. When I was a kid, we had an Admiral TV. When it got wonky, my dad would pull all the tubes, put them in a bag, and take them to the TV and radio repair shop and test them. He replaced anything that tested bad. Now, all the TV’s in the house are LG or Samsung. All solid state. Nothing glows on the dark. If I live long enough to need a new amp, it’ll be boards and chips for sure. And I’ll be able to lift it to move it from place to place. Yikes! That means my wife will be able to move it too. Maybe not so fast.

Russian tubes? Is a country that can’t supply its own military a reliable source of supply for musicians? Buy current production to keep what you already own working but museum pieces belong in the museum.

I’ve read somewhere (or heard?…) that there are 3 countries where tubes are produced. Russia, China and Slovakia. JJ Tubes is from Slovakia. jjtubes.eu. Slovakia used to be part of Czechoslovakia until that country split as the Czech Republic an Slovakia in 1992.
People might get some “old Eastern European”-Warsaw Pact vibes when reading that, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia have transformed into reliable and modern European democracies nowadays. Both countries are members of the European Union and NATO, so belong to the “good guys” when seen from a Western perspective. So I don’t think musicians have to feel anxious about the availability of amp tubes…

Cheers,
Erik.

Edited because of spelling mistake.

 

[hcsterg]

there are 3 countries where tubes are produced. Russia, China and Slovakia.

Yes, that's it - the rest is marginal...

- Reputedly the oldest in China is Shuguang, started in 1941. I also have a 80 rectifier and its original box from that era, which probably comes from here, the factory possibly named "Nanking" at that time ?



- Most of the Russian factories are owned by EHX / Sovtek since the early-mid 80s.

- JJ Tubes, ex-Tesla, was for a time the property of Slobodan Milosevic. I wonder if it is not in the EHX Galaxie now ?

A+!

 

[Bertotti]

What happened to Western Electric gearing up to make guitar amp tubes?

 

[hcsterg]

What happened to Western Electric gearing up to make guitar amp tubes?

No idea...

A+!