Swapped 6L6's into the Mesa Badlander 50

Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
And as I expected, not much of a difference.

More low mids, less upper mids. Not much change in the low end.

Personally, I've never thought power tubes made a huge difference, but apparently there are a lot of people who think that they will transform an amp.

Things did get a little more interesting when I flipped the switch for the 6L6 bias to EL34 with 6L6's still in, much like people do with the older Rectifiers.

 
I’ve swapped tubes from EL34’s to KT88’s in my old Splawn Competition, 6L6 to EL34L’s in my VTM and 6L6 to EL34 in my old Peavey XXX and had pretty much the same experience. I did have a preference in each case, but it was minor.
 
bubbastain said:
I’ve swapped tubes from EL34’s to KT88’s in my old Splawn Competition, 6L6 to EL34L’s in my VTM and 6L6 to EL34 in my old Peavey XXX and had pretty much the same experience. I did have a preference in each case, but it was minor.
Click to expand...
Agreed man. I mentioned in the video, power tubes DO make a difference, but it's small, and just another way to tweak an amp you like more to your taste, and not to transform an amp you don't like into something different.
 
I've found that's because you can't bias Mesa's.
They're set like Antartica.
Never modded one for biasing, so I don't know if that's worth it.
 
Bad.Seed said:
Agreed man. I mentioned in the video, power tubes DO make a difference, but it's small, and just another way to tweak an amp you like more to your taste, and not to transform an amp you don't like into something different.
Click to expand...
bubbastain said:
I’ve swapped tubes from EL34’s to KT88’s in my old Splawn Competition, 6L6 to EL34L’s in my VTM and 6L6 to EL34 in my old Peavey XXX and had pretty much the same experience. I did have a preference in each case, but it was minor.
Click to expand...

Agreed and agreed. Power tubes and preamp tubes to my ears offer minor tonal changes. I've tried countless swaps and cocktails in dozens of amps with not much noticeable change. I will say that the Friedman JJ Jr. responded significantly to a preamp tube swap, but htat's the only amp out of maybe 25 or so.

I tried changing the tone of the PV Triple II I used to own...hated it. Bought into the Kool aid: "the right tubes will make it sound like a completely different amp". Nope...two years I tried countless tube cocktails...still sounded like a Triple XXX II. Tubes offer minor tweaks to a tone for me, but you won't change an amp into something different without seriously modding components or swapping for another amp. All my experience...others will clearly have differing opinions.
 
turtlefingers said:
What Mesa Badlander does and the Rectifier couldn't?
I didn't get the point.
I ask in a nice way.
Click to expand...
Having played the Badlander and other Rectifiers, I’d say first of all, none of the other Recto’s I tried were nearly as tight or attacky even with a boost. The Badlander also is brighter (more uppermid presence), more mids, more modern, and a nicer clean than most other Recto’s, so there’s quite a few things it can do that other Recto’s can’t. BUT, the other Recto’s, especially my Triple Rev F/C sounds WAY bigger, more girth, more warmth, low mid chewiness. Just depends which kind of sound you prefer
 
Bad.Seed said:
And as I expected, not much of a difference.

More low mids, less upper mids. Not much change in the low end.

Personally, I've never thought power tubes made a huge difference, but apparently there are a lot of people who think that they will transform an amp.

Things did get a little more interesting when I flipped the switch for the 6L6 bias to EL34 with 6L6's still in, much like people do with the older Rectifiers.

Click to expand...

I wasn’t expecting the bias switch to be that dramatic.
My favorite was the EL34’s, then the 6L6’s switched to the EL34 bias. Crazy!
 
Bad.Seed said:
And as I expected, not much of a difference.

More low mids, less upper mids. Not much change in the low end.

Personally, I've never thought power tubes made a huge difference, but apparently there are a lot of people who think that they will transform an amp.

Things did get a little more interesting when I flipped the switch for the 6L6 bias to EL34 with 6L6's still in, much like people do with the older Rectifiers.

Click to expand...

It depends on the amp; not every amp will respond to tube changes the same way. Over the yrs I've found the vintage amps DO sound appreciably different with either power or pre tube changes.
 
turtlefingers said:
What Mesa Badlander does and the Rectifier couldn't?
I didn't get the point.
I ask in a nice way.
Click to expand...
I think the badlander has more gain or a gainier attack and is a little tighter or has tighter attack. The bass is also a little different... I would say that’s what I don’t like as much about it, the bass is kinda disconnected for lack of a better description. It’s clean channel is like the recto reborn, damn near identical.
 
With the "normal" rectifiers, the ideal Mesa 6L6 color is grey. This gets you in the 36-41 mA range. I'll be curious if the Badlander is set the same way.

Getting the bias right with Mesas is huge. So many guys are running ice cold. I prefer the tone in the 60-65% range.
 
Holy-diver said:
I think the badlander has more gain or a gainier attack and is a little tighter or has tighter attack. The bass is also a little different... I would say that’s what I don’t like as much about it, the bass is kinda disconnected for lack of a better description. It’s clean channel is like the recto reborn, damn near identical.
Click to expand...


Have you played a Badlander?
 
Yeah I have a recently acquired recto reborn, my buddy has the regular 3 channel and recently bought the badlander 100 from Mesa Hollywood and last night we had a bit of a shootout. I don’t have a ton of experience with it but I have owned like every other recto imaginable previously
 
Holy-diver said:
I think the badlander has more gain or a gainier attack and is a little tighter or has tighter attack. The bass is also a little different... I would say that’s what I don’t like as much about it, the bass is kinda disconnected for lack of a better description. It’s clean channel is like the recto reborn, damn near identical.
Click to expand...
Weird, that's the exact word Fluff used to describe it in his FAQ video yesterday.

I don't really get that, but the amp definitely has it's own thing going on in all frequencies when compared to a Multi Watt or similar rec.

I was able to get my Multi Watt and the Badlander pretty damn close to eachother in my shootout video.

However, the 3ch and Rev E Comparisons I made def weren't as close.
 
Bad.Seed said:
Weird, that's the exact word Fluff used to describe it in his FAQ video yesterday.

I don't really get that, but the amp definitely has it's own thing going on in all frequencies when compared to a Multi Watt or similar rec.

I was able to get my Multi Watt and the Badlander pretty damn close to eachother in my shootout video.

However, the 3ch and Rev E Comparisons I made def weren't as close.
Click to expand...
I didn’t catch his q&a but I saw his demo. I think olas video is a pretty good representation of how it sounds in reality.
and I pretty much agree with all your points, but I have never owned a rev e just the rev f twice and yeah,it’s not as close to the 3 channel at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top