20th Ecstasy & Gold Lion KT77's

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se7en

se7en

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Ok, so had a practice with it and well, in a word...perfect. The amp grinds, sings and the tone remains super clear and tight...clean channel was so much fun to play on that I used it for some parts I usually did with the blue channel...(used the gain as a volume trick with the volume dimed...plenty of head room and can get a nice grit even with the boost off.)

The gain channels are more open, tighter (not stiff) and the harmonics leap off the board without much effort. Excellent mid gain...Heavy stuff had a nice edge to the midrange, like a 34, but fuller and the crunch was just a bit more modern sounding if that makes sense (more hifi I guess)...

So Ventura and Gary weren't kidding...Gold Lions roar in this thing! :rock:
 
se7en":1c0exioi said:
Ok, so had a practice with it and well, in a word...perfect. The amp grinds, sings and the tone remains super clear and tight...clean channel was so much fun to play on that I used it for some parts I usually did with the blue channel...(used the gain as a volume trick with the volume dimed...plenty of head room and can get a nice grit even with the boost off.)

The gain channels are more open, tighter (not stiff) and the harmonics leap off the board without much effort. Excellent mid gain...Heavy stuff had a nice edge to the midrange, like a 34, but fuller and the crunch was just a bit more modern sounding if that makes sense (more hifi I guess)...

So Ventura and Gary weren't kidding...Gold Lions roar in this thing! :rock:
ROOL!!

And ya, Gary deserves the credit as he was on my ass to do this swap for a good few weeks... I can't go back. It's incredible. What kinda volume you using at band practice? I find the tubes worked well and were noticeable from 1/3 peak volume onwards. Lower volume no so much, although it was noticeable on the GREEN channel. Cleaner and more articulate.

So glad you're digging it man!!
 
Yep. Gary... :worship:

Mo, I was in fact running it at about 1/3 on the volume...which was LOUD in our space! I admit, with EL34's the fast rhythm stuff needed to be tightened up a little bit and the feel was not quite as immediate as I'd like... lead tones were getting a little buried due to compression. (These are just nit-picky stuff that if I just played straight forward rock, I might not have cared, but I don't)...

With the tube swap, I have zero complaints...Everything I liked about a 34, with more fidelity and presence in the mix...not sluggish and not compressed...the whole gain knob seems usable now and the switches seem more effective, probably due to the more open tone. The amp responds just how I want it to and there's a lot of power behind the tone. Couldn't be happier. I can't see a reason to go back to 34's and gave the JJ's to Shiny Surface to use with one of his Marshalls. :)

To quote my drummer: "those tubes were money well spent"...my whole band noticed a little more clarity to the sound...I think I made my guitar player re-tweak his amp a bit... :D

So, if anyone has an EL34 version and wants a tighter, more open, dynamic tone and a crystalline clean, I'd highly recommend the Gold Lion KT77's...I'd encourage you to contact Tyler @ tctubes.com ...he'll custom match them to the XTC plate voltage (mine was 530 V) and the screens are about 3 less than the PV (in case anyone is without a bias meter).
 
Hey Zack nice to hear it sounded good at band volume, was wondering about that factor. :thumbsup:
 
What did you bias them at? I tried a set in mine and for me too crystally/bright on the very top end, not as smooth and thick as my EL34BHT's. My opinion for my sound but for me not the end all be all. Maybe higher bias?
 
RG955TT":2qkq8krd said:
What did you bias them at? I tried a set in mine and for me too crystally/bright on the very top end, not as smooth and thick as my EL34BHT's. My opinion for my sound but for me not the end all be all. Maybe higher bias?

Hmm, sounds like a colder bias. I went with around 32-33 mA. The tubes sounds huge...lot of width to chords. High end is smooth, but with more detail.
 
:rock: Surprised on the high end. These tubes are known for their sweet high end. You have to careful where you buy these as factory matched are way off. I know Tyler contacted SED about this since they were using KT77 specs to match to which is incorrect. They need to be matched by EL34 specs. Gald you are digging them. If I kept my 20th I never would have gone back to 34's. These just did it for me in this amp.
 
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