Help me choose some new tubes for the Mod50

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mboogman

mboogman

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I can get a select variety of tubes wholesale through a distributor we deal with at work, so I'm wondering if any of the tubes they carry are worth me considering. Here's what I have to pick from:

Ruby - 6550AR
Ruby - 6L6GCSTR
Ruby - 6L6GC5881
Ruby - 6V6GTBC
Sovtek - NS5881
Sovtek - NS6550
EH - 6V6EH
EH - 6L6EH
JJ - JJ6L6GCCZ

I've left all the Groove tubes and EL34's off the list because we don't get as good of a break on the GT's, and I'd like to stay away from EL34's right now.

Any help or thoughts is appreciated. :thumbsup:
 
I am loving 6550's in my Mod. They are the Tung Sol, but I bet the Ruby's would sound great.
 
I did not like the TS6550s, kind of stiff. 5881s are good.
 
I'm presently enjoying the SED ('winged C') 6L6 --lots of headroom and 'big' sounding.
 
So the Ruby 6550's are about $70 for the matched pair. Is this a good price? I remember buying 6550's for an old Marshall JMP way back when, and them being really expensive. :dunno:
 
mboogman":3l5hem1x said:
So the Ruby 6550's are about $70 for the matched pair. Is this a good price? I remember buying 6550's for an old Marshall JMP way back when, and them being really expensive. :dunno:
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I'd recommend the TS 6550s or the SED 6550s...The SED 6550s are the Svetlana 6550s from the older days. I've been using 6550s for YEARS...and the older Svetlanas and newer SED 6550s are the way to go. The old Svetlana / new SED 6550s are the BEST all around 6550 out there. Those and the TS 6550s sound AWESOME in the Mod50.

Eric
 
mboogman":3s46cdfu said:
So the Ruby 6550's are about $70 for the matched pair. Is this a good price? I remember buying 6550's for an old Marshall JMP way back when, and them being really expensive. :dunno:
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Really?? No, if that's your "wholesale price" then that's not so good in my opinion. I can get them from dougstubes for that price right now. You can get the TS 6550's from Doug at $68 per pair. Eric is also right about the SED's. Great tubes as well.

I'd personally go TS or SED. Don't pay attention to Richie!! :lol: :LOL: He's the only one that I know of that didn't like the TS 6550's in a Mod 50! :D
 
TUNG SOL EL34Bs!!!!! :rock: :rock: :rock: Sound like 6L6s on the clean channel and thick, harmonically rich EL34s on the gain channels.

Mr Buckeye, I have talked to quite a few others who did not like the TS 6550s either. :lol: :LOL: You never know.
 
Sounds like my distributor isn't such a hot deal. I will look around. Thanks for the recommendations. :thumbsup:
 
I just switched to the Tungsol 5881' and they are just fabulous.
 
I had a little tube test the other night testing out Mesa 6L6, Svetlana EL34, Sovtek 5881 and Tung Sol 6550. When I bought the amp it came with the 6L6s and I was never unhappy with how the amp sounded. But having the opportunity to try tubes this easily I had a little go.

First thing first, I honestly couldn't hear a lot of difference. The EL34s and 6550s were furthest apart and the other two were somewhere in between. EL34 had a very pronounced midrange as you would expect. To me it wasn't the best match for the amp hich already is a midheavy amp. 6L6 and 5881 were pretty much the same. Maybe a bit more sizzel to the 5881s. I had read about TS 6550 here on the forum and was anxious to try them and I must say of all the tubes this probably was the best match. I had the feeling they were a little more beefy, warm and rich. Not a huge difference but enough to make them stay.

Must say though, I played the COD module last night for the first time with the new tubes and it went from being one of my least favourite modules to one of the favourites. Much more full bodied and clearer top end. Couldn't stop wailing with it. :D
 
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