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[JiveTurkey]

Idk if weak is the right word. A 6L6 sounds bigger. EL34 has more aggressive top. So I'd say the frequency response is truncated. I have heard it referred to a "buttery".

I am probably one of only a handful of people to experience a 100 watt EL84 amp. There were a ton of valves in there. 8? 12?

He was talking about 6v6 amps in his post. Not 6l6s.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I've always wanted to try out the Dual Rectifier Blue Angel. 2x 6v6 and 4x EL84 that can either be run independently or all 6 together

 

[FuzzyAce]

Idk if weak is the right word. A 6L6 sounds bigger. EL34 has more aggressive top. So I'd say the frequency response is truncated. I have heard it referred to a "buttery".

I am probably one of only a handful of people to experience a 100 watt EL84 amp. There were a ton of valves in there. 8? 12?

I remember that amp though, even Satch used a version on the Extremist album which were some fantastic tones.

 

[CorrosiveMatter]

If you have to have EL84's in your amp Mesa is the way, not sure how Mesa and Friedman get so much out of them when others just fart out.

Another reason to love Mesa.

 

[GreatGreen]

It's 100% about the headroom, yes. The tone for the most part is fine. The smaller power tubes do lack a bit of body and can be a little boxy in the mids.

Yep. I swear, if my California Tweed 40 had just a little bit more low end extension, like just a little bit, it would be the perfect, never-even-think-about-another-clean-tone-ever-again amp because the mids and highs are perfect, but the lows drop off just a little bit too high up the spectrum, which means "California Tweed blended with the lows of a Lonestar Classic" is my never-even-think-about-another-clean-tone-ever-again rig.

 

[Desertdweller]

Yep. I swear, if my California Tweed 40 had just a little bit more low end extension, like just a little bit, it would be the perfect, never-even-think-about-another-clean-tone-ever-again amp because the mids and highs are perfect, but the lows drop off just a little bit too high up the spectrum, which means "California Tweed blended with the lows of a Lonestar Classic" is my never-even-think-about-another-clean-tone-ever-again rig.

I wonder how the Cali Tweed sounds up against a LoneStar 100. I’d think with a clean amp you’d want more headroom, but the Cali Tweed, I think, has the lower wattage so you push the power tubes a bit into saturation. But that’s a guess as someone who’s not really into that type of sound. For me, if I can get that clean Mark-style clean tone I’m happy.

 

[GreatGreen]

I wonder how the Cali Tweed sounds up against a LoneStar 100. I’d think with a clean amp you’d want more headroom, but the Cali Tweed, I think, has the lower wattage so you push the power tubes a bit into saturation. But that’s a guess as someone who’s not really into that type of sound. For me, if I can get that clean Mark-style clean tone I’m happy.

I have both in head format. The Cali Tweed 40 has a bit more bounce and give, it's a bit sweeter in the mids and it has more "airy," sparkly, presence-y highs that can make a guitar sound almost acoustic with the right settings. The Lonestar Classic sounds bigger and has deeper lows that extend farther down the spectrum, but it is a slightly "harder" sounding and feeling amp in the mids and highs, and it doesn't have the Presence extension the Cali Tweed has, even with the Presence knob maxed out, but the Lonestar Classic has a character of its own that makes it magic in its own unique way.

Both amps are incredible at what they do and I'd be happy with either one by itself, but blending the two and even applying a crossover to get the lows / low mids of the Lonestar, and the highs / high mids of the Cali Tweed is pretty much ideal.

I still haven't played a Fillmore 100. I'd love to try one. I know that amp has a slightly higher presence extension than the Lonestar Classic, and I wonder if it actaully would sound like a Cali Tweed blended with a Lonestar.

 

[Desertdweller]

Both amps are incredible at what they do and I'd be happy with either one by itself, but blending the two and even applying a crossover to get the lows / low mids of the Lonestar, and the highs / high mids of the Cali Tweed is pretty much ideal.

Hell yes.

 

[la szum]

Using the wrong tool for the job is not the tool's fault.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I've always wanted to try out the Dual Rectifier Blue Angel. 2x 6v6 and 4x EL84 that can either be run independently or all 6 together

I have played one for a couple of hours at a jam session. This was 20 years ago (wow). The guy also brought over a Gibson ES175 I think it was? Both of us would also boost it with a Mesa v-twin pedal. Wonderful tones that night, I was getting my Santana on at times.

 

[Iron1]

Weak I wouldn't call them, but that would depend on a number of factors like … picking hand, wrist, intestinal fortitude.

FTFY

 

[Whizzinby]

I played a cali tweed combo at the local shop a few years ago and it was one of the best clean amps I’ve ever played.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I want a cali tweed

is the 2:20 good enough or do you need the 4:40 to give up the goods?


my '76 deluxe reverb is earth shatteringly loud and has often buried much high wattage amps, so I know a single pair of 6v6s is definitely capable of doing some damage lol

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Marshall guy here, coming in hot

 

[FuzzyAce]

FTFY

 

[laxu]

I want a cali tweed

is the 2:20 good enough or do you need the 4:40 to give up the goods?


my '76 deluxe reverb is earth shatteringly loud and has often buried much high wattage amps, so I know a single pair of 6v6s is definitely capable of doing some damage lol

My take is you always go for the higher power option, because it usually means also bigger transformers etc. Even turned down the higher power stuff sounds nicer to me, and with power scaling you can just fine tune how you want it to behave.

 

[laxu]

I have both in head format. The Cali Tweed 40 has a bit more bounce and give, it's a bit sweeter in the mids and it has more "airy," sparkly, presence-y highs that can make a guitar sound almost acoustic with the right settings. The Lonestar Classic sounds bigger and has deeper lows that extend farther down the spectrum, but it is a slightly "harder" sounding and feeling amp in the mids and highs, and it doesn't have the Presence extension the Cali Tweed has, even with the Presence knob maxed out, but the Lonestar Classic has a character of its own that makes it magic in its own unique way.

Both amps are incredible at what they do and I'd be happy with either one by itself, but blending the two and even applying a crossover to get the lows / low mids of the Lonestar, and the highs / high mids of the Cali Tweed is pretty much ideal.

I still haven't played a Fillmore 100. I'd love to try one. I know that amp has a slightly higher presence extension than the Lonestar Classic, and I wonder if it actaully would sound like a Cali Tweed blended with a Lonestar.

I haven't tried the Cali Tweed or Fillmore, but my beef with the real Lonestar Classic is that it has so much low end you tend to have to turn the bass knob pretty low, which leaves you less adjustment range. I've only played the 1x12 and 2x12 combos, the blue models with only a half power switch. The Lonestar Special is a bit leaner in the low end so I liked it less for cleans but more for overdrive compared to the LSC.

Based on your description I might like the Cali Tweed though. I've never been looking for tons of low end in an amp, and to me Fender Blackface based amps benefit from some mid boost, so the Tweed sounds like it's already doing those things.

 

[HomespunEffects]

I’ve done a lot of EL84 shit talking in my time, and when I demoed the lower wattage marks in stores my view points held


But I’ll be damned….. V:35 and V:25s are actually the most prevalent amps I see local bands using around here, and I’ve never left one of those shows thinking anything besides “fuck yeah! Sounded great!”

Yeah, man. While i really didn’t like my Vox AC30C2X (it kind of soured me toward EL84s) my Mark Five:35 was very excellent.

I didn’t trade the Mark because I didn’t like it and it did make me realize that you can do EL84s correctly.

 

[laxu]

Yeah, man. While i really didn’t like my Vox AC30C2X (it kind of soured me toward EL84s) my Mark Five:35 was very excellent.

I didn’t trade the Mark because I didn’t like it and it did make me realize that you can do EL84s correctly.

So what was your issue with the Vox, and what made you think it is because of EL84s?

 

[HomespunEffects]

So what was your issue with the Vox, and what made you think it is because of EL84s?

The biggest issue with the Vox was the effects loop. It overloaded everything.

But concerning the EL84s, at the time it was the only EL84 amp I’d ever owned and I’m pretty sure it was the lack of negative feedback but the power section just collapsed in on itself when you got it cooking. Like hyper compression but muddy. Some may like that but I do not. It was like one amp at low volume and a different amp at high volume. And i just never got it anywhere that i liked. I attributed that to the little bottles in the back.