6L6 OR EL34 in JSX (POLL)

[shogun]

Yeeelllllllo.. In the past I have prefered the sound of 6l6's in my amps.. what do you JSX owners prefer in the amp? If i put 6l6 will i lose that twang on my neck pickup?? some guys who's tone I admire:

govan
petrucci
yngwie (HIS TONE)
gambale
gilbert
garsed
johnson
lane

[waylay00]

For those tones, I would go with some SED Winged C EL34s or some NOS Mullard EL34s.

Most of the players on that list are associated with more of an EL34 sound (Malmsteen and his Marshalls, EJ and his Marshalls for lead, Gilbert and his Laneys/Marshalls, Garsed and his THD Flexi, Guthrie with his Cornfords, etc...)

Petrucci is more associated with the 6L6 sound though, but he is only one out of many in your list.

[shogun]

gambale also used 6l6

[Salamander In The Sun]

I say, go with the good ol' mainstay - the EL34.

6L6's feel really nice and spongy, but EL's have more snap and crunch.

[waylay00]

Originally Posted by shogun

gambale also used 6l6

He actually prefers solid state power amps these days. Regardless, that's only one more on the list besides Petrucci. Personally, I think the JSX is geared more towards EL34s, but then I'm not fond of the amp to begin with.

Originally Posted by shogun

If i put 6l6 will i lose that twang on my neck pickup??

I'm not following that statement. Most people don't describe a neck pickup with the word "twang". Twang is more like that really trebley sound associated with the bridge pickup of a Tele.

Anyways, I thought you were vehemently against the JSX?

[shogun]

u must not have seen my recent thread..

as for the twang thing.... how would you describe the sound SRV get's on the neck pickup.. the strong snap you get on pick attack..

petrucci does not have this sound on his neck pickup, satriani does.. low action also helps produce this tone

[kmanick]

I'm using KT-77's in my JSX now and I love em!
they are tonewise right in the middle of EL34's and 6L6's. I've been
using EL34's and I've used 6L6's, but the 6L6's kill the mid "growl" too much.
I like the El34's in there but the KT-77's keep the "growl" and smooth out the upper mids a bit.
My JSX sounds crunchier with them in there.
I also run an MXR 10 band EQ in the loop and boost the lower mids, that way when I cut the
mids on the amp (only down to about 4) I'm only cutting the upper mids and the amp sounds
much "thicker" this way. Especially the Ultra channel.
I see you have Govan listed on there.
With the Kt-77s etc, my crunch channel with the gain at about 2:00 oclock gets a great Govan like tone.

[shogun]

right on, thanks for your opinion kmanick

[waylay00]

Originally Posted by shogun

u must not have seen my recent thread..

as for the twang thing.... how would you describe the sound SRV get's on the neck pickup.. the strong snap you get on pick attack..

petrucci does not have this sound on his neck pickup, satriani does.. low action also helps produce this tone

What you're referring though to is more a result of how hard a player picks, the amount of distortion he uses, and the type of pickups in the guitar.

Satriani uses relatively lower output pickups and a lower amount of gain. Combined with the compression of his low action, you get that sound you described. With that said, I don't really see how SRVs tone is similar to Satch's tone, but SRV used 6L6s in his Bassman. Either way, you're still going to be able to get a good, open bluesy tone (which is what I think you are trying to describe). Trower and Hendrix used Marshalls (EL34s) and SRV used 6L6s, but all had really good tone.

[shogun]

there is more than one factor in getting that snap, but you cannot get it on ANY amp, i know that for a fact

[shogun]

could someone post some clips of a jsx with 6l6's or kt's in it?