6L6 Vs el34 In the xxx, can you hear the difference?

[Endtime]

The answer is yes. Pretty much about as much as one would expect. IE, not much. But the el34s add some midrange bark which I must say I think I prefer them in the mix. And the 6l6 I might like a touch better in the room.

Clips of course!! You need headphones or good monitors. I used an IR so no mics could have been moved. All settings, guitar, remain the same. Overall the el34s add a good 3 db of volume I had to knock down. Could the mids be scooped out a touch and sound the same…? Not really from my experience. There’s a mid freq that gets added that simply isn’t there in the 6l6. I’m sure many would consider it not worth messing with. I’d agree, but also there’s some added “bark” that if that little bit helps the tone for you, then el34s are the ticket. The guitar is my Warmoth V that I thru in the Wilde l500xl. Sounds killer!

Xxx el34 https://app.box.com/s/xc2ijli035c60r0vcnja0v56ofjkuwhp

Xxx 6L6 https://app.box.com/s/itwp5bu3nxkzwg6ja6xu7yg5hnk02r8d

[Guitarbilly]

Yeah the difference is pretty much as expected. I'm surprised it's so apparent!! I'd think the XXX would be all preamp with a pretty flat power section but apparently not!! Very interesting.

[Endtime]

Yeah it’s definitely audible. Especially in the room to be honest but that may be my cab.

And for a bonus. Lol”bonus”. I figured I’d plug in the Presonus EQ3b and do an “exodus” take since they used the xxx for a few albums with that eq as the boost. The Atrocity A album might have the best xxx tone ever recorded!

Xxx el34 with Presonus EQ3b https://app.box.com/s/ds15vyr79pbnn5ihg0f1ncc60unj39wt

[Guitarbilly]

The Atrocity A album might have the best xxx tone ever recorded!

Yes!!! They were on fire during that era. I wish they'd bring Dukes back.

Clip sounds great man. Not only the tone but the riffing is spot on.

Do you know whether he was using 6L6s or EL34s on his XXX?

[ninjaraf]

Maybe the 6l6 is slightly murkier here, but yeah, I can't really tell a difference.

[Endtime]

The Atrocity A album might have the best xxx tone ever recorded!

Yes!!! They were on fire during that era. I wish they'd bring Dukes back.

Clip sounds great man. Not only the tone but the riffing is spot on.

Do you know whether he was using 6L6s or EL34s on his XXX?

Shovel headed kill machine, also XXX, was 6L6 and apparently straight in. But you can hear the heavy scoop on that.

Atrocity was el34 with the Presonus boosting the mids back in. I have a general idea of what his settings were. And with them and the Presonus I can get close for sure. But there is some Andy Sneap magic happening the rest of the way. If I had a better way of explaining in words what I hear in that Atrocity tone that gives away that el34 “tone”, I would. But I can hit a certain chord or riff style of them and if I play it with the el34s you can hear that “tone signature “ of el34s in the xxx

[Endtime]

Maybe the 6l6 is slightly murkier here, but yeah, I can't really tell a difference.

Yeah this doesn’t really surprise me. On past clips comparing say Neve pres to API style. To me it’s apparent as it gets. But you said you couldn’t hear that! Makes me wonder why you change pickups as much. Lol. cause this is the amount of difference we are talking here. I guess you’ll need to be able to recognize the subtleties of mixing and recording, then I’m sure you start hearing it. Maybe you just need to hear where that change is in these clips. Best word is it’s got more bark in the mids. It’s a tad harder sounding. It’s like the BEST and most seasoned mix engineers, when they mix, it’s all small changes. Unless of course they want something to be drastic. I had the chance to watch a dude mix in Germany many years ago. A total professional mix engineer and it was .5db here , .5 there. Maybe a db or 2 at times. But it was all subtle shit and damn if I didn’t hear that mix open up by the time he did 10-15 minutes of general eq and compression to just start the mix. That changed the way I looked at mixing from that point forward. I used to think 3-5db was sorta small! And I NEVER go to 3 db unless it’s drums and MAYBE vocals since for the style I record more drastic eq moves can help add some aggression. But for guitars 1-2db max. And the difference between the el34 and 6l6 is certainly subtle but it’s there. And it changes the mix to me for sure.

And murky wouldn’t be how I describe it. The el34s do slightly compress more. Which also brings it forward a touch. The low end is similar but it changes based on how the mids are. I played these riffs in this way for a reason. Simply for the chugs. A few gallops here and there to hear the way it responds to quicker picking attack. Then the trem picking. And then some heavy palm mutes. For me I can hear the mids on the el34 on the trem picking pretty easily. Then on the heavy palm kites I do at the end 3 descending chords every other time. The el34s compress thos more. Almost smears them together a touch more.

[bonano]

Nope, can't hear the difference. But everyone else here has better ears than I do, I'm sure, because I'm too lazy to strive for it. Great playing.

[Landshark]

Atrocity was el34 with the Presonus boosting the mids back in. I have a general idea of what his settings were.

i have this pic of Holt's XXX rig settings, but there's a mic stand in the way of the Presonus mid settings

great tone and playing, BTW

[zozobra]

The EL34s have just a little bit more junk in the trunk. I'd be interested to see how they compare in a low tuning. Do the EL34s flub a little bit in A standard?