From wheelhead@highmarkdesign.com Fri Mar 30 18:39:02 2001
Subject:Re: Leslie 6550 tubes


eslawson@juno.com wrote:

> My Leslie has Tung-Sol 6550 coke bottle style tubes in it. What I
notice
> when playing the XK2 or V5 is that I am getting a fair amount of grind

> regardless of gain settings. While I do like some growl and
distortion
> in my sound, I would also like to be able to play clean.

The tubes are probably used up, at least for your purposes. I have
some
Mil-Spec NOS TungSol 6550's and they sound wonderful. The distortion is
rich
and full but you have to crank them to get the distortion. If they are
distorting at low volume, they are probably done.

> The 122 amp was
> just recapped with orange drops so it should be good to go. The amp
tech
> told me to experiment by taking the Tung-Sol 6550s out of the 122 amp
and
> putting in a matched pair of Svetlana 6550C. He said it won't be as
> mellow and that cheaper Svetlanas do not distort nearly so early.

I'd take that advice. The Svet's sound nice. They are a little
harder
sounding than the TungSols and not quite as sweet, but they have good
punch,
distort nicely when pushed, and probably cut through a little better in
a
band mix than the TungSols. Don't get me wrong, I love how the TungSols

sound, but at around $160 USD and up for a matched pair (when you can
find a
reputable supplier), I don't think they're obviously worth it. Also,
someone
had mentioned about $60/pair for the Svets. I think that's high, you
should
be able to get them matched for $45.

Mark
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