"Holy Grail" Tube setup for a 60's Ampeg B15

[Juicyanalog]

Ok...the title says it all.....saving up for a 1963-1967 B15

(despite the fact that i've owned a 1976 SVT for 10 years,...i always sent it in to be tubed, & i never had a clue...) I would like to know 'What's the Best Sounding Tubes'...y'know.. what the 60's B15 came stock with, or what the best sounding replacement tubes would be (price..no object) for the 'holy grail' (B15) of vintage tube Bass Amps. (IMHO)

{why do i think the name 'Mullard' is going to come up...or is that a guitar thing?...lol}...

[BassmanPaul]

IIRC Mullard never made 6L6GCs which the B15 range used. I've run Sovtek in mine but recently went to JJ with blue glass. Looks very pretty!

Paul

[anonymous02282011]

1970 SVT w GE 6146bs. Sounds amazing and looks pretty good for its age. Lots of growl, clarity and muscle. You can slap the band around playing through this thing.

I like the 70 -75 SVTs more than the later era. They changed something(s) about the amp after 75. Not sure what, but they just sound different. I had a 74 that I really regret selling, but this 70 kinda makes up for it.

I've also owned a 76ish magnavox V4B that was AWESOME.

and a 66 B15N with original driver that just embodied the "old school" tone.

[johnk_10]

IMO, the best sounding 6L6 is a vintage RCA black plate. IMO, the grey plate ones sound great too. for more headroom, you could also use a pair of 7581A's. AFAIK, many vintage Ampegs used Sylvania and RCA tubes as OEM back in the days when they were released.

[stiles72]

My '63 arrived with a matched set of clear JJ's in the power section and a hodge podge of pre tubes. I replaced the pre tubes with vintage Ampeg branded Sylvanias, and am holding out for a set of Ampeg branded power tubes. Until then I'll keep what's in it. I do think the blue glass JJ's would look really cool - especially if you replace the logo bulbs with blue LED's

[JimmyM]

for power tubes, if price is no object, rca black plate 6l6gc's are pretty sweet. the grey plates are cheaper, but they're also great. i've got some sort of ge's that i bought used for cheap in it now. if price is an object, jj's are good, and i ran the heck out of a pair of sovteks in my b-15n for 7 years before i got it fixed up. honestly, i can't tell a difference between any of them, though

same for the 6sl7's. i've got sylvanias in mine and they're super sweet because they work. if you pulled them out and replaced them with something a lot more expensive or a lot cheaper, i doubt i'd be able to tell the difference.

but nos tubes do seem to hold up better generally than new tubes, although they're getting a lot better.

[ddbassGA]

Hey B-15ers, how about an update on this thread?

I recently found a sweet nearly unused pair of vintage backplate RCA 6L6's for my '66. And this one had 3 late 1950's redbase RCA 5691 version 6SL7 preamp tubes in it when I got it in the late 80's -- still sound great with no noise or microphonics. Those are considered to be 10,000 hour tubes and I believe the Holy grail of preamp tubes. I sure wouldn't afford to buy a replacement set of these, but glad I have 'em.

Second choice on the 6SL7s would be some JAN military versions. I recently put together a set of 3 NOS Sylvania JAN 6SL7 for about $60. These sound great too.

My '71 B-15 N has a pair of vintage GE 6L6's and I found a NOS set of GE 6SL7's. Sounds great too! I have used new JJ's in this one with very good results and holding those as spares.

My question is what to use for rectifier tubes and if it makes much difference ? Vintage 5ar4/gz34 are expensive. Are they worth it over a $20 JJ?

[JimmyM]

Not to me I'm making my peace with new tubes. I'll buy NOS preamp tubes because they're cheaper, but no way I'm spending what they want for a set of vintage 6L6's. Or the rec tube. Rec tubes usually last a long time so I haven't changed the one in my B-15 for awhile, but I changed the one in my Super Reverb to a new something or other and I didn't notice any difference in sound. But to be honest, I never noticed any tonal differences in tubes when this thread got started, and I still don't, so don't take my word.