Quote Originally Posted by red
I would say that the 6L6 has a contribution to that, but it's very small. The main culprit is the tone stack. Before the 5F1 I had a small Fender Champ 600 RI which is a slightly modified blackface circuit with a very pronounced mid scoop. That's why I sold it and got the 5F1, actually. The 5F1 is a tweed, not a blackface model circuit, and it gives you more mids.

So IMHO the scooped thing is really a function of the blackface Champ circuit, not so much a function of the power tube.

As for the chime, by chime I don't really mean high end in itself. I mean shimmer - well, it's hard to explain sounds in words .
Ahhhh, shimmer. That's a different beast than chime. I'm a shimmer-hound, I love the stuff.


I have a Champion 600 reissue and a Gries 5, both champ-based with an 6V6.


The Gries 5 allows one to dial out the tonestack and so move between a blackface and something similar to a 5F1 tweed or any stop in between.

With the tonestack dialed out the amp has more mids & harmonic content & can get significantly louder.

My experience is that the 6V6 is a sweet, rich tube that in a single ended amp can shimmer 'tll there's no tomorrow.

I have only briefly owned an EL84-based amp (H&K 20th anniversary). I cannot really recall, but my recollections is that the clean channel on that amp was brighter & chimier.