blackscot
New member
Somewhere I heard this was possible, to give the amp a different tone.
Is some kind of adaptor needed?
Is some kind of adaptor needed?
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
Generally, no; 6L6's and EL34's are not equivalent tubes. Depending on the amp, it may be that it is moddable to make the change, but you can't just switch the tubes without doing some other work on the amp.
blackscot
New member
I was asking as to EL84's.
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
Oh, right, sorry. That's even worse. EL84s and 6L6s don't even have the same pinout or fit the same socket. It's easy to go from 6L6s to EL84s with Yellow Jacket adaptors, but the other way round I don't think is doable. If nothing else, I don't believe that the power supply for an amp with EL84s is going to be able to drive 6L6s. And then there's the socketing and biasing problems.
I'm afraid that the short answer is no, you can't do it.
Light
New member
No, you can't. As has already been stated, they don't even use the same sockets (EL84's are 9 pin, 6L6's are 8 pin). Plus, all their ratings are different. I suppose you could punch out the holes and mod the amp (assuming, of course, that the sockets are not mounted on a circuit board), and then mod a bunch of stuff inside (including, in all likelihood, a new power trany, and maybe a new output tranny). But when you were done, you would have a different amp, so why not just buy a different amp in the first place. It would probably cost less.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
O
ofajen
Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
I know you can go the other way with some adapters. I do that with GT adapters in my Traynor Custom Reverb. It's designed to use a pair of EL-34s, but I mainly use the EL-84s.
I'm not sure I've ever seen adapters to go the other way. Since you're going to a higher power tube, mightn't it create issues for the amp in terms of either heat or current capability?
Cheers,
Otto
Light
New member
Yup.
Yup. Hence the probable need for a new power transformer, and likely need for a new Output transformer.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
blackscot
New member
Thanks -- shall pursue alternative options.
G
gitrguy87
New member
So what would be the benefits (or disadvantages) of going from 6L6's, to EL-84's (or 34's)?
Light
New member
6L6's have a higher amplification factor than EL-84's, so they would (if both are run at a similar percentage of their specs) be a bit louder. Also, they have a different sound. Don't ask me to describe it - I've never build a 6L6 amp, so I'm not really familiar with them.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
punkin
Univalve & Avatar Speaks
My uni came with adapters. Might look into Univalve Yellow Jackets...a socket adapter type thing.
Light
New member
punkin
Univalve & Avatar Speaks
Oops...as usual...you're right. 
G
ggunn
Crystal Flavolian
EL84s and EL34s are very different animals. Going to EL84s from 6L6s (via Yellow Jacket adaptors) gives you breakup at lower volume and lower volume overall. EL34s are more powerful than 6L6s, so going to them (if you could do that; some amps you can, but most you can't without some other modifications) would take the amp the other direction.