From npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu Thu Apr 6 10:09:41 CDT 1995
Article: 784 of alt.guitar.amps
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.moneng.mei.com!uwm.edu!news.alpha.net!solaris.cc.vt.edu!news.duke.edu!news-server.ncren.net!taco.cc.ncsu.edu!npstewar
From: npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu (Nathan Phillip Stewart)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.amps
Subject: Re: tube sound
Date: 6 Apr 1995 05:24:50 GMT
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Lines: 25
Message-ID: <3lvtv2$4s--(at)--aco.cc.ncsu.edu>
References: <67256.repoma--(at)--ox.nstn.ca>
NNTP-Posting-Host: c00313-11pa.eos.ncsu.edu

In article jhollan–(at)–indspring.com (Jason Holland) writes:
>In article <67256.repoma--(at)--ox.nstn.ca> writes:
>>do you tell if your Marshall has the English or American
>>tubes/Configuration? Any help would be appreciated.
>
>English tubes are EL34’s E for English. American tubes are like 6L6’s or
>6550’s I think.

The ‘E’ in EL-34 means it has 6.3 volt heaters. L designates a power
pentode, and the 3 specifies a large octal base. The first 6 in 6L6
indicates it has a 6.3v heater in the American system. (The traditional
American system gets convoluted after the heater voltage – the last number
being the total number of elements.)

Sometime in bygone years (’83?) Korg, the American distributor of Marshall
at the time, made the switch from EL-34’s to 6550’s for tube life. Rebias
is all that’s necessary to switch one of these back to EL-34’s. Marshall
did recently switch to 5881’s (mil spec 6L6), but it was long after the
JCM-800’s were gone.
_______________________________________
| | Nathan Stewart
|Marshall | npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu
|________________________ | Play skillfully to the
| |!!o Q Q Q Q Q Q :: | | Lord with a
|=======================================| *LOUD* noise. Psalm 33:3

 

Buy the Book!

I cleaned up my tab for Sonny Boy's Help Me and made it into a short book. There's a Kindle version for 99 cents, and if you buy the paperback you get the Kindle free.

Playing "Help-Me" In the Style of Sonny Boy Williamson II: A step by step, note for note analysis of some of Sonny Boy's Signature Riffs