6L6 vs EL34

Heard from Vu in his opinion 6L6 warmer and to him more musical at the expense of a bit of power. He also says vintage 6L6 tubes are readily available and sound great. I will certainly give it some thought I've got the system rewired with copper all the way through now Kondo>Auditorium23>Audio Note UK and I like where the sound and tonal balance are not sure if a change would be too much of a good thing.

@jond, "Heard from Vu in his opinion 6L6 warmer and to him more musical at the expense of a bit of power."

Sounds like we're of the same mind.  As folks have mentioned, there's a diversity of opinion.  As I like to say, that's why they make vanilla AND chocolate.  Like most of us, you never really know until you listen for yourself, and draw your own conclusions.

By the way, as we've discussed previously, you have one of Vu's what I'm sure is phenomenal EL34 amps.  I had one of his 45 / 2A3 push-pull amps.  In many ways, it was possibly the best amplifier I paired with my Hornings when I had them.  I also got my beloved Quad ESL57 from Vu

@trelja Yes we are and Vu has the best ears of anyone I know and I always go with his opinion. Just need to give it some thought as I am really happy with where the system is now. And I love this amp, Pavel to me built some amazing sounding amps for Vu and some indestructible ones. I feel like I really lucked out landing this amp and always want to consider any changes to it. And I bet you wish you still had that 45/2a3 push-pull between you and me pretty sure i saw a pair of 45 pushpull monoblocks there this weekend :) I am sure those Quads sound amazing pretty sure you're powering them with Jadis now?

Jon, there are considerable differences between the technical parameters of the EL34 and the various versions of the 6L6, many of them in the direction of the 6L6 not being able to handle voltages, currents, and power dissipations that wouldn’t be too high for an EL34. That is particularly the case for 6L6s which precede the version that has a GC suffix.

I assume the person who suggested the conversion is aware of these things. But depending on the design of the amp and the nature of the conversion choosing a 6L6-GC rather than earlier versions (i.e., 6L6-GB, 6L6-GA, 6L6-G, 6L6 no suffix) may be preferable or even necessary, and may result in greater longevity of the tubes.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

Al thanks as always for your technical knowledge and trenchant comments. The conversion idea hadn't gotten past the musing stage and Vu and I haven't seriously discussed it so we haven't gotten quite that far. These guys design and build great sounding reliable gear, including amps using the 6LG tube so I am assuming they do know of what you speak. But good to have that knowledge for myself thank you!