EL-84' for Clean 15 Watter

TomCat

I know 6V6 / 6L6 is the way to go for cleans but do you have any thoughts out there regarding using EL-84's for a PP "Clean only" amp..... :-\ :-\

Single clean channel and three-way tone stack Fender style....

Probably will be a Combo with a Greenback or Jensen....

The main purpose of the amp is cleans with a bit of grid when pushed and to take pedals.....

AlanRatcliffe

EL84 amps are great, but they don't give you much clean headroom, so it depends on the volume you need. Otherwise you might have to step up to a 30W.

psyx

The EL84's Ive heard have awesome cleans... But the headroom might be a problem. Depends on the application I guess

Gearhead

You can dial in the amount of drive available with the choice of driver (probably PI) tube. We can get together so you can try my amp - it has choice of 6V6 / EL84 and we can roll the PI tube for test.

ezietsman

You can get enough headroom for that sort of thing out of a +-15 watter with a nice efficient speaker, think 100dB (Celestion Vintage 30, G12H30), Eminance speakers etc. I think EL84s dontt compress as much as the 6V6, 6L6s when you drive them, they go crunchy sooner. Depends what you want. My 18 watt can do cleans at very respectable volumes with the 2x12 G12H30 cab.

makepeace

I think EL84s dontt compress as much as the 6V6, 6L6s when you drive them, they go crunchy sooner.

Largely depends on the grid setup.

But yeah, more speakers (at least 2 efficient), and (i'd say) 2 sets of EL84's in parallel vis-à-vis AC30, but with a more conservative 'hi-fi' type setup and with appropriately setup pre stages. Bear in mind that 2x EL84 will generally have quite a bit less out than 2x 6V6 at clean vols, so yeah, I'd say mess around with 2 sets. Its not *that* much more componentry, and it could be interesting ?

TomCat

For me the amp would be primarily a clean amp and by clean i mean Vox AC-15/ Laney VC-15 sort of clean.

I do agree with the 2x12 option for more clean level on stage.

The amp would not be used at too high volume levels as the amp will be mic'ed all the time and some of that brought back on monitors anyway.

My approach here is the keep the preamp real simple, and as mentioned, look closely at the PI to get the best results.

Could make for an interesting project....

Kalcium

I have a VC-15 that I've had rebuilt using the pre-existing components such as tubes, OT, reverb etc but just changing the pcb circuitry and handwiring a new circuit. So still a 3 12ax7, 2 EL-84 amp and with a 2x12 I get plenty of volume for cleans unmic'd provided the drummer doesn't hit the drums like a maniac.
If he plays relatively hard then I just scrape enough level and it sits on the point of breakup which is great cause if I change from neck single coil to bridge humbucker I go from clean to a bit dirty which is great for louder parts of songs where you want a bit of drive.
This last practise I even had to unplug the 2x12 cause they said I was too loud, so I ended up playing with the stock 1x10.
Must actually check if I get enough clean volume with him playing at full tilt, haven't tried that since having the 2x12....

Psean

Kalcium wrote: I have a VC-15 that I've had rebuilt using the pre-existing components such as tubes, OT, reverb etc but just changing the pcb circuitry and handwiring a new circuit. So still a 3 12ax7, 2 EL-84 amp and with a 2x12 I get plenty of volume for cleans unmic'd provided the drummer doesn't hit the drums like a maniac.
If he plays relatively hard then I just scrape enough level and it sits on the point of breakup which is great cause if I change from neck single coil to bridge humbucker I go from clean to a bit dirty which is great for louder parts of songs where you want a bit of drive.
This last practise I even had to unplug the 2x12 cause they said I was too loud, so I ended up playing with the stock 1x10.
Must actually check if I get enough clean volume with him playing at full tilt, haven't tried that since having the 2x12....

Yeah, the stock 10" lacks bit if you're trying to stay clean. I don't use the clean channel on mine anymore but it would break up with single coils with the volume anywhere above 5 - not really enough for playing alongside a loud drummer or big bass amp.