Best sounding Fender push pull 6V6 amp?

[Cliff Schecht]

Depending on biasing, I would say anywhere from 20W to a bit under 30W. 30 may be pushing it with an 8k transformer. Also consider that a higher plate load will give you more distortion earlier as it gives you more gain and less swing. Something you could do is run the impedance selector one under what the cab is rated for (i.e. with a 16 Ohm cab you run 8 Ohms), this will halve the impedance and give you a more typical primary impedance of 4k instead of 8k. What transformer are you using?

Rereading your posts, I see you are aiming for lower power. If this is the case then it's easy to do. It's usually harder to go the other way and get MORE power without beefing up on the PT and/or OT.

[flood]

hey there cliff, thanks again. my transformers are custom wound in india, so no major manufacturer that you would know... my objective is to include some sort of switching or biasing reserve that would allow me to use 6V6s for lower power (about 15W) and 6L6s for a bit more... i figured i might as well exploit the power reserves of the output transformer, which will take up to 25W.

[M Fowler]

I built the Fender Bassman 5B6 with octal preamp tubes and it has a great tone it it.

I have an updated schematic and data if you choose to go that route as the Fender schematic shows remote face plate.

I would like to take a look at it. I have been considering a Bassman build just have not decided on what flavor yet.

i'm building a 5B6 (most likely as a gift for a family friend) using 6SC7s, 6SL7, EZ81 and 6V6. wanted to scale the original down to 25W or less, using an 8k CT output transformer. would be interested in your schematic too.

is there a way i can use a 6L6GC pair under 25W with the 8kCT tranny? my power transformer gives me 275-0-275 at 150mA on the secondary side. heater winding has 5A on tap, so no worries there.

Mcrracer and flood here is the link to the post I did on the Bassman 5b6 amp with the schematic.

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Mark

[tubeswell]

is there a way i can use a 6L6GC pair under 25W with the 8kCT tranny?

Yup - if you have a multi-tap secondary on your OT. I did a 5E3 like this a couple of years back. I used a 10W 250R cathode resistor, and when I put 6L6s in I used a GZ34 rectifier and dropped the 8R speaker to the 16R OT tap. This gave a plate voltage (on the 6L6s) of about 410 and they were idling at about 70%. Whereas with 6V6s and a 5Y3GT, the plates were sitting at around 360 and the tubes were idling at about 90%. FWIW I used a 25W OT on that build, so the 6V6s couldn't really drive the OT into saturation, and it was a jazzier sounding amp, but it still sounded good with a G12 20.