Unique, the blue angel uses 6v6, not 6l6 valves. 6v6s were used in early small tweed fenders and in the blackface deluxe reverb to this day. You can fit 6l6s to the BA without it throwing a wobbly, though.*UNIQUE* wrote:From a plain logical perspective I agree with Mr Crow - each amp is designed circuitry wise to work with the given power section whatever it be. Maybe that's why changing didn't yield that much difference philipnz? But I'd go something that natively hosts 34's...and sell me the Mesa for like $13. Always wanted a 6L6 beast after I played a Mesa Blue Angel for a night...love that brown sound.
You could always keep the Mesa and look for a Sovtek Mig 50 or something with 34's at a bargain price?
Sam, ditch the recto. Changing the power valves will have some effect on the tone, but not as much as getting a dedicated el34 amp like a marshall would. Circuitry and transformer really play a big part in an amp's signature tone, and changing valves can't mask that totally. In some cases, amp circuitry can be designed so that it completely fools you into thinking you're hearing a different type of valve. For example, the 5150 uses 6l6s but sounds much more like an el34 marshall tone than, say, a fender or boogie 6l6 tone. This is due to the rest of the stuff surrounding the valves.
You may want to look at the new mesa stiletto, which is their first ever dedicated el34 amp, and sounds great. Not as much gain as a recto, though, if super buzzsaw is your thing. A friend of mine got a new Orange recently, and it sounds great, though less gain again. A real AC-DC kind of tone.