What tube/ brand and bias setting was magic in your RM100?

[mfred]

In my tone search I have been realizing that the bias settings on various brands of tubes has a profound impact on the sound. Anybody care to share what bias setting they found was magic in their RM100. It would be important to know the that tube and the brand your are using.. example JJ 6L6GC.set at 30 mv bias. Thanks for sharing

 

[Jaded Faith]

This question is a little subjective and tough to answer. There are so many variables and the player/amp/guitar/speaker combo is a HUGE factor that matters far more than the tube type and brand.

Also remember, when one sets bias it's relative to the wall voltage at the time of day that they set it. The wall voltage can swing up to 10V easily given the demands on the power grid, so a bias setting is not a very good indicator or a constant. You can easily set it at one time a day and it will be off a good bit at a different time of day.

One of the things I like best about my location is being directly between a police station, a fire station and a major hospital (all within a mile). Not only is my electricity amazingly good/constant, I have never had a power outage longer than an hour.

 

[eyeball987]

I keep my EL34's and 6CA7's at 31 or 32 checking the bias in the afternoon. I used to run them up at 35 but noticed that the power in my house bumps up a bit at night when I play.

 

[Jaymzrock]

EH KT88's running at about 40mV, with JJ 6L6GC's running about 31-32mV. I just switched the middle pair from EL34's to the 6L6's. I think I like it!

 

[mfred]

What prompted me to ask this question is that I've never really fallen in love with my RM100. I had emailed Rob about tubes and he told me that he liked the Tung-Sol 5881's with the Venom. When I previously tried 5881's n my Mod 50 I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I had set the bias at 32mv and the sound was brittle and kind of irritating. Out went the 5881's. Recently I read another post where the writer said he had set the bias on his 5881' at 32mv and then quickly brought it down to 27mv and they locked in. Well I tried it and sure enough, the sound was way better in my rig at 27mv. This made me wonder. Maybe I haven't been biasing correctly. Just maybe middle range is not right??? I would love to hear if others have had the same experience. Thanks
Mike

 

[warlok]

I actually just re-fell in love with my RM100. I got an RM50 with Mullard RI EL34's (35mv) and it was the first time I've ever played EL34's. I loved the warmth and focus from the first time I hit the switch. Going back and forth with my RM100 with JJ 6L6's at 32mv (or EH 6L6's, didn't notice much difference in those), I noticed the RM100 just sounded thin and harsh compared to the RM50. So I just got a quad of EH EL34's, biased to 35mv, and I'm loving the RM100 again. Incidently, my RM100 and 4x12 and my RM50 with 2X12 both sound VERY, VERY similar now.

 

[relative8]

I'm not too sure how to bias an amp on my own, but I have 6L6's throughout on my rm100... I believe the bias was set lower than 30, then when I had my amp worked on it was brought up to 33.

I actually feel like the gain in the preamps are unusable once i hit 11'o'clock and after...

I'm wondering/hoping that if I change the bias back lower, I can make more use out of the gain on the preamp mods?
:roll:

 

[MarcoR]

I actually feel like the gain in the preamps are unusable once i hit 11'o'clock and after...

Which modules have this issue?

 

[suphuckers]

I actually have a set of Tung-Sol's in mine ATM, and like Mike above I think they are a bit harsh sounding. (I also ditched all my Tund-Sol preamp tubes too) I bought a new set of JJ6L6's to replace the TS's with, but haven't gotten around to swapping them out. (I used to have JJ's in there before the TS's) When I do install them (Hopefully soon Ill get a min to do it) I'm planning on setting them low. I'm just chiming in here because I think I'm detecting a theme in this thread.

Edit: Marco. Whats your secret tube setup?

 

[relative8]

MY BAD!!!

I haven't played through my rm100 in a while

It must have been the speakers I was using??
I honestly, don't recall the specific cause to unusable gain,

but now I just tried it after being in my closet for a while and the gains all work fine to the max.

It's just a heavy as heck amp head that I may have to part with due to my slim muscles.