THD Yellowjackets 6L6

No features...plug 'em in...turn it on.

I decided to give these a try just to see what I was missing. Put them in an old BF Vibrolux Reverb. The tone definitely changes...quite a bit brighter than the stock 6L6's. I guess the final test is whether or not you leave them in...I always wind up pulling them back out after a couple days and putting the 6L6's back.
The sounds, to me, were not any better or worse than the stock amp...just different

I could not crank these any farther than the stock tubes. For any given setting on the volume dial, I noticed no change in volume.

haven't had to deal with the company.

7-8 overall...They appear to be fine well made products. The overall tone just is not my personal favorite.

I gave these a ten just because installing them is so easy - you're mother could do it. But, it's kinda hard to talk about features with this type of product.....so read on.

OK, now let's talk. I gave these little gems a try in my 4x10 Fender Hot Rod Deville. My biggest complaint about this amp is that it's just too damn loud. And when you do turn it up with some gain on the front end, it gets pretty noisy. You gotta tweak it just right to get a nice gritty but quiet sound. Anyway, I'm not gigging so using this thing in the bedrooom isn't what it's designed for to begin with - but even when I jam with friends, I can't turn it up past 3. That being said, I installed the yellowjackets to improve overall tone, and decrease overall power so I could theoretically turn the master volume past 1.5 - 3. Now, the tone issue was definately improved. But that's because I love the AC30 sound, and these things definately make my deville sound more like an AC30. It now has that glassy, class A tone that I really like. It distorts more nicely now too. Less muddy, more gritty with good midrange and highs. BUT, I still can't turn the damn thing up past 2. But, it makes sense because what they'r really doing is turning my 60Watt deville into a 30 Watt Class A amp. And believe me, anyone who has played through a class A amp know's that 30 Watts in Class A power is about equal to 50-60 Watts of class AB in terms of volume. I'd like to see a tube converter be able to cut my power down to about 10Watts. That would be cool. I know what you're thinking....buy another amp.

So, just in the tone category, I give these things a 9. (Hey, there's no such thing as perfection)

Can't really say. Haven't had them long enough.

THD was great. I ordered them direct because I couldn't find them anywhere. I called THD, asked a couple of questions, and had them at my door step 48 hrs later. They are very responsive.

I wrote enough in the sound category. That's what counts anyway. Once again, I say a 9 because there is no such thing as perfection. This easy mod was definately an overall tone improvement for my guitar set-up. If you're not happy with the tone on your amp, and you like that classic Class A tone of a Vox or Hiwatt, than these things are exactly what you need to avoid buying a new amp. Then, when you've got $1500 to waste, go get an AC30.

I bought these babies for my 65 re-issue Fender Twin. The amp was way too loud and brittle. The yellowjackets plud right in and warm up the whole thing. I can only use the center two tubes and effectively lower the power to 20 watts, great for small clubs and recording. It changed a clunker amp to one where people comment on my great tone.

I play a b-bender tele. Mellow pop-rock with psychelic and country elements. Sort of byrds meets galaxy 500, clean to slightly-overdriven guitar sounds. I found that the yellowjackets give my twin a more vox-like sound. The high-end on the twin was brittle and harsh. These smooth out the top with a nice vox-like sparkle. The amp is now more dynamically responsive, I can get a bit more grit with my pick attack.

One-year going, so far so good. I club-gig in Seattle about 1-2 times a month.

Very Helpful. I live in the neighborhood. Solid Ballard Blokes! I am going to install a reactive rectifier, their solid state rectifier designed to mimic a tube rectifier, for a nice spongy tone.

As I said, this product changed an amp that had no tone to an excellent sounding and reacting amp! Very Cool!

Yellowjackets replace the stock power tubes (in the case of my Hot Rod Deluxe, 6L6's) with EL84's, which effectively cuts the amp's output in half, from 40 down to 20 watts. Installation takes all of one minute, and the tonal results are tremendous.

I was very displeased with the confused and muddy bottom end on the highgain channel, and the Yellowjackets have delivered me from this tonal hell. Now, the amp really cuts, and I also get more bottom end definition on the clean channel. I could not be happier with the results of this modification, and I recommend Yellowjackets to all Hot Rod Deluxe owners.

I picked up my Yellowjackets today, so I cannot give a rating.

Same as above.

Buy them !!!! An excellent product, you will not regret purchasing them.

This product works on a simple principle of converting the current stock power tubes 6L6 Class AB to a more user friendly Class A EL84. There is no surgery preformed on your amp to complete this modification. I purchased the product from Songbird Music in Toronto. The EL84 tubes come attached to the converter jackets. This product is very easy to understand and does exactly what describes. Try it!!

I'm currently running a 40 watt Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with a 1x12 Sunn extension cabinet. By the way, an extension cab works great with this amp. I wrote a review on my amp. The EL84's work by allowing less voltage to pass through them. Most amps in the 30 watt plus range will run 4 EL84's to allow greater voltage to pass through them. Here's where the magic of this product comes alive. Although the Fender amp only has 40 watts, their a extremely loud 40 watts. In many cases too loud. This is another one of those Fender amps that sound great when you blast it and kind of shitty at low volumes, especialy on the distortion channel. The Yellowjackets allow half the power to pass through them which changes the amp to Class A and only puts out 20 watts. Now the amp in still very loud but you can achieve the same distortion at a much lower volume. Also the clean channel will distort at 5 with a nice SRV clean sound. I can nail the early Zeppelin sound with ease. My drummer can't believe it. The Yellowjackets also allow more midrange compared to the 6L6's. When I need extreme volume, I use the 6L6's. If I could give this product a 11, I would!! Its like having a new amp.

Never a problem. No worries.

I called then once, the owner said he's had good results with the HRD.

If your Fender amp is too loud, try it!! I've been reading the reviews on my amp and everyone is saying how loud the amp is. If you bought this amp for your bedroom, you bought the WRONG amp. The distortion on this amp is very good, although it needs volume to come alive. I,ve had the Yellowjackets for about 4 monts and gave it quite a workout. No problems. I'm thinking of getting a Hot Rod Deville with 4x10's. This will work great. This is the best thing you could ever do to this amp without ripping it apart.