Mark III+ Power Tube Blind Test

In the past I've done a couple different power tube tone tests, however they were fairly loose being a room mic and different performances of the riff. Like many others I felt like there was a difference in the room. Lately there have been some other channels claiming that power tubes make zero difference to tone in a close mic recording situation, so I decided to go back & re-test using reamping where I could hold everything dead equal and see for myself. These other players mostly are using IRs and I wondered if perhaps that was whitewashing things compared to a full analog rig? Anyway, here is a test in a Mark III+ rig with V30s where I've reamped various 6L6 that should be pretty different. The riff is from one of my band's songs. The tubes are Chinese STR440, the JJ STR445, and the TAD Redbase STR448 which is a 415 clone. This is a blind test- can you hear ANY of the changes? I can't.

[@xounlistedxox]

Only one or two small sections that even seem remotely like a tone or volume shift here. Maybe do the 6l6 quartet vs 6l6/EL34? That would be interesting because when I tried that in my IVA it felt like it made A HUGE difference

[@TIGHTENmetal]

Next time I have a Recto pass through I'll definitely do that. ATM I have no EL compatible amps!

[@MosheAlvarez]

I barely noticed a slight shift of the low end but it's nothing too noticeable. No one is ever going to notice it and they all sounded good

[@exteriorhomeservices6458]

That's a cruel test. The Chinese 440 is also a Mesa 415/Philips/Sylvania 6L6GC copy. 2 copies and a JJ. I cannot hear a difference.

[@some_g333]

Very small if any difference. listening on my phone!

[@jameshenz1780]

Not really. 👍