anyone here try out JJ tubes?

[kmanick]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

Well I just bought some Sveltana Pre amp tubes off of Revolutionguitar.com, so I will really have a good range of different tubes to test. the end of the week is they are all coming so I will give a pretty detailed description in the differences I hear.
thnaks to every one that has stated an opinion and links to tube sites,as usual the JFcers are the coolest and most helpful around.

[Fragle]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

i recently retubed my amp with a set of JJ ecc83s and JJ el34s. i think they are great. one side note: in high gain situations they dont work as well as in medium gain situations, but they totally LOVE overdrive pedals, which basically means that you get a way superior sound when setting the amp to medium gain and boosting the front end with a overdrive

i might try out some EH preamp tubes next time, but i've been told they are fairly bright sounding.....which is not a good thing imo

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

Although I am a devout Svetlana power tube fan (all that I use), the Svetlana preamp tubes have gotten the most horrid reviews, and people that I know that have used them agreed with the horrid reviews as well.

Hope they change that, as I'd love to use that brand as a preamp tube as well.

I'm personally stuck using a mix of oddball tubes in my CAE3+se to get what I want out of it. Haven't found a brand that sounded good for every position yet. A different one in most every socket. From a couple old NOS RCA 7025s, JAN GE 5751, Older chinese cheese grater getters, to a Sovtech (gag) 12ax7BP "Reflektor" and a 12ax7WXT+.

[kmanick]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

The EH's I have in there now sound good as far as brightness goes, my distortion is muddy, so I'm hoping the JJ EL84's fix that. I tell you, I've got four different sets of tubes to test, this will be intersting, maybe I'll stumble on to a good combination by luck!

[kmanick]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

toejam has the tube configuration that I'm hoping sounds good, that will be my first test config

[Tooling]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

I have never tried Svetlana preamp tubes. The bottom line is first you have to know what your ears want to hear. For example I want fifth order harmonics out the ass...this is what I think a TUBE amp should accentuate and is probably my biggest criteria. I want tubes that are balanced across the tone spectrum but a tube that brings out depth in bass while maintaining a solid non wooly tone. I tend to like tubes that are brighter than they are dark because they tend to offer the most clarity as well.. but again...balanced tone....no nasty highs..I want sweet warm highs. Probably the most neutral tube I've come across are the NOS Sylvanias. If you are going,"tube searching", be prepared to be headfucked and mark the tubes with a marker so you can remember what was where etc. and let your ears guide you. In the experiment you will learn about what you want to hear and although your head will be screwed and your wallet lighter...you will know what you like but more importantly what you don't like. It's good experience if you're serious about your hobby or career whatever the case may be. I have not tried JJ EL84's but have heard very good things about them.

[joblo1978]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

I got JJ's in my 5150 2x12. ecc83 and 6l6gc, they are def. better than stock but there's just something about them I'm still looking for. They are dark sounding.

[Riffmeister]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?


I had Eh preamps tubes in my Marshall but they were way too bright. I got some JJ's from Bob at euro tubes and they toned it down a bit, but the amp still is too bright and it seems to be lacking a lot of mids.

[kmanick]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

Ok I got all of my tubes in on Thursday. I must say RevolutionGuitars.com and Eurotubes.com are both great to deal with. I got a full set of JJ replacements for my Marshall Combo and yanked out the Groove tube EL84's and replaced them with the JJ's. I also had 2 Electro harmonix and 2 fender 12AX7's in the pre amp stage. Well I replaced all of those with the JJ ECC 83 S tubes and put the balanced tube in for the phase inverter position (nice touch from Bob the Eurotube guy to send that and mark the tube box). Well I turned it on and let it warm up for about 5 minutes before playing. HOLY SH**T, what a difference. all the bottom that was missing when I palm mute suddenly showed up and the amp is really singing now. So Far A+ on the JJ's. Now the louder I turn this up the better is sounds. With the Groove tubes in there I heard no gain in tone when turning it up. the sound is much more ummmm "saturated" now than it was before. I also have a full set of Sveltanas. I'm going to leave these in for a couple of days and really play the crap out it before swapping out the ECC 83's. I want to hear the difference with all different types of cominations in the pre amp stage , but so far the EL84's sound 10 times better than the Groove tubes I had in there (and they were also brand new).thanks to everyone with their suggestions. Any one that can recommend any others please do so. [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]
Thanks
Nick

[Tooling]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

I have to follow up a little...I threw some JJ 6L6's I had laying around in my VHT UL...these tubes complement the amp very well. It goes to show you can't discount a particular brand etc. Each amp likes what it likes I guess. Glad to hear you're pleased with your new tubes..In the end it don't mean **** what I think..it's what your ears think.

[jazzman]

Re: anyone here try out JJ tubes?

If you look at the plates in the tubes you like, find others that look the same (the same number obviously) I learned this years ago when I loved the old Boogie 12ax7's in my ADA MP1, which were chinese. Boogie later were using different tubes, so their 12ax7's no longer sounded good. I looked at other companies tubes and matched up a 12ax7 that had the same plates in them as the old ones. Bingo! It was to tube I liked. There are only a few producers of tubes in the world and companies buy and put their own name on them. BTW the old chinese tubes I liked are no longer made. They started producing them again, but they don't sound as good.