JJ Tubes and Hardness?

[charvel750]

Do JJ EL34 power tubes come available in different "hardnesses?" I know that Groove Tubes specifies their hardness on the tube itself. I'm asking because I need a tube set that DOES NOT break up easily with distortion. I need clean headroom all the way. I have a great Marshall 100 watt but it has JJ's in it that break up too easily and at high volume the "clean" tones are gritty. I was told this is related to the tubes' "hardness." Please shed some light on the matter, thanks.

[Cleveland Metal]

"I've" really only seen the GT stuff rated in "hardness".

I've also never done well with EL34s and "clean headroom" haha...

For me, EL34s always seem to color the tone too much with their saturation, inevitable midrange issues (IMO) and compression. If you tailor your tone around that, it's ok. However, I found the issue of getting the same sound in varying sized clubs to be too much for me to deal with. Hence, me eventually going to an overkill power amp with KT88s (VHT2150).

I suppose you could possibly look into getting it converted to KT88s

[toejam]

The bias rating numbers will be marked on the boxes, not the tubes themselves. Talk to Bob at Eurotubes, he's real big on JJ tubes. www.eurotubes.com

I got a KT77 from him awhile ago, and the box is marked 30. I also got EL84s from him and their box is marked 32, so I guess you can specify what rating you want.

[horns666]

Dr Z ordered two sets of matching GT 6L6 hardness level #6 for my two 5150 because those amps have more than enough preamp distortion to rely on. I took his advice because they won't break up anywhere near as much as the stock sylvanias. He was right..they didn't and they sounded like ass. I wasted money on two sets of tubes. I should've tried one set, but I like doing things in pairs...lesson learned. I still have two sets of GT 6L6 #6. I can always try those in the 9200 whenever the stock Sovteks take a dump...I guess.

Yeah, I never liked EL34 for reasons John stated above. Fortunately, Tung Sol 12ax7 blend nicely with the EL34 in the Uber. Since the switch, I'm using 50% gain and cutting the lows dramatically. I can't stand JJ preamp tubes in the Bogner. To my surprise, I was advised by Dan of thetubestore that is a common complaint. Luckily, things worked out.

As far as hardness levels for JJs? Ummm no..I never heard that one.