ATTENTION! TUBES ARE GOOD!

[NickL]

I just installed a set of Eurotubes JJs in my 5150. HOLY FUCK.

At first I was skeptical. In the same mic position, they sounded nearly identical to the tubes the amp came with. It wasn't until I started moving the mic closer to the center of the cone than is usually tolerable that I noticed a difference. The fizz... it's gone. Or at least severely reduced. I even put the mic dead center on the cone and I shit you not it was almost a usable tone. When I think of the time wasted on trying to find a balance between tone and fizz...
I wouldn't say there's a huge difference in tone otherwise. But I really feel like I'm getting the high end I want now.

Cheers

 

[Tommy Gun]

JJ's are bad ass man. I have The hand-picked Ruby/JJ 6L6's in my Madison... B R U T A L.

 

[pifos_2]

The JJs in my rackmount recto sound really sweet too.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I just threw a JJ in a pedal (gold pins, nice preamp tube)

They do sound great though.

 

[Sloan]

I've put JJ's in almost every amp I've owned and really haven't bothered with anything else. I've got some PhillipsECG 6g6bl;ashg;aslhgqe;r blah blah whatever that cost like $70 a pair in my Ampeg VL-1002 right now, but if I had the cash, I'd hook up some JJ's in no time. I got the expensive tubes when I bought my Blue Voodoo for SUPERCHEAP so the new tubes were basically free, yes!

 

[ATLA]

i got some jj's in my t-recto, good stuff!

 

[Baddo]

JJ's are Tesla right?
And winged =C= are Svetlana. Or was it the other way around?

...or not that way at all?

 

[Metaltastic]

JJ's are Tesla right?
And winged =C= are Svetlana. Or was it the other way around?

...or not that way at all?

Right on both

 

[Kazrog]

I pretty much use JJ's exclusively. They sounded great with my 6505+ on my last album. I've got a fresh set of JJ's ready to install in my ENGL e530, I just want to wear out the factory tubes first.

 

[nwright]

I like JJ power tubes, but I think the pre tubes in my 6505+ did not sound very good.

Shuguang 9th gen 12AX7's and JJ power tubes, and the "fizz" - to me - is gone (well, the "bad" kind anyway ). Although, I would highly doubt the power tubes do much to reduce fizz/alter the tone if you have a stock bias. Changing the pre's is a much bigger change comparatively.

 

[wishtheend]

I just retubed my 2ch Dual Rec with all JJs. I got an ECC803S Gold Pin in V1, a ECC83S Gold in V2, Highgain ECC83S Gold in V3 and then just standard ECC83S for V4 & V5. This with the JJ 6L6GC matched Quad and Rectifier replacements ... transformed my amp into a completely different animal.

The higain tube in V3 really gave the Red channel a nice boost in gain. I have to use between 10-15% less on the dial for the same amount of saturation. That ECC803 in V1 really opened up the clean channel. It's got a good sound.I've gone through so many tubes before - but nothing beats those JJs for the sound I like. My next step will be to see how that amp sounds with a EL34/6V6 intergrated quad.

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Much love for the JJ's here too. Re-tubed my Triaxis/2:Ninety with em and Schaaaaawing!!! I know the Triaxis is supposed to be the ultimate Mesa 'Mark' pre but until I git the JJ's in it there was no way I could get this much gain, crunch and utter tone. I might try some other shit later on, maybe the 12AT7 in a slot to bring the gain down or something but I'm happy now. I used to dime the gain to get a descent sound. Now it's on 3-4 and it's plenty. Whole new world....

 

[Metaltastic]

Whole new world....

Don't you dare close your eyes (sung cooingly...)

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I have rubys in my 5150 and like them allot actually. I do love JJs though.

 

[TomiR]

For high gain amps I prefer Tung Sol's, but I do like JJ's and EH's too.

 

[ahjteam]

btw, anyone with a lot of tubes wanna test how the different tubes sound recorded? with the same amp, with same settings and mics, and post them here, just changing the tubes? or is there a comparison already somewhere that I have missed?

 

[Torniojaws]

I've got a load of preamp tube clips, though they were originally made just for some quick comparisons. All on Engl Powerball with JJ power amp tubes and Engl 2x12" Vintage with SM57.

The tubes were in different positions from input tube to fx loop tube etc. Here's the list of tubes:

Engl stock (Sovtek)
JJ
ElectroHarmonix
Marshall rebranded, from an old Marshall plexi amp
Orega SE
and a few no-name tubes

Though I can tell you right away that the only tube that made a difference was V5a (input stage). Changing the others around had very little difference in the tone, even at extremes.

JJ in V5a = Most even tone
Sovtek in V5a = A bit muffled tone
Marshall in V5a = Very fizzy and noticeably little bass (could be very old tubes too, so it might explain)
ElectroHarmonix in V5a = the same as JJ but ever so slightly higher perceived volume (or perhaps a bigger midrange boost)
Orega SE in V5a = a bit dull sound and lower volume, nice bottom though