I was thinking about getting some Ei tubes but I'm a bit afraid they will be microphonic due to their age and such. Anyone have any recommendations on some smooth pre amp tubes? (12ax7)
Tubes to smooth out the pre amp?
- Thread starter JonWormwood
- Start date
Lasse Lammert
HCAF Blitzkrieg
MarcusGHedwig
Member
Actually, my experience was the exact opposite - JJ's (a bit) darker, Tung Sols (a bit) brighter, Chinese 9th gen (AKA Penta Labs) right in the middle
TheWinterSnow
Den Mørke Natt
No, JJs are well known for being the darkest, mid rich tubes you can get. They do an amazing job on bright amps. I have a whole set of JJs in my 5150 and there is no harshness in the highs. The mids are crunchy and edgy as fuck and the high end is smooth or rather soft.
sprack
Thread Killer
GuitarHack
Krank it UP!
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
Lol, I was gonna mention that loading my VL1002 with JJ's made it waaaay too dark. Why does dude hate the Lee Jackson??? My VL is the one amp that i am scared to sell.
MarcusGHedwig
Member
Hmm this would work in the lee jackson that marcus hates
Haha, nah man, AYDY? is one of the best tones I've heard simply because it's IMO the best example of CoB's immediately identifiable tone (key word there being CoB's
). But yeah, I'm sure Penta Labs would make that baby scream!And Sloan, I know of your love of the VL, never had the chance to play one myself!
+1 to this. Tung-Sols are anything but dark.
I'm not really a huge fan of Tung-Sol in general. JJs or Penta/Shuguangs in the preamp for me on most amps, otherwise NOS.
I emailed Bob from Eurotubes to get his opinion.
original email
Hey Bob,
I have a Lee Jackson Gp1000 (1987) and I'm looking for a tube to 1. smooth it out, 2, Darken it (a very bright amp to begin with) and 3. add a hair of gain/distortion. Can the
ECC83S High gain do what I'm looking for?
Hi Jon:
Well, yes, no, yes and maybe... The first “yes” is sure the gold pin ECC83S will be noticeably smoother. The “no” is for “darker”. Contrary to what you will read on a number of forums from people who have not even tried the JJ tubes, they are not dark. However, they are not brittle like the chinese and russian tubes are, the JJ’s are sweeter in the highs, but not dark.
The second “yes” is sure, the JJ’s have more gain then any current production tube so you can get about 10% more from them. The “maybe” is even though we see about 15% of the non-gold pin ECC83S’s test out with very high gain on both triodes the gold pin tubes are made to very tight spec’s so the variance in gain is much less. We do see a very small percentage of these tubes that are about 5% higher in gain which is why you don’t see “high gain gold pin” tubes in the online store.
So here is the answer to your next question, yes, if you order the “matched triode” gold pin ECC83S and leave a note in the comments box on the checkout page that you want us to select it, or them, with the highest gain factor and we will accommodate. So, smoother, not brittle and a little more gain.
Thanks
Bob
original email
Hey Bob,
I have a Lee Jackson Gp1000 (1987) and I'm looking for a tube to 1. smooth it out, 2, Darken it (a very bright amp to begin with) and 3. add a hair of gain/distortion. Can the
ECC83S High gain do what I'm looking for?
Hi Jon:
Well, yes, no, yes and maybe... The first “yes” is sure the gold pin ECC83S will be noticeably smoother. The “no” is for “darker”. Contrary to what you will read on a number of forums from people who have not even tried the JJ tubes, they are not dark. However, they are not brittle like the chinese and russian tubes are, the JJ’s are sweeter in the highs, but not dark.
The second “yes” is sure, the JJ’s have more gain then any current production tube so you can get about 10% more from them. The “maybe” is even though we see about 15% of the non-gold pin ECC83S’s test out with very high gain on both triodes the gold pin tubes are made to very tight spec’s so the variance in gain is much less. We do see a very small percentage of these tubes that are about 5% higher in gain which is why you don’t see “high gain gold pin” tubes in the online store.
So here is the answer to your next question, yes, if you order the “matched triode” gold pin ECC83S and leave a note in the comments box on the checkout page that you want us to select it, or them, with the highest gain factor and we will accommodate. So, smoother, not brittle and a little more gain.
Thanks
Bob
Melb_shredder
Orpheus: Melodic Death
+1 for JJ's.. however let me quicky mention my experience with them...
In a mid rich amp, ala Mesa Mark IV, I hated them. Just pushed the mids further forward and made the amp nearly unusable with the highend roll off. Sweeter, maybe, but when I recorded it, I perceived that as darker anyway...
In a Mesa Rectifier, fucking BLISS... turned the 4-6k harshness to exactly as stated, a sweeter highend with a better response and rolloff. Tighter low end and more mid punch!
The Demolition mix I did was a Rectifier with JJ's and it sounded better than any recto I've played.
Just YouTube - Demolition - Killzone if you wanna hear it
Anyways, in summation. They'd probably work GREAT on the Lee Jackson pre.. Really smoth out the high end fizz and give the mids a little more punch
In a mid rich amp, ala Mesa Mark IV, I hated them. Just pushed the mids further forward and made the amp nearly unusable with the highend roll off. Sweeter, maybe, but when I recorded it, I perceived that as darker anyway...
In a Mesa Rectifier, fucking BLISS... turned the 4-6k harshness to exactly as stated, a sweeter highend with a better response and rolloff. Tighter low end and more mid punch!
The Demolition mix I did was a Rectifier with JJ's and it sounded better than any recto I've played.
Just YouTube - Demolition - Killzone if you wanna hear it
Anyways, in summation. They'd probably work GREAT on the Lee Jackson pre.. Really smoth out the high end fizz and give the mids a little more punch
