JJ Electronic tubes

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famous beagle

famous beagle

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Hey y'all, anyone had experience with these? Anyone know how they compare against NOS American tubes?

Thanks
 
The JJ tubes are well made. I've used them for years. As to how they compare depends on which tube type you are referring to.
 
I like JJ's. Can't say much more than that. They are all I buy.
 
Pretty much everything I have tested by ALL of the 'new' manufacturer's is way lower in all categories as far as the actual testing goes, when compared to REAL NOS tubes.
But what do those numbers mean..... absolutely nothing when you talk about each individuals taste in their own sound.....

Each amp, and each guitar has it's own unique sound, and when you add all the variables up,.... new pickups, different speaker, new strings, different tubes,..... they ALL add to the overall tone

so which tube is better than NOS tubes.....

with all the variables in mind,... it's really up to who's listening, and what their tastes are.

For my taste, I just prefer the NOS, or Older tubes sound,... or to me, the RESPONSE of the amp with those tubes installed.

I am not exactly sure what it is, but the overall FEEL of an amp changes with older tubes.... it just FEELS more,

more dynamics, more gutsy,more....everything.....

But,.... if you gig,..... leave the NOS at home,... and use something more available for 'on the road' In that respect, JJs are fine,....
less responsive,... but fine..
The public who is your listeners can't really tell all that much anyway,..... they just wanna be ROCKED......

Only my opinion tho, do what you want...

Steve
 
I retubed my Traynor YCV80 with JJ's "blues option" kit probably 12 to 18 months ago. I have no complaints whatsoever. It definitely doesn't do the higher gain sound as well as it did with the stock Sovteks in there but that was replaced with such a gratifying midrangey buttery breakup that I don't mind. Plus I ended up getting an Ibanez TS9 to stick in front of the amp and that overdrive in combination with a slight amount of preamp gain and a lot of power section breakup have left nothing to be desired as far as my tone. I'm as happy as can be!
 
It's interesting that you should mention Sovteks. I retubed the preamp section in my 6505 because when I bought it, I was not getting anywhere near the sort of gain those things are capable of. Bought 5 JJ 12AX7's for it. When I took the old tubes out, I discovered that what it came with was 3 JJ's just like the ones I bought, and 2 Sovteks marked '12AX7LM'. Soon as I put the new tubes in, the amp was back to having the face-ripping distortion I expected.
 
famous beagle said:
Hey y'all, anyone had experience with these? Anyone know how they compare against NOS American tubes?

Thanks
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I think the construction and materials used in NOS tubes like the Amperex *PQ*, Telefunken, Mullard, Siemens, GE and RCA was much better than the tubes being made today. Even the newer Mullards are nothing like the originals.

I don't much care for JJ tubes. For a long time they used a similar plate design to the 6DJ8 with their 12AX7s, which was a high transconductance type tube. It was a lackluster sounding tube. The JJ EL 84s were some of the worse I've used in tube combos and always rattled. I prefer the older EI EL84s which were slightly hotter in output like the 7189s. The EI 12AX7s are also decent sounding, but easily driven into microphonics. Yet, I still used them in different stages. The newer Mullards are not bad either.

All in all, I still prefer the NOS variety in my tube equipment. Just my preference, but YMMV.
 
famous beagle said:
Hey y'all, anyone had experience with these? Anyone know how they compare against NOS American tubes?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I've got some JJ EL84s in my amp, and I really like them. I had Groove Tubes before. These break up a little later, and sound a bit tighter in the low-end. I've had zero experience with NOS tubes, so I'm no help there.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
NOS tubes have a full bodied earthy flavor and go well with fish. :D

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what do you guys have to say about the new production tung-sols? specifically the 12ax7's vs the jj ecc83s's
 
They are all I use in my live rigs. A Super, Twin, Music Man 130, Kustom 72 coupe, Hughes and Kettner Trilogy, Bassman 100. Now in my pre amps and mics, all NOS some RCA spome Mullards, some Sylvania
 
back when i was doing service work we tried the jj's but had problems with consistency... that was late 80's through '02... we ended up using sovtek for almost everything...
 
dementedchord said:
back when i was doing service work we tried the jj's but had problems with consistency... that was late 80's through '02... we ended up using sovtek for almost everything...
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They had problems with some of the pins being too small but that was corrected long ago. Sovtek tubes are very sturdy but they sound bland and one dimensional when compared to JJ's or most any other tubes.
 
ocnor said:
Sovtek tubes are very sturdy but they sound bland and one dimensional when compared to JJ's or most any other tubes.
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You won't find many recording studios using JJs as replacements in their vintage tube gear and, for good reason, they don't really compare. IMO, anyone witn a vintage rig or boutique amp should be looking at NOS tubes and not Sovtek or JJ.
 
sound125 said:
You won't find many recording studios using JJs as replacements in their vintage tube gear and, for good reason, they don't really compare. IMO, anyone witn a vintage rig or boutique amp should be looking at NOS tubes and not Sovtek or JJ.
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I'd love to, but I just don't know if can afford it. I pretty much sold almost all my gear to afford the parts for the amp I'm building. I don't know if I can afford a few more hundred (at least) in NOS tubes. :(
 
when you guys are referring to the new mullards, are you referring to the groovetube 12ax7m's?

If you are, I do agree that they sound decent, but I wouldn't suggest them to anyone because of their extremely high failure rate. I was once told that they fixed whatever the issue was with them that made them go bad so quickly, but found out about a year later that nothing was ever fixed.

I like jj's. I also have had some EI's in my 55 watt rivera knucklehead for almost 3 years and they have yet to go microphonic. It got used a couple times a week for about a year and a half, but I guess I rarely use it anymore though.
 
ocnor said:
They had problems with some of the pins being too small but that was corrected long ago. Sovtek tubes are very sturdy but they sound bland and one dimensional when compared to JJ's or most any other tubes.
Click to expand...

this wasn't a pin problem... electronicly inconsistent... and i dont get why people bad rap the sovteks so much (though there are better) i put sovteks in a couple soldanos for Vai one time and he loved them...
 
I just got a pair of 6L6GC JJ's put in my '65 Ampeg B-12 while having other work done. Sounds great. I don't drive this amp real hard, but I push it enough to get a nice warm tone. Sounds as good as the Sovtek's and EHX's that have been in it in the past. But, again, I'm not pushing them to their extremes.
 
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