New tubes in my JCM900--any suggestions?

T

TravisK

New member
I was reading the other tube amp thread prior to this and decided to ask you marshall owners (or anyone really) which preamp and power amp tubs you prefer for JCM's


I have the JCM900 Dual Reverb (100w) going through a hughes and kettner cab with 4 celestion rockdrivers.

Thanks!!!
 
I like JJ pre's in JCM800-ish amps. For the power tubes, I'd also go with JJ or maybe the Winged C Svetlanas. No sovteks or rebranded sovteks (like Fender, Mesa, and some of the GT's).
 
thanks for the input, i'll look into those for sure...

though the guy at eurotubes.com says that he doesn't like jcm900s at all (they are one of my favorite amps--i have heard plenty too)
 
I suggest EL34 power tubes if your 900 doesn't already have them. If not it can be converted from 5881s. I have heard 900s both ways and I think they really sound more like a "marshall" with the 34s! I think the EL34s come originally in earlier 900s but not in the later ones. Just something to think about.
 
I love my new JJ's in my JCM 900 2500 MkIII !

I'd suggest going with the JJ's too. I've got an early JCM 900 2500 50 watt Super Lead MkIII half stack (1960A cab) that I love, and I retubed and rebiased it about a month ago with JJ's. Actually, I live in the Portland area, so I called Bob at Eurotubes and made an appointment to take my amp top in and have it retubed and rebiased by him. As is typical in most JCM 900's that came with EL-34's, my amp was biased pretty cold. So, after cranking up the bias and replacing my old Tesla EL34's with new JJ E34L's (and all the preamp tubes with new JJ ECC83S's), my mild mannered MkIII is now a F@ckin' fire-breathing dragon! It's never sounded better... MUCH better bottom end, much smoother top end, and tons of sustain. The whole thing cost me $60. Bob's a hell of a nice guy too.

As a heads-up... be sure to check your tube sockets for tightness... the individual pin sleeves relax over time, which can cause all kinds of problems, especially when retubing an amp. You can tighten them up with a dental pick, by prying the sleeve closed a bit, then reinserting your tubes into the newly tightened tube sockets. ;)
 
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