Bad experience with new tested JJ6ca7's Buyers Beware!

[MetalHeadMike]

I’ve had issues with JJ tubes. The pins used on the tubes are quite thin and sometimes don’t make contact. I have a brand new quad of 6CA7’s I got a few years ago that I had to add solder to each pin to make them work with ANY amp.

As for tone, they are okay. I like the 6CA7 the most, then EL34, EL34II then E34L. The E34L’s I have are like 18 years old and I mainly use them as a test quad since I know they work. They might have 3 hours of use on them. I do know they seem to be a lot better than what’s made today.

I've never compared the pins to other brands. Are JJ really that smaller in diameter than other brand tubes? I had that problem with my Splawn and the JJ KT77 but I just attributed it to the socket receptacles needing tightening; that was a pretty easy adjustment.