I Don't Get JJ Preamp Tubes

[psychodave]

I like them.

I'll buy them from you for cheap.

Trade for a Charvel ...

Nah. I don't like them that much.

Seriously though, I use the AMesa Boogie labeled JJ's in my triple f and they sound incredible. I preferred them over all other tubes, including NOS tubes.

 

[the4thlast1]

I tend to like JJ preamp tubes a lot in amps with 6L6 power sections ..... they sound great in any type of 5150....I also like them alot in Rectos, Soldanos etc. There are other amps I like Chinese pre's in more , the Chinese tubes have more of an in your face grind to them where the JJs are darker and smoother.

 

[Hey_bert_whtcha_doin_bert]

I personally love the E34L's and I used to use a jj pre in v1 but have since went full Chinese.

 

[just42dave]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

 

[vchizzle]

I like them in the right amp, although usually not as V1. I thought my EVH 50w sounded best with all JJ's, pre and power. I rolled a bunch of tubes through that amp, too. In my experience JJ preamp tubes tend to darken the amp. In a bright amp like the EVH they work out pretty well. The PRS Archon also ships with JJ's in the preamp and I rolled tubes in the Archon and was just as happy with the JJ's as anything else. Really though the Archon played nicely with pretty much any tubes.

The Archon is the only amp I've really ever been ok with JJ pre's. I generally hate them in just about everything. All I can come up with is that the Archon, while it can get really bright, has a fairly smooth sounding gain.

 

[jc986]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

While Mesa has used all kinds of different tubes over the years, last I heard they were actually using JJ's in the preamp. Confirmed by a Mesa rep in a post at sevenstring.org April 2014.

Here's a quote from that thread:
"As I said above, we select tubes from all 3 of the worlds tube manufacturers. We select the tubes that sound the best and are the most reliable - then we run them through a battery of tests and select only the best tubes. Our 12AX7s are currently manufactured by JJ. As the largest consumer of 6L6s and 12AX7s we get first choice of tubes - what we reject goes on to other tube re-sellers."

 

[Rex Rocker]

I like them. I like them on V1's most of the time because they're usually quiet, reliable, and have a nice tight, smooth, focused, and slightly squishy voicing. I like mixing them with Chinese and Russian 12AX7's in other positions because I don't like them filling all spots, but 90% of the time, I like a JJ ECC83S in the V1 spot of high-gainers.

The ECC803S is a fantastic tube for clean amps too! Almost the complete opposite tonally of the ECC83S that everyone in this thread seems to hate, lol.

I like their 6V6S's too.

I think their E34L's and 6L6's are kinda meh.

I wanna try their 5881's and ECC83MG's.

 

[skoora]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

Yeah, I don't agree with that either, especially as they have several models that require a chinese tube in the cathode follower position.

 

[midnightlaundry]

My Boogie TriAxis from 1998 had Chinese foil getter 12AX7's.

My Transatlantic from 2010 had all JJ tubes.

My Mark V from 2012 had JJ preamp and Chinese power tubes.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

its about tube selection, that's why. I can tell you that a JJ preamp tube bought from a renowned vendor with correct specs sounds totally different than a shitty one. I come from the country where JJ tubes are being produced we NEVER EVER buy directly from the factory. I did that once and ended up buying 7 preamp tubes out of which 5 were DOA.

I always use tubeampdoctor or eurotubes and such. Heck I even bought some preamp tubes from the US, such that I could easily get here, but still those tubes were a lot lot better.
The selection makes a day and night difference guys.

I would have to politely and humbly disagree 100% with you, bro... I have a couple tube testers which is a luxury to test different aspects of tubes... not just gain or transconductance. I only keep very strong, quiet tubes...
Even the very BEST of the JJ 12AX7's have the same characteristics, blunt, fizzy, dead sounding - to my ears anyways.
Doesn't mean I'm right and you're wrong tho...
Peace!!

 

[stephen sawall]

What tube testers are you using Keith ?

I have been thinking about picking one up.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

Hey Stephen, I have the B and K 707 Dyna Jet, I also have a Hickok which is just different but I definitely like the B and K best, it's so quick and easy to use

 

[thunda]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

Yeah, I don't agree with that either, especially as they have several models that require a Chinese tube in the cathode follower position.

While not a fan of JJ tubes per se, the problem with the cathode follower is the spiral filament design. This a characteristic of Sovtek/New Reflektor tubes (Sovtek, Mullard, EH, Svetlana, Tung Sol, et al). Spiral filament preamp tubes will die a quick death in the cathode follower position. JJ's do not share this design and neither do the Chinese manufactured tubes.

 

[just42dave]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

While Mesa has used all kinds of different tubes over the years, last I heard they were actually using JJ's in the preamp. Confirmed by a Mesa rep in a post at sevenstring.org April 2014.

Here's a quote from that thread:
"As I said above, we select tubes from all 3 of the worlds tube manufacturers. We select the tubes that sound the best and are the most reliable - then we run them through a battery of tests and select only the best tubes. Our 12AX7s are currently manufactured by JJ. As the largest consumer of 6L6s and 12AX7s we get first choice of tubes - what we reject goes on to other tube re-sellers."

could be they use so many of the recent vendors,they are regulated more at lest..JJs always are good to darken up a really bright amp..

 

[FourT6and2]

JJ ECC83S = garbage (muddy, fizzy, and blegh)

JJ ECC803S = Ok. Sounds pretty good in the PI or V2 of some high gain amps

I like the Tung-Sol Reissue in V1 of my amps. But it's hit or miss with finding one that isn't noisy.

I like the tone of the Ei/Yugo but they are very noisy and go microphonic easily.

I haven't really found preamp tubes that sound amazing yet. I have an RFT that's pretty good. But it's a bit microphonic. I refuse to pay hundreds of dollars for NOS preamp tubes because it's so hit or miss with these things and you never know what will work and what won't. I have 4 amps. That's about 16-20 preamp tubes total. I can't bring myself to drop $1,000 on 12AX7s.

For power tubes, I like the EH EL34 (sounds very close to my favorite), my fav = Siemens/RFT EL34. I also like the original Tesla (not JJ) EL34s from the '70s. I have a quad of those and a quad of the RFTs. The EH tubes are not bad actually. They are super cheap, but sound pretty good and they are reliable.

 

[MESA/Boogie]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

Yeah, I don't agree with that either, especially as they have several models that require a chinese tube in the cathode follower position.

We've been using JJ preamp tubes for quite some time....thanks!

 

[dfrattaroli]

The Mesa Boogie preamp tubes is JJ tubes btw

mmmmmmmmmmmm not quite dude

Yeah, I don't agree with that either, especially as they have several models that require a chinese tube in the cathode follower position.

We've been using JJ preamp tubes for quite some time....thanks!

Wow. I didn't know that. I never looked inside my V:25. Now I feel like rolling preamp tubes this weekend. Just to see what difference it makes.

 

[Adambomb]

I did some research on what people say about jj preamp,
darker, fuller midrange, subdued top end, tighter, more compressed.

I didn't test it personally but supposedly, combo of tungsol (which is more open, clear, has high end) in V1 and JJ in V2 sounds great.

Don't know if you guys tried combining different tubes in V1 and V2?

That combination of a TungSol in V1 and JJ in V2 was absolutely the best combo in any and all Mesa amps I've owned. JJ pres aren't bad tubes and are higher gain than any tube from what Friedman says. But I really don't like the choked dark sound in V1. Best V1 I've found in most amps are highly screened tested medium gain Chinese HG+5 (or whatever called) by Ruby or other tube tester companies.

Of course several mentioned JJ power tubes in a preamp thread so I'll just say that the JJEL34 is a decent power tube with decent life span, but not as open sounding as like some EL34-B's screened by TAD or Ruby.

 

[V2a]

Here's an interesting comparison of three different 12AX7s and two retrovalves in the V1 position. JJ is in the list, so let's see if the JJ haters rank it low. The answers are in the 'show more' description, so don't cheat...

scan ahead to 1:12 to skip the chit chat...

 

[FourT6and2]

Here's an interesting comparison of three different 12AX7s and two retrovalves in the V1 position. JJ is in the list, so let's see if the JJ haters rank it low. The answers are in the 'show more' description, so don't cheat...

scan ahead to 1:12 to skip the chit chat...

I liked #5 the most. But on my laptop it's hard to tell a huge difference. The biggest differentiator to me was in the "hair" of the overdrive. No real "tonal" differences, just how much hair was on the distortion.