I Don't Get JJ Preamp Tubes

[V2a]

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.

It's much easier to hear differences with good headphones. I can't hear much differences thru my laptop speakers either. I too liked #5 best, at least for the clean setting.

 

[acalaf]

JJ pre amp tubes, namely the ecc83's, make you sell your amp. This is why you usually get used amps with JJ's in them. The reason? Those tubes have no highs. High frequencies put a smile in your face when you play guitar and make your life better overall. I know some will come and say that the guitar is a mid range instrument blah blah blah, but these same people are the biggest amp flippers.

 

[jc986]

JJ pre amp tubes, namely the ecc83's, make you sell your amp. This is why you usually get used amps with JJ's in them. The reason? Those tubes have no highs. High frequencies put a smile in your face when you play guitar and make your life better overall. I know some will come and say that the guitar is a mid range instrument blah blah blah, but these same people are the biggest amp flippers.

That depends highly on the amp, and even then the effect is pretty minor as a whole. Amps that have a tendency to be harsh on the high end do very well with JJ preamp tubes. I prefer JJ's in my 5150 and when I had my 5153 I thought they sounded great in there as well. My Archon came with JJ preamp tubes and I haven't been compelled to swap them out yet either. I do think that my Uberschall sounded a bit too dark with a JJ in the V1 spot though so I have a Tung-Sol in there now.

 

[Adambomb]

JJ pre amp tubes, namely the ecc83's, make you sell your amp. This is why you usually get used amps with JJ's in them. The reason? Those tubes have no highs. High frequencies put a smile in your face when you play guitar and make your life better overall. I know some will come and say that the guitar is a mid range instrument blah blah blah, but these same people are the biggest amp flippers.

As the poster above said it spot on. Darker amps benefit sometimes from JJ's. My Fender did BIG time. All depends on the amp. You pretty much contradicted yourself with the first and last sentences.. "JJ's make you sell your amp" then "But these same people are the biggest amp flippers.

Actually I've learned much from the dark JJ preamp tubes. If the amp sounds muddy or dark and has JJ's in it, most the time it's not the amp for me cause Chinese tubes will only sound a little brighter. If the amp is shrill, thin and ear piercing with Chinese pres, it for sure not going to get much better with just darker JJ's. Playing live in the field I really can't tell theres THAT big of a difference with 3-4 other instruments jamming at gig volumes.

But please don't take my advice, JC986 above seems to know when to hold em and to fold em.

 

[311boogieman]

Never had a problem with JJs either pre or power.

Like someone else said - it depends somewhat on where you buy them.

They are some of the best modern production tubes you can buy.

Sure NOS tubes are often better. :idk:

 

[Racerxrated]

My experience is this. Whatever the amp comes with, I will play through it for an hour. Then, throw in different pre tubes to see if an improvement happens. If it sounds better my pre tubes stay in. Then I check the bias, and if its out of range adjust it. Play it again, and then shut it down and throw in some of my power tubes. Bias, and from that point I can decide what tone I like best. Not once though, have I ever left JJs in...my pre tubes always make an improvement. Not a knock on JJs, just how I hear things. But I will say that the only tubes that have failed me were JJ pres. Brand new in an EVH 5153 50, and 2 used. It is what it is.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

My experience is this. Whatever the amp comes with, I will play through it for an hour. Then, throw in different pre tubes to see if an improvement happens. If it sounds better my pre tubes stay in. Then I check the bias, and if its out of range adjust it. Play it again, and then shut it down and throw in some of my power tubes. Bias, and from that point I can decide what tone I like best. Not once though, have I ever left JJs in...my pre tubes always make an improvement. Not a knock on JJs, just how I hear things. But I will say that the only tubes that have failed me were JJ pres. Brand new in an EVH 5153 50, and 2 used. It is what it is.

Exact experience I have had...

 

[midnightlaundry]

I just put the stock JJ's back in my MV with an MG in V1, and an Ei in the PI spot. I like it a lot better than all Chinese foil getter; which were real nasally. It was killing me..

I like the MG's because they're more open and have a rich tone. I think they make a great V1 tube. JJ's are good at keeping the guitar in the guitar range because they aren't sibilant; which pays off at volume IMO.

 

[lll]

I bought a shit-ton of new manufactured 12AX7s back in the early 2Ks to see if any of them could stack up
against my Valvo-labeled & CV4004 Mullards.

None of them did.

I remember the JJ ECC83 being pretty dark; hardly any top-end detail.

That might work with a shrill amp, but in an old-school plexi circuit, no dice.

 

[some dude]

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.

Been doing the Tung-Sol V1 in my Mesa's for a number of years now.

I typically don't like JJs, but when I tried to remove them all in favour of Tung-Sol/EHX I lost a lot of midrange girth. All EXH was colder and more industrial sounding. Reminded me of my old Recto.

Adding JJs back into the lead gain stages filled out the mids and added compression, but the V1 really needs to be a brighter, more open tube... Like a Tung-Sol or EHX.

 

[just42dave]

they are good for darkening an amp in maybe the v2 of high gainers. Too many make it either really gainy and have a weird brightness with a blanket cover sound or just plain mush even though they do darken an amp... I had an eveh 5150 iii 50 watter I just bought,, the 3rd one lol. And it sounded good but had this horrible tinnish sound. I thought it was the evh cab and the heritage speakers?? I went to change the power tubes as I always do an a new amp and looked to see what I had in the pre and it was all JJ which isn't the way the others ive purchased were. I put in a tungsol in v1 then 3 golden lion short plates in 2 3 and 4 just to try it and boom.. Totally new amp. I was impressed actually as the gold lion short plate is really a sino Chinese 12ax7 just like the new mullard short plate and the tube depot's supposedly "new" tube they brand with the tube depot logo..anyway....

 

[Oblivion DC]

I've always really liked the JJ 6L6GC power tubes. Thick, stable and reliable - no complaints. JJ pre's have proven to be durable and inexpensive but overall dull and compressed sounding. Would use one as an emergency replacement in a pinch but that's about it.

 

[SavageRiffer]

I don't know where the JJ naysayers buy their tubes, but I've used them for a long time and seem to have about 98% reliability. For people who use cleaner style or vintage style amps then I can see how the preamp tube nuance could be a minor factor, but it's hard to tell a substantial difference from similar preamp tubes in a high gain amp. What am I missing here because my experience is opposite than what I've read in this thread?

 

[Oblivion DC]

I don't know where the JJ naysayers buy their tubes, but I've used them for a long time and seem to have about 98% reliability. For people who use cleaner style or vintage style amps then I can see how the preamp tube nuance could be a minor factor, but it's hard to tell a substantial difference from similar preamp tubes in a high gain amp. What am I missing here because my experience is opposite than what I've read in this thread?

They're reliable. Very durable, in fact, but even in a high gain circuit they're dull sounding. If you run an amp, say an old 5150, with all JJ pre tubes for a while then pop out the very first one and replace it with a TungSol you are going to hear a significant difference. Replacing the rest of them will refine the sound further but not as dramatically.

 

[just42dave]

ive bought up to 200 at a time or 2 cases with 1 in 10 bad.. They are durable if good, but the trained ear be it vintage amp or high gain can hear two or more jjs against say 2 eis or mullards or etc.. I have no problem with them. Just not my cup of tea as to much squishiness isn't good for myself..

 

[HilltopExplosion]

In my experience... amp.. and position. I can "hear" a JJ pre in the pre a lot of the time in my amps. My Rockmaster pre was.. nah, but my EVH5150III loves 'em. I just don't like it in V1.. I went with reissue Mullard CV4004. Never had a ecc83s failure or 6l6GC. EL34's... different story. I put a JJ in the HBE slot on my BE100 with a Tungsol reissue in the BE slot. ShEEEeeeeeEEE-YIT! Made a big difference. I liked it. In my buddies 5150, he has all original tubes. We tried a few others in different positions, (Chinese, tungsol, EH, Svetlana, RCA, Mullard, ( old and new) and we both agreed.. the JJ in 1 and 2, the original Chinese with the square getter in the rest. His tubes test fine. It just sounds mean as hell with The JJ's. This was at GAT DAYUM THAT'S LOUD!! volumes.