Rebel 20 - Came stock with JJ's instead of GT's?

[briguy73]

R So I picked up a Rebel 20 about a week ago from GC. Sounds great, best amp I've ever owned. Funny thing is, I took it apart to look at the guts cuz I'm kinda curious on the build quality, etc. At any rate, first thing I noticed was that the power/output tubes were JJ's instead of GT's and that the preamp tubes are Sovteks. Both brands get great reviews from the places I've checked and the amp sounds just as good as the one my friend bought about a week previous from the same GC and his came with GT's. Does anyone know why this would be? The head was sealed, in the box, not a floor model. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[HerbieTheRadDorklift]

You must have got the Mexican version, El Egñater Rebelé.

 

[briguy73]

Nice! LMAO...hadn't thought of that but pretty clever...I was thinkin' maybe it was Cuban...you know "say ello' to my lil' friend"

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

The GT's were JJ's with the Gt logos only. We then stopped using GT because of their sale to Fender and the fact that the GT testing was not worth the cost in our minds. So they have always been JJ"s in the power section and were JJ's at first in the pre amp but are now Sovteks.

 

[briguy73]

So was Groove Tubes an actual tube manufacturer or just a tube clearing house so to speak that rounded up all the "good ones" from the 4 corners of the earth and then they put their name on them? I noticed they had a statement about their sale to Fender on their website but was curious how they worked. Sounds like they would purchase tubes from say...JJ, test them to make sure they met "GT" specs & quality, match em' in pairs or what not and then they got the GT logo...is that the case? Thanks for the reply.

 

[Buckeyedog]

Sounds like they would purchase tubes from say...JJ, test them to make sure they met "GT" specs & quality, match em' in pairs or what not and then they got the GT logo...is that the case? Thanks for the reply.

Yes, you got it.