Tubes for Jet City JCA20H

[BSS]

Well, after returning the used one I got from Musicians Friend because something was wrong with it, I finally got my new JCA20H in last week. It sounds really good to my ears, and now I'd like to stick some better tubes in it. Anyone have any recommendations? It's pretty bright, so I'm thinking JJ's in V1, V2 will darken it up a little (or so I've been told), and something with balanced triodes in PI slot, I've also read about sticking a 12at7 in the PI slot, what does this do? I'm also thinking JJ or TAD EL84's for the power tubes.

 

[TheEternal]

JJ's definitely give a darker sound. In my JCA100H I have a Tung-Sol in V1, a stock Chinese 12AX7B in V2 (which turned out to be super hot and gainy compared to the others), and a JJ ECC83S in V3 (which darkened / deepened the tone).. I have stock tubes in V4 and 5 because I think they are the tube buffer and maybe phase inverter..???..

I have a Svetlana 12AX7 on the way as well that I will tinker with when it gets here.. I am still looking for that elusive perfect combination.. I may get JJ's for the 6L6 power section as I can't really fork out for the SED's that everyone says are the best of the 6L6's..

I have discovered that the stock Chinese preamp tubes will somewhat vary in gain and sound from one another, so you may want to swap them around first to see if you can get "closer" to what your looking for..

 

[BSS]

I'm wondering if I want jj's in both V1 and V2, might be too dark/mushy. Maybe a jj in V1, and a tung sol in V2. I'm looking to darken it up a little, but still retain the articulation and string seperation.

 

[TheEternal]

I'm wondering if I want jj's in both V1 and V2, might be too dark/mushy. Maybe a jj in V1, and a tung sol in V2. I'm looking to darken it up a little, but still retain the articulation and string seperation.

I would say that the first two, V1 and V2 are going to carry most of the load, so maybe get a JJ and a Tung-Sol and then just swap them between between V1 and V2.. Also experiment with the JJ in V2 and a stock Chinese in V1 and then the other way around.. The cool thing about tube amps is that the tubes have a good say in the voicing and gain, so you might find several configurations that you like..