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Sucked Back Into Tube Rolling - Anyone Else?

Triburst

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
4,353
I've found that both "JJ" and "Tung-Sol" have really raised their game on 12AX7's.

The only tubes I have found difficult to replace with modern tubes are the smoked glass 6V6 RCA's in my Tweed Deluxe.
 

J.D.

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
It's been quite a few years, but when first issued, I tried both the JJ KT-77s and JJ 6L6GCs (different amps). Got bad tubes with both. Thought it would be interesting to hear the KT-77s in a Marshall, but in hindsight since I don't really like the "tight" sound of 6550s I have doubts I would like them. Went back to EL-34s in lieu of the KT-77s and never had any issues. Ended up with =C= 6L6GCs (true 30W tube) and was absolutely blown away by these. Too bad this tube is out of production.

Unfortunately, as noted earlier, the JJ 12AX7s I tried weren't impressive. They were good (very good in fact) from a low noise floor perspective but sounded really dull and lifeless compared to some others that I tried.

Not trying to badmouth JJ here just haven't really had good luck with them.
 

J.D.

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
Reviving an old thread I know...

Still been playing around with (mostly new production) valves in a recent little Marshall combo. Like a lot of tubes. 6CA7s were good but still prefer EL34s.

These little combos sniff out microphonic and noisy tubes pretty well. That's the first screening criteria. Then it comes to tone. Balance across the EQ and how those midrange frequencies distort.

I'm honestly surprised at what I've found. Hands down the best sounding tube combo, to my ears anyway in this particular amp, is a set of cheap/generic/unbranded Chinese 12AX7s and Groove Tubes EL34-M. It actually took a little time to come to accept this outcome as what I've read on the interweb would lead me to believe both aren't "great". No idea how long they will last, or if I just got lucky, but I really couldn't be happier with this setup.
 
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