Any ECC83 love?

[icantbuyafender]

I popped in some Marshall ECC83 and theres this richness in its clean tone that I've missed. Are these tubes low gain? They sound much better than the chinese 12ax7-B tubes that were in the preamp.

Then i took those 12ax7's and popped them in my EHX English Muff'n. I figured since these are high gain, theyd be better suited for the mild flavored 12aY7's it originally had. Those stock EHX ones were no where near the flesh shearing, fire breather that it is now.

Now its a stack in a box.

so, I ask...

What type of tubes for a EL84/ECC83 amp change the character and add in color to your tone?

All I know is a low gain 12ay7 pair took care of the sizzle-farts that my amp was spittin, and i can get a great tone.

[CTN]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

ECC83 is just another designation for a 12ax7 tube type.

Dunno what tubes marshall is using for those ECC83s though. probably JJ.

[icantbuyafender]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

ECC83 is just another designation for a 12ax7 tube type.

Dunno what tubes marshall is using for those ECC83s though. probably JJ.

does tone vary between russian tubes or chinese tubes?

[sonnyblu]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

I have always like the long plate tubes... I can't remember the model names.
.

[erksin]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

does tone vary between russian tubes or chinese tubes?

Tone varies from tube to tube from the same mfg, nevermind from country to country.

[Ayrton]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

I am pretty sure Marshall 12AX7/ECC83 tubes are still rebranded JJ...

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

It definitely depends on the amp design whether you'll notice a big change or a little when in switching tubes. I've tried most of the new production 12AX7s, and I happen to like the Tung-Sols the best. I liked JJs the least, and the only other one that was significant was the Mullard, which was much smoother in character than the others.

Some people love the Chinese ones, and some people love JJs, and some people love Electro-Harmonix. I think the Tung-Sols are superior to all those, but everyone has his or her own tastes. It's not too expensive to figure out what you like from the new stuff, though, so buy a handful and swap around a bit.

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

12ax7's? Uhh, yeah i dig em...

[ken361]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

marshall uses JJ and chinese, that was in my old JVM

[ryUK]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

I believe that there are only 1 or 2 factories manufacturing tubes, and that many of the top amp makers tubes are rebranded.

Theres a blog online somwhere that shows that many GT, Fender and Mesa tubes are identical and are simply rebranded sovteks!! No shame in that though - I recall Mike Soldano championing them for his amps.

My tube choices are 12AX7EH with WInged C 6L6GC's. This combo, for me, is fat but detailled.

[Koreth]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

I believe that there are only 1 or 2 factories manufacturing tubes, and that many of the top amp makers tubes are rebranded.

Theres a blog online somwhere that shows that many GT, Fender and Mesa tubes are identical and are simply rebranded sovteks!! No shame in that though - I recall Mike Soldano championing them for his amps.

This. There are only a handful of plants that make audio tubes that are commonly used in guitar amps.

You have the Reflector plant owned by New Sensor in Sartov, Russia (Sovtek, Mullard, Tung Sol, Electo Harmonix), the Svetlana plant in St Petersburg, Russia (Winged C), the JJ electronic plant in the Slovakia, the EI plant in Yugoslavia, and the Shuguang plant in China.

Odds are, the tubes you're buying for your amp came from one of the above 5 plants.

[ken361]

Re: Any ECC83 love?

We want Mullard UK back dammit!