experience with Eurotubes?

[crguti]

I'm planning to retube my engl Thunder 50 (4 12ax7 & 2 5881) because it doesn't sound good. I play mainly metal with some funky rhythms in between. So having a smooth defined distortion with nice cleans channel is my goal.
Eurotubes only suggest/sell JJ tubes. Has someone experience using only JJ tubes in their amps? Will it be too dark sounding? Any suggestion will be appreciated.

my setup:
- ESP Horizon with JB and 59' pickups
- Tc Electronic G-major
- Engl Thunder 50 E 322

 

[marvar]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

JJ tubes, (and Bob at Eurotubes), are great, but they don't sound great in EVERY amp- They make my Marshall sound like a Marshall, but, they don't sound so good in my Princeton Reverb.
Tubes are a personal preference thing, and a lot of us here choose different brands of preamp tubes, even in the same amp, sorta mix and match, until you hit upon the right combination.
Just about any other preamp tube will do better than the stock sovtek's that come in most amps.
And, changing tubes usually doesn't make a really dramatic difference, usually, it's more subtle, and kinda' like fine-tuning your tone. You might want to look into changing speakers first- that will usually make more a difference than tubes.

 

[marvar]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

What brand of tubes do you have in there now? the Engl site says they use Ecc83, which, I believe IS a JJ tube. correct if I'm wrong-

 

[crguti]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

What brand of tubes do you have in there now? the Engl site says they use Ecc83, which, I believe IS a JJ tube. correct if I'm wrong-

My amp has in V1 a no-brand tube, V2-V4 Engl tubes, and 2 Sovtek 5881 tubes. I don't know if Engl tubes are JJ tubes. I will check first what happen only changing the V1 tube.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

I like Bob. He's a good guy. But he only sells JJ. It's the equivalent of driving up to a Shell gas station and asking them which brand of gasoline is going to help your car run the smoothest.

What's he going to say?

Now all that being said, I love JJ tubes in certain amps. But I have no experience with ENGL.

 

[Ascension]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

I agree with most of what has been said here. Bob is a good guy but sells ONLY JJ. I have had good luck with JJ power tubes but LOATH the pre amp tubes. Dark dull and lifeless in everything I have tried them in so far.
My advice is to talk to someone who sells a variety of different brands like Doug Preston with http://www.dougstubes.com/
If you do decide to go straight JJ Bob is great but you need to decide for yourself if that is the way you want to go.

 

[Dirtbagg]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

B2D turn me on to him.
Eurotubes is very cool and will help you out. I've called him and emailed him questions.
Very friendly and down to earth.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

another 2 cents. Bob is a great guy! Id love to continue to do biz with him.. I got tubes for my Classic 30 from him and the amp was much better. However, Im curious to know how other brands would work in my amps..

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

I haven't bought tubes from anyone other than Bob. My Peavey sounds better than it did off the shelf .... and that's with JJs in the preamp as well.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Scott is right about this. What would a JJ salesman tell you is best? You guessed it...JJ. LOL But there's nothing wrong with them, because they're probably the best tube for the least amount of money, and a very good buy. I love JJ power tubes.

But, like Ascension said, the pre's aren't that great. If you really want to do the right thing, buy a set of JJ power tubes, but get Tungsol or Sovtek LPS pre tubes. I've used those tube sets in numerous amps and am always happy.

 

[Mincer]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Very nice guy. I bought a set of tubes for my Mesa Blue angel (5 12ax7s, 2 6v6s, 4 EL84s) and absolutely hated them though.

 

[B2D]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Bob was very helpful in helping me select a set of power tubes for my Bogner. He shipped them the same day I ordered them and thanked me for my business... cool guy to deal with.

I happen to like JJ power tubes, so I'm good there.

 

[pinto79]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

www.thetubestore.com has great objective reviews on a whole mess of different brands. Have a read to get a pretty good idea of what's out there.

 

[Warheart]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

I only use JJ tubes. 12ax7's and 6l6's.
I have also used sovtek 6l6gc's, 5881's, and the 12ax7LPS.

I just prefer the JJ's for reliability and tone. Some people find them dark, this might be a good thing in an amp that can get too bright. If you're already running it in a dark sounding amp, I could see it not being the best.

 

[hydro]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

JJ preamp tubes cleaned up my boogie's dirt channel, less white noise. They performed well and I don't like a lot of high end so they are a good fit for me.

I use JJ power tubes also and have found them to be reliable.

 

[JeffB]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Im not a big fan of JJ except for price and availability. I like, but do not love, their EL84s. Id like to try their new mid gain 12ax7. But I have never found their 83s to be all that great tonally-dark, light on mids and fizzy. Ive had a few failures with them too..both 83s' and EL84. For new production, I have never had a problem with any of the New Sensor tubes, no matter what name is on the glass.

I havent dealt with eurotubes.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

JJs sound great in ENGL ... at least, it did in mine!

 

[moshpit817]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Bob at Eurotubes hooked me up on a set of JJ power tubes for my Evh 3 Lbx head and shipped them quick,but from my past experiences I have tried other preamp tubes as well,I have never had a problem with Tung-Sol Re-issue 12AX7's,every amp I have put them in they seem like they wake the amp up,kinda hard to explain that,but I always put them in the 1st preamp tube location and sound great..like said above,you will just have to try some different ones out and see what sounds best to you.

 

[6p5p]

Re: experience with Eurotubes?

Guys, welcome in dead thread since 6 years .

JJ tubes have muffled sound, just any of the old stock tubes I ever tried sounded a lot better.