JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

mwalluk

mwalluk

New member
Thinking about ordering some tubes. Always liked Eurotube as a company, good customer service. Never ordered from them, but a few of my amps had JJs in em I believe.

I need a full retubing.

My VHT came stock with this set up.

2 Matched Sovtek KT88s
V1: Sovtek 12AX7WB
V2: Shuguang 12Ax7
V3: Shuguang 12Ax7
V4 (driver) Shuguang 12Ax7


SO all you Tubeheads out there, I have a few questions:

1. Are JJ's any good?
2. What the hell does V1-4 control?
3. What tubes should I use V1-V4 (type and matched?)

I would like to keep it budget friendly, I can get a complete setup from Eurotubes for around $125.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

JJs are known as being dark sounding tubes in EL34 amps. I've ordered some from Eurotubes in the past and they lasted. In the end, I replaced them with EHX tubes because they were brighter and I preferred that. Dunno about KT88 JJs though. I've been considering this myself since the tubes in my Pittbull have been in there for at least 4 years from what I gather from the previous owner. Right now, I'm still leaning towards EHX tubes for it based on price and satisfaction with their EL34s.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

JJ's 12ax7s are reliable tubes. They are very warm-sounding. In brighter amps, they will tame harshness and add midrange and low end. In darker amps, they will sound dull and muddy. It's really a case-by-case kind of things.

Their el34s are also nice and have good headroom and reliability, but I've only used them in one amp before so I don't have a big enough frame of reference to supply an educated opinion on their tone.

Their kt88s are, in my opinion, the best current-production tubes of their type on the market. Massive low end, massive headroom, tight, and organic-sounding, and extremely reliable. I have tried many other kt88s from other brands and won't use anything but JJ's again.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

sosomething said:
JJ's 12ax7s are reliable tubes. They are very warm-sounding. In brighter amps, they will tame harshness and add midrange and low end. In darker amps, they will sound dull and muddy. It's really a case-by-case kind of things.

Their el34s are also nice and have good headroom and reliability, but I've only used them in one amp before so I don't have a big enough frame of reference to supply an educated opinion on their tone.

Their kt88s are, in my opinion, the best current-production tubes of their type on the market. Massive low end, massive headroom, tight, and organic-sounding, and extremely reliable. I have tried many other kt88s from other brands and won't use anything but JJ's again.
Click to expand...

Would you consider the VHT D60 a bright or a dark amp?
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

mwalluk said:
What about the pre'amps?
Click to expand...


Personally I've never cared for them...Maybe one here or there. Like a Tung-Sol in V-1 and a JJ in V-2 .......Shuguang in V-3 & V-4.

Just my opinion though.....based on my experience with my amps.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

sosomething said:
Their kt88s are, in my opinion, the best current-production tubes of their type on the market. Massive low end, massive headroom, tight, and organic-sounding, and extremely reliable. I have tried many other kt88s from other brands and won't use anything but JJ's again.
Click to expand...

Nice! Will have to maybe try a quad of those in my VHT UL then.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

I think Fryette probably knew what he was doing when he selected the tubes he did, and it also makes me think that V1 is where you're going to get your best bang for the buck. He picked out a Russian tube that is supposed to be a relatively bright, high-gain tube. I like the Sovtek LPS a lot, but I think it sounds a little bit thin in relation to the new-production Tung-Sols. If I were you, that's where I would spend my money.

I don't like JJ pres, either long or short plate. I do like JJ power tubes. But I really like the Tung-Sols. The only JJ preamp tube I like is in my PI slot, and that's because it is quiet and lower gain. If I were you, I'd steer clear.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

mwalluk said:
Would you consider the VHT D60 a bright or a dark amp?
Click to expand...

I've never played a D60... My only experience with that model is the D120, though I would assume they are quite similar.

The D120 is actually really balanced. Huge lows, but not at the expense of a wide midrange or brightness. I don't think I could characterize it as more light or more dark.

What they do have is a very rapid breakup character to the drive, which is not to say they distort early - only that the texture of the drive is very edgy and rapid, as opposed to, say, something like a Recto. If a recto sounds like the tone is getting chopped through a propeller, the Deliverance (all Fryettes, actually) sound like it's coming out of a jet turbine.

Pre tubes are cheap. Try a set and see how you like them.

misterwhizzy said:
I think Fryette probably knew what he was doing when he selected the tubes he did, and it also makes me think that V1 is where you're going to get your best bang for the buck. He picked out a Russian tube that is supposed to be a relatively bright, high-gain tube. I like the Sovtek LPS a lot, but I think it sounds a little bit thin in relation to the new-production Tung-Sols. If I were you, that's where I would spend my money.

I don't like JJ pres, either long or short plate. I do like JJ power tubes. But I really like the Tung-Sols. The only JJ preamp tube I like is in my PI slot, and that's because it is quiet and lower gain. If I were you, I'd steer clear.
Click to expand...

I think Tung-Sols sound great but I've experienced some reliability issues with the ones I've tried.

I've had really good luck with the EH Gold Pin 12ax7s in amps where I found JJ's to sound kind of dull.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

whats some good tube stores - which tubes should i invest in and for what positions? Also for pres do i need them to be matched>?
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

mwalluk said:
whats some good tube stores - which tubes should i invest in and for what positions? Also for pres do i need them to be matched>?
Click to expand...

You do not need to match pre tubes. You can try all kinds of combinations in the different spots to see what you like best. A lot of people prefer a clean, high-headroom tube in the V1 spot and varied other tubes down the line.

I've had really great service from both tubedepot.com and thetubestore.com, though I'm sure others will come and recommend doug's tubes and eurotubes as well.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

Im seeing a lot saying i can choose either soft, med, hard and or balnace, matched, high gain
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

I think the only matching that ever needs to be done in a tube amp is the current draw between the power tubes. Not in the preamp, not in the phase inverter, nowhere except the power amp. And even that shouldn't be all that critical.

And Adam, I've only tried a couple EHX pres, and they were slightly brighter and slightly thinner than the Tung-Sols. But I think one of the Tung-Sols started getting really noisy after less than a year. I still like them better, though. Maybe I should give those gold pins a shot.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

Groove Tubes are rebranded tubes out of the same factories as the branded ones. They just test them, package the good, and throw away the bad. A good reseller will give you good tubes without the cost overhead of Groove Tubes. I like Doug's Tubes and Tube Depot, personally.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

The pre-amp tubes sounded OK in my MESA Mark IV. I have them everywhere except V1. Putting an RFT in that spot made that amp sound worlds better. As others have stated the JJ's sound dark and seem to emphasize lower mids. The JJ 6L6's sound God awful in that amp. Verified this by moving the power tubes to my buddies mark IV and his got the same results... Cardboardy Honky mids with no brightness or bottom. Just overly compressed and a little muddy too.

OTOH... I also have a cheap Epiphone valve senior head and JJ 12ax7's helped get rid of some ice pick upper mids I was getting from the stock E.H. preamp tubes. In that amp JJ preamps plus Tung Sol poweramps (6V6) seemed to be the ticket.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

In the two Mesas I've played with I've not cared for JJ preamp tubes. They sound like they have too much lows or low mids and not enough highs. In an amp that is voiced brightly I could see JJs helping to tame an unpleasant scatchy or fizzy sound. I wouldn't want to run all JJ pres in a darker amp like a recto. That said, I've never had any reliability problems with JJ pres.

As far as JJ power tubes go, I've had good experience with their E34Ls (a super EL34, I'm guessing). I ran those live in my last band and never had a problem fitting int he mix.
 
Re: JJ Tubes; KT88 and 12AX7s - Any Good?

JJ preamp tubes are great in the latter positions (V2, V3...etc). An EH or Tung-Sol in the primary really balances things out in most amps I've heard with JJ's.

I'm stoked to try the JJ 6CA7 tubes. Supposedly they're like a good EL34 and 6L6 having a love child.
 
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