That90'sGuy
DyzaBoyzologist
It's a snowy day in New England and keeping warm indoors I decided to do some jamming on my Tungsten Crema Wheat. I liked the tone of the amp with some GE/JAN NOS preamp tube stuff I've had lying around (2 12AX7WAs and a 12AY7), but while they had a sweet warmth and clarity, I found they also had lots of headroom. Not a big deal with my ES-335, but it had to almost be cranked wide open to get any decent gain out of my Tele.
Having a drawer of random tubes, I decided to do some experimenting. I found that Tung Sol RI 12AX7s were a bit harsh with the Crema (they sound good with my Vibrolux Reverb though), but had some nice gain. The GE/JAN stuff sounded richer and warmer, but there wasn't the same level of bite to really rock with it at decent volumes. I said "what the heck, I'll throw in some JJ tubes". I had 3 JJs around: 2 ECC83S tubes and 1 faded gold print tube (I think it was an ECC83). One of the ECC83S tubes was microphonic, so that got thrown away, but I found that ECC83 worked well in the V2 position darkening the amp a hair and lowering the headroom/adding saturation and the V1 ECC83S had a fair amount of bite and warmth to it. It wasn't as harsh as the Tung Sol, but there was still about as much gain and the fatter sound actually worked with the 5e3 layout.
Don't get me wrong, I think at loud gigging volumes the NOS stuff is perfect, but realistically these days I want an amp that gives up the goods at lower volumes for recording at home and I can do that now that the darker, fatter, lower headroom JJs are in there. For those that may be wondering, I tried mixing the NOS stuff with the JJs, but neither seemed to compliment one another well (they both lacked overall clarity when mixed, no matter what the combination). I've had JJs in other amps in the past and almost universally hated them. I do think the ECC83S is light years beyond the original ECC83 that I used to base my hatred off of. I feel like the ECC83S is a bit more balanced and gainy than the ECC83 used to be. FWIW, I tried finding the original ECC83 on Eurotubes website and couldn't find it anymore so maybe it's been discontinued. The JJs aren't perfect; they can get a bit fizzy/fuzzy when cranked, but at lower volumes I find them to be quite useful. Given the polarizing opinions of this manufacturer (and the fact I've bashed them in the past), I figured it was only fair I'd showcase some of the merits of the design to contrast my previous criticisms.
Having a drawer of random tubes, I decided to do some experimenting. I found that Tung Sol RI 12AX7s were a bit harsh with the Crema (they sound good with my Vibrolux Reverb though), but had some nice gain. The GE/JAN stuff sounded richer and warmer, but there wasn't the same level of bite to really rock with it at decent volumes. I said "what the heck, I'll throw in some JJ tubes". I had 3 JJs around: 2 ECC83S tubes and 1 faded gold print tube (I think it was an ECC83). One of the ECC83S tubes was microphonic, so that got thrown away, but I found that ECC83 worked well in the V2 position darkening the amp a hair and lowering the headroom/adding saturation and the V1 ECC83S had a fair amount of bite and warmth to it. It wasn't as harsh as the Tung Sol, but there was still about as much gain and the fatter sound actually worked with the 5e3 layout.
Don't get me wrong, I think at loud gigging volumes the NOS stuff is perfect, but realistically these days I want an amp that gives up the goods at lower volumes for recording at home and I can do that now that the darker, fatter, lower headroom JJs are in there. For those that may be wondering, I tried mixing the NOS stuff with the JJs, but neither seemed to compliment one another well (they both lacked overall clarity when mixed, no matter what the combination). I've had JJs in other amps in the past and almost universally hated them. I do think the ECC83S is light years beyond the original ECC83 that I used to base my hatred off of. I feel like the ECC83S is a bit more balanced and gainy than the ECC83 used to be. FWIW, I tried finding the original ECC83 on Eurotubes website and couldn't find it anymore so maybe it's been discontinued. The JJs aren't perfect; they can get a bit fizzy/fuzzy when cranked, but at lower volumes I find them to be quite useful. Given the polarizing opinions of this manufacturer (and the fact I've bashed them in the past), I figured it was only fair I'd showcase some of the merits of the design to contrast my previous criticisms.
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