The 7025 valve

[Ascension]

Re: The 7025 valve

I've used JJ's since a buddy turned me on to them in the early 00's. I always liked how they sounded and found them reliable. But I have heard accounts of people not liking them. Which is fine, but that's not been my experience with them.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

Depends on the amp. They can sound very good in bright and mid heavy amps like a Marshal but turn other amps into an absolute mushy and muddy mess. Dropped a full set of JJ's in my Carvin X 50 for example and it turned to instant MUSH. Absolutely killed that particular amp. Wound up with a full set of the Mullard CV 4004's in that amp and it sounds fantastic!! My PRS Archon and the MT 15 on teh other hand came with JJ's in the preamp and they sound quite good in both. I keep a few on hand and use them to warm up a harsh bright amp mostly. Drop a set in say a vintage Fender though and it's like throwing a blanket over the amp and instantly makes it dull lifeless and very muddy.
They have their place. Saying that a few years ago some thing changed and we saw a bunch of untested JJ's out there that were hit or miss with issues with micro-phonics and gains all over the place. Will recommend you buy from a reputable dealer who testes and gives you gain figures. Have a few older high gain and graded JJ's that are very good on hand.

 

[Ascension]

Re: The 7025 valve

JJ ECC83S's have been the most reliable and least noisy (and least microphonic) tubes I've tried. I've never had one go bad or microphonic or anything. That being said, though, I don't dislike them tonally, but I tend to favor New Sensor for gain stages and PI's, and Shuguangs for anything in between. That's just me, though. I like my amps bright and gritty.

Had 2 of the ECC83's go in my PRS MT 15 almost immediately. One was microphonic the other started frying found both tapping on them with a pencil.
Now only have a High Gain JJ in V1 on that amp and it knocked the absolute bottom out of the noise floor.