The JJ "EL844" tubes...
- Thread starter Erlend_G
- Start date
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I bought a couple of sets some months ago off a local shop. They had to order them for me, but I don't know where they got them from. I don't know if they are out of production, but I heard the Shuguang factory they are made in burnt down. I'll see if I can find the info.
*EDIT* they say so here: https://shop.magicparts.com/
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index....closed.896506/https://audiokarma.org/forums/index....closed.896506/
I honestly hope they are able to pick up production sometime soon. I don't want the tubes that I like to become hard-to-find.
BTW, these TAD STR's are the same tube as the Ruby EL84C.
Oh, and have you tried the TAD STR blackplates? I'm curious about those. I dig EHX ant Tung Sol EL84's better than Sovtek EL84's, and they seem to be sort of along those lines of the same design, just with a different plate coating. I wonder if the TAD blackplates are even more open-sounding than the standard greyplates. I don't find the greyplates all that 6V6-like, personally, since I don't find their bottom-end is bigger than EHX, Sovtek, JJ, etc., but I do find they have a lot less clutter in the low mids and some nice airiness to the top-end.
Last edited:
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Even among the NOS EL84's, there are different-sounding ones, right? Which are the most open, least mid-focused ones? I've struggled to find EL84's that don't have as much stuffy lower mids, TBH. I like TAD EL84-STR's for that reason, but I wouldn't mind finding something that sounds along those lines, just better.
I honestly like EL84's that are the least EL84-like.
Last edited:
JMP/HBE
Well-known member
You would be talking about the inherent characteristic of the EL-84 tube as a whole. Its not the worlds best tube for guitar amps. Not a fan of that tube. Rock amps in my 45 yrs experience sound the best with EL-34 British & 6L6 American. And of those there are tons of CP tubes that sound terrible.
FuseG4
Our Neighbor Totoro
I've occasionally been burned by microphonic el84s on eBay and made a decision to stop rolling the dice
Phantasmagoria
watch where you point that sabre
6P14P-EV's are probably going to be your thing then. Way more headroom w/open mids/plenty of bass & treble/harder edged (without being harsh) etc....you will be hard pressed to get them to break up at all. I prefer the regular 6P14P's (without the EV suffix) as those are more like regular EL84's & the overtones are killer..
I have a bunch of EL84 amps and love the way they sound. Most of mine have either JJ's, regular 6P14P's or NOS RFT's (dark and low-middy like JJ's...but even thicker/warmer/better sounding...)
Last edited:
I'm reading all around the "internets" now about the JJ EL844 tube.
Marketed as a "El84 replacement, that will give you less wattage, earlier breakup, and is a direct fit".
...
Sounds like something I could have an use for. But different people on different forums etc. have different opinions.
What are your thoughts about this?
I always run my 20w Blackstar on the "2watt" setting, and even then, it's too loud to crank- as I live wall-to-wall with a neighbor in an apartment.
Thank you for any answers and replies.
-Erlend
I have JJ EL84's on my 10 watt. never had a problem..the break up or overdrive/distortion is in the pre amp tubes usually 12AX7/ ECC83. that's where it occurs. At low volumes you turn up the gain knob more than the volume and that gives distortion at low volumes. In your situation you may need headphones-or find somewhere to play away from home...!
There is a 33.33% chance that any given tube you buy whether it says JJ on it or not was actually made by JJ. So saying JJ is this or that is kind of just saying that 33.33% of the world's tubes sound that way. I don't disagree with your impression of them, but just be aware that if you buy a set of tubes that say Mesa, GT, or Fender on them, there is a high probability that JJ made them.
As to the wattage of amps, there is a bit of a misunderstanding of wattage and how it equates to volume. A doubling or halving of power will either increase the volume or decrease the volume by 3db. Now, 3db is not a huge amount. It is not enough to get you into trouble or keep you out of trouble. I would say 3db is only enough for the majority of people to notice a difference in level. 6db is where you really start to have obvious differences. So if you have a 20-watt amp, and you cut the wattage down to 2 watts, that would be roughly 3 generations of reductions or about 9-10db of volume reduction. The only way to get any quieter is to go to 1 watt, which would be about 12db worth of volume reduction.
As you can imagine, it is difficult to cut enough volume from the amp and keep it in the fun zone. Now, these don't say less wattage, they simply say less headroom. Their marketing suggests that you will reach saturation 25% sooner than a standard EL84. If that figure is true, then with an amp set to 2-watt mode, it should be able to achieve similar saturation at a lower volume than an EL84. This is probably a good thing for most bedroom players. If you don't have a wattage reduction switch in your amp, I don't see it being possible to really get into the fun zone at a reasonable volume with these lower headroom tubes, at least not significantly.
As to the wattage of amps, there is a bit of a misunderstanding of wattage and how it equates to volume. A doubling or halving of power will either increase the volume or decrease the volume by 3db. Now, 3db is not a huge amount. It is not enough to get you into trouble or keep you out of trouble. I would say 3db is only enough for the majority of people to notice a difference in level. 6db is where you really start to have obvious differences. So if you have a 20-watt amp, and you cut the wattage down to 2 watts, that would be roughly 3 generations of reductions or about 9-10db of volume reduction. The only way to get any quieter is to go to 1 watt, which would be about 12db worth of volume reduction.
As you can imagine, it is difficult to cut enough volume from the amp and keep it in the fun zone. Now, these don't say less wattage, they simply say less headroom. Their marketing suggests that you will reach saturation 25% sooner than a standard EL84. If that figure is true, then with an amp set to 2-watt mode, it should be able to achieve similar saturation at a lower volume than an EL84. This is probably a good thing for most bedroom players. If you don't have a wattage reduction switch in your amp, I don't see it being possible to really get into the fun zone at a reasonable volume with these lower headroom tubes, at least not significantly.