What kind of tubes do you prefer

Mikelamury

Mikelamury

New member
I'm wondering what kind of tubes do you guys think are best for what? I'm new to this tube amp and shouldn't need to change tubes for a while but would like to hear what brands you guys like and dislike as right now I don't know anything about what brands would be good in a Marshall DSL40CR and what wouldn't. I've seen alot of places with JJ tubes in Stock right now- are these tubes any good? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Depends on what you mean by 'good'. There are some that help the amp sound awesome but don't last. There are some that last a long time but don't help the amp produce the most stellar tone. IME JJs are generally fine and certain types sound really good. I've read others complain about their failure rate, but I personally haven't experienced failures with JJs yet.

All tubes come from 3 factories, 1 in the Slovakia, 1 in Russia, 1 in China. JJs are THE brand of the tubes from the Slovakia. The Russian and Chinese tubes all get rebranded to all the others; e.g. EHX, Sovtek, Svetlana (current production), Groove Tubes, Ruby, Mullard, TungSol, ValveArt, TAD, etc. are all rebrands of either the Russian or Chinese tubes. How good a brand is largely is a factor of how much testing and rejecting of tubes that are outside of desired specs/tolerance. My understanding is TAD does the most testing and is the most stringent in rejecting tubes outside of spec tolerance.

For me, the best current production V1 12AX7 I've tried is a TAD STR. It sounds just like my original Mullard 10M from the 60's/70's. Others that I liked are a Groove Tubes 12AX7 and Ruby 12AX7-C, and a Vokshod 12AX7A. The JJ ECC83S is also good sounding IME. For EL34s, JJ KT77s sounded the closest to the original Marshall-branded Tesla EL34Ms that were in my Marshall SL-X when I bought it. Haven't found an actual EL34 current production model that sounds like an original Mullard or Tesla EL34 yet.
 
Last edited:
Generally, JJs are great cheap replacement tubes. I find some of their 12ax7s can be a little dark, but the JJ 6L6s that I've got are great - way better than the Sovteks that they replaced.

I found a bunch of old 12AX7s at my dad's farm several years back. The RCA and General Electric ones are my favourite. The telefunkens make a weird flashing when they power on, so I took them out of my amp because I wasn't sure if they were going to blow up.
 
Currently, one big factor is what tubes are available should you need them, as you noted with places having JJ's in stock. Eventually that will change.

Over time, I have gravitated towards different tubes for different positions. So, many of my amps have a mix-n-match tube set. An example would be my Peavey Classics 20/30/50.

V1 Tung-Sol 12AX7 (primarily Clean channel)
V2 JJ ECC803s (primarily Lead channel, position not present in C20)
V3 Sovtex 12AX7LPS (primarily Phase Inverter)
V4-V7 JJ EL84 (power tubes, only 2 in C20)

Ultimately, different amps and players, have different experiences with the same tubes. Listen to/read others' experiences, keep an open mind, and experiment for yourself as needed. If you like the tones you are getting from your amp, you are not dodging beer bottles on stage, and you are not gigging or taking a second job just to keep tubes in your amp, your tube choices are likely okay.
 
Here's where I ended up after quite a bit of tube rolling with my amps several years ago. They all sounded best with different tubes in the preamp gain stages and the same Sovtek 12AX7LPS in the phase inverter spot. It's hard to put into words what it does, but my amps definitely sound better with one. I bought a decent stash of spare tubes a couple years ago, so I'm good for the time being.

My Marshall 2525H & 2555 sound best with a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V1; the EH was kind of mediocre and the JJ ECC83 sounded good on the dirty channel but was rather dull playing clean. V2 doesn't seem to affect tone at all, so I'm using a leftover tube that I don't really care for there. I really like the JJ EL-34s; they sound 'big', kind of like a hybrid of a conventional EL-34 and a 6550.
  • V1: Tung-Sol 12AX7
  • V2: Marshall-branded Shuguang 12AX7
  • V3: Sovtek 12AX7LPS
  • Power: JJ EL-34
In my Egnater Tweaker 15, the Tung-Sol was harsh in V1 while the JJ was dull once again, but an EH split the difference well. V2 drives the effects loop, so I'm using a 'leftover' tube there. I ended up with JJ 6V6s after the OEM Rubys died as they were readily available at the time. IME they sound kind of like a mini 6L6; I'm not enough of a 6V6 expert to comment on how they *should* sound.
  • V1: EH 12AX7
  • V2: Sovtek 12AX7WXT+
  • V3: Sovtek 12AX7LPS
  • Power: JJ 6V6S
Meanwhile my Jet City JCA22H is REALLY bright, so JJs work in all of the gain stages to mitigate that. V4 is the loop driver in this amp, so it gets another 'leftover' tube. I have the OEM EL-84s in the power amp as they sound decent and still work. Soldano circuits are heavily preamp-dominant in terms of tone, so I honestly wonder if swapping power tubes would make much difference.
  • V1: JJ ECC83
  • V2: JJ ECC83
  • V3: JJ ECC83
  • V4: Sovtek 12AX7WXT+
  • V5: Sovtek 12AX7LPS
  • Power: Shuguang EL-84
longcat's Ampeg SVT3Pro is loaded with JJ ECC83s & ECC82s because they're cheap and it sounded identical regardless of which tubes I tried.
 
For new modern manufactured tubes -Don't let anyone tell you one brand "sounds" better on the internet ....It's all amp/speaker/rig preference dependent.

First of all the differences are subtle -if you are going to spend money on your rig -spend it on speakers and pickups first. -They are WAY WAY more important and the sound difference can be huge.

JJs are great in a Marshall DSL40 -I wouldnt spend on anything more than JJs right now -otherwise you are going to be way overpaying.
 
GuitarStv said:
Generally, JJs are great cheap replacement tubes. I find some of their 12ax7s can be a little dark, but the JJ 6L6s that I've got are great - way better than the Sovteks that they replaced.

I found a bunch of old 12AX7s at my dad's farm several years back. The RCA and General Electric ones are my favourite. The telefunkens make a weird flashing when they power on, so I took them out of my amp because I wasn't sure if they were going to blow up.
Click to expand...

Tube flash is normal for a large number of tube designs, mostly European designed tubes. It's the filament being hit with high voltage at start up. It doesn't shorten the life of the tube and they won't blow up or hurt your amp. You'll note the flash doesn't happen if you cycle the power while the tube is already hot. My Mullard 10M 12AX7A does this and it's the best sounding V1 I have and I have used it in multiple amps since 1978. American tube designs of the same models don't flash because they were designed for slow heating at startup using different materials. EU tubes designs don't have slow heating at startup.
 
I've done a whole lot of tube rolling and found that I generally dislike the short-plate JJ ECC83Ses. But I want to echo comments above about speakers, pickups, etc. I think changing speakers is the most drastic change you can make for the amount it costs. After hearing Vintage 30 Vintage 30 Vintage 30 for years, I learned I'm a Greenback guy.

As far as tubes go, though, for current production, I like either a Mullard or a Tung-Sol in V1. The Mullard, to my ears, has slightly rolled off highs but is still very clear and has plenty of gain. The Tung-Sol is somewhat brighter but without a specific frequency spike that I can hear. A word of caution, though, I've had two Tung-Sols fail me in the cathode follower position. I would imagine this is V3 in the DSL40CR, where V1 and V2 are for gain, and V4 is the phase inverter.
 
In my Mesa Road King, an EH 12ax7 in V1 was the most important thing to me. I used the SPAX7 in the inverter stage as well. For power, I really liked the JJ E34L (not a typo) and Svetlana 6l6.
 
GuitarStv said:
Generally, JJs are great cheap replacement tubes. I find some of their 12ax7s can be a little dark, but the JJ 6L6s that I've got are great - way better than the Sovteks that they replaced.

I found a bunch of old 12AX7s at my dad's farm several years back. The RCA and General Electric ones are my favourite. The telefunkens make a weird flashing when they power on, so I took them out of my amp because I wasn't sure if they were going to blow up.
Click to expand...

I’ve got a Telefunken that flashes on start up as well. I read online that, that is perfectly normal. It’s been in my Quickrod for a couple of years now without issue. I’d say you’re ok with reinstalling yours, if you’re so inclined.
 
Ok thanks for all the feedback from everyone. I just ordered a pair of JJ EL34 Apex burned in matched tubes for the power tubes should those happen to go out before tubes are back online, I don't think my preamp tubes will go out anytime soon so I'm going to wait on those. Thanks again for all the feedback.
 
I love and prefer the 6v6'es.

My amp is a 20 (18 really) el84 one, and it sounds fine. But doesn't have that woody roar. ;) .

Also, I think a 5751 can sound very good, in one of the preamp slots!

AFAIK about brands; I replaced the stock output tubes in my Blackstar, with Mullards. The latter sounded brighter, "hotter", but that might be a bias issue.

-Erl
 
Bogner said:
If it aint broke don't fix it right now...lol. V1 pre tube will likely effect your overall sound more. Tubes are a rabbit hole that yields little juice for a lot of squeeze. Cables, pickups, speakers will effect sound far more.
Click to expand...

I'm not buying these to change tubes, I'm happy with the tubes that are in there. I'm just buying a backup set of power tubes in case mine go out before tubes are available again. I agree with you though, I don't know much about speakers but pickups/pedals will make more of a difference in your sound most likely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top