JJ Tubes

[MGW]

Anyone use JJ tubes in their Express amps? If you have tried them and quit using them why? What are you using in the realm of the affordable?

[bcmatt]

I built an Express for a friend and I put JJ EL34s in it and he loves it. As far as I know, he still has them in there because he doesn't know how to re-bias anyways. He let Ian Thornley try it when he came to his town and he tried to buy it off him, and he used it for his show that night; so the JJs couldn't have bothered him too much.
I'm not saying it couldn't sound better with more expensive tubes, but I've never tried anything in it. I'd be curious to know what people use too.

[Cliff Schecht]

I quite liked JJ's with my first Express. The EL34 can be pretty bright but this can be tamed in the EQ/presence knob. I didn't care as much for the E34L in the Express.

[MGW]

I was looking at the 34L just for the blue glass (corny I know) but decided that the greater headroom wasn't worth the trade off. I figured they'd be a touch brighter.

[selloutrr]

you should keep an eye out for the original Tesla blue glass EL34 They sound Awesome and also came in RED glass!

IMHO - The best new production EL34 in terms of flat freq, smooth tone, and tube life are the Winged =C=.
Followed by the JJ/Tesla EL34 and Mullard Reissue from Groove tubes. I believe they were produced by/(still are) New Sensor / Sovtek.

Disclaimer:
None of these brands give you the true sound of the TW as it was intended to sound (voiced) but they still sound great and let you tube the entire amp for the cost of one original preamp amp tube.

[Lonely Raven]

you should keep an eye out for the original Tesla blue glass EL34 They sound Awesome and also came in RED glass!

IMHO - The best new production EL34 in terms of flat freq, smooth tone, and tube life are the Winged =C=.
Followed by the JJ/Tesla EL34 and Mullard Reissue from Groove tubes. I believe they were produced by/(still are) New Sensor / Sovtek.

Disclaimer:
None of these brands give you the true sound of the TW as it was intended to sound (voiced) but they still sound great and let you tube the entire amp for the cost of one original preamp amp tube.

JJ KT-77 also have a great sound in an express.

Wasn't the Siemens Ken's favorite EL34?

[selloutrr]

from the information I've gathered. The NOS Groove tube mullard, Siemens, and Telefunken where all used by ken.

GT #4 el84
and Tungram ECC83 being mentioned as being the first pick the rest are just named dropped in general chat.

[Lonely Raven]

from the information I've gathered. The NOS Groove tube mullard, Siemens, and Telefunken where all used by ken.

GT #4 el84
and Tungram ECC83 being mentioned as being the first pick the rest are just named dropped in general chat.

Too bad today's GT isn't yesterdays GT. And wasn't Ken sponsored by them or at very least a dealer?

[dartanion]

JJs are hit or miss, but mostly miss. It's well worth the money to get some NOS Seimens.

[selloutrr]

from the information I've gathered. The NOS Groove tube mullard, Siemens, and Telefunken where all used by ken.

GT #4 el84
and Tungram ECC83 being mentioned as being the first pick the rest are just named dropped in general chat.

Too bad today's GT isn't yesterdays GT. And wasn't Ken sponsored by them or at very least a dealer?

Agreed as great as Sovtek are for cheap OEM tubes. They are a very far cry from the vintage RCA and other Euro tubes that the name Groove Tubes was grown on.

I can not confirm KF was ever a dealer or endorsed by GT

[MGW]

JJs are hit or miss, but mostly miss. It's well worth the money to get some NOS Seimens.

Why are they miss? What qualities do they exhibit that make you feel that way.

As to NOS tubes...heck yeah...I'd love some, but I can tube the whole amp for what one preamp tube can cost. Would Winged C's be better for the output. I've never been a huge fan of GT or EH or Sovtek. I put JJ AX7s in an amp and I really liked the results. Went from really hairy to really warm and smooth. But that is pre not power.

[dartanion]

The problem with new production tubes in general is the complete lack of any QA/QC. It's a crap shoot at best even with so called matched sets from reputable tube vendors. If the tube is shit to begin with, it's still a turd. And, we all know you can't polish a turd. My experience with JJs is just like EHs, Sovteks, Tung Sol RIs, etc.; you have to order a bolus of tubes to find a few sets that test good and sound good. I do like the tone of the SED EL34s, but they are also suspect in the area of QA/QC. As well, they also raised their prices to where I can get nice NOS at the same level.

The Express style amp that I gigged with for years has been running RFTs and still sounds awesome. Plus, they test as new. Well worth the expense. In my Absinthe demo amp, which runs much lower plate voltage, however it is SE, has burned through dozens of JJs, EHs, etc. I now run nothing but NOS glass in it, and it has only killed one tube, which was a Tesla Black Eagle EL34.