Preamp tube battle Clips NOS vs JJ - Which do you prefer?

[stelligan]

Interesting discussion starting here regarding tubes.

To me - these clips demonstrated that: the tubes in clip 2 sound better than clip 1. Perhaps(and maybe/probably) there are some JJ's that sound better than those used here. Maybe a thread that addresses: consistently good sounding across production batches, consistently brilliant, reliable, long lasting, etc. would be valuable info for those not possessing a stash of good NOS tubes. A shopping guide for all us hobbyists without the experience of using many tubes over a career of amp building.

Cheers!

[talbany]

Interesting discussion starting here regarding tubes.

To me - these clips demonstrated that: the tubes in clip 2 sound better than clip 1. Perhaps(and maybe/probably) there are some JJ's that sound better than those used here. Maybe a thread that addresses: consistently good sounding across production batches, consistently brilliant, reliable, long lasting, etc. would be valuable info for those not possessing a stash of good NOS tubes. A shopping guide for all us hobbyists without the experience of using many tubes over a career of amp building.

Cheers!

Cathode bias is an early method of biasing tubes where a resistor is placed in the cathode. Current draw through this resistor makes the grid potential negative with respect to the cathode. And, changes in tube conduction are automatically compensated by changes in bias..

Unfortunately they have not been able to manufacturer a tube (preamp or Output) that draws the same amount of current from one to the other...So until they figure out a way to manufacturer a tube that draws exactly the same amount of current it makes it virtually impossible to get a consistent tone tube to tube the way it's done now..Especially ones that are used or very old..My earlier point sort of explained better..

[dogears]

Thanks guys!

I went and changed the reverb IR from medium ambient to a vocal plate. How are these in comparison? I made no other changes. I tried to balance the solo volumes a little better.

remixes

Clip 1 Plate Verb JJ http://www.scottlernermusic.com/SOD/Cit ... tubesB.mp3

Clip 2 Plate Verb Siemans/Mullard http://www.scottlernermusic.com/SOD/Cit ... tubesB.mp3

[odourboy]

I like clip 2 better but the clip 1 tubes sound very good as well. In a different mood, I might even prefer the JJs.

Scott, have you tried recording your guitar direct so you could re-amp the same performance through both amps to completely eliminate the playing variations between takes?

[Tonegeek]

I still prefer clip 2 but it was harder to choose one over the other this time. The high end on the JJ clip has a tiny bit of a spike to it on some notes. I also feel like the NOS clip has a more complex mid range, again only noticeable on some notes. For the most part though, the differences are very subtle.