It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:32 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 28 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:04 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:43 pm
Posts: 1113
Location: North of Pittsburgh PA
http://www.jj-electronic.sk/
^JJ electronic's website, should everything you need or want to know bout em.

I swapped JJs in my Deville as well, having similar results to what everyone else has posted here, warmer, more definition etc. Of course I just traded that amp in after finding a 1968 Ampeg Portaflex B-12xt at my local shop. Gotta love old tube amps ^^

_________________
I traded my car in for a microphone.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:24 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
Please don't worry about it. It's all good. :D


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:50 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:54 pm
Posts: 6
Cool so JJ it is.

Anyone know what a matched 6l6 GC pair is going to run me? Any specific JJ model preferred?


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:06 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:25 am
Posts: 356
You asked about a price for 6L6s right?
Here's a link from an on line store I like to use;
JJ 6L6 GC at Antique Electronics Supply
Under "Price", check the drop down list.

Not a bad price for what it is - IMO. :wink: (and you won't find me saying that about many things these days)


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 2:11 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:54 pm
Posts: 6
Thanks for all the help guys. The JJ's are in the mail.

And not to add any fuel on the raging debate. But if the JJ's are twice as cheap as the Groovers and close in quality (even putting aside them being possibly better), than JJ's are definitely the winner.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:03 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:32 pm
Posts: 1384
Location: uɐʇsıʞɔnuɐɔ 'puɐlʇɐlɟ
Yeth in the 60,70 you could walk into any drugstore, test your tubes and for a couple of bucks get replacements. :lol:

There's a thought put NOS into the HDR, then the tubes would probably be worth more than the amp!

bbrodie wrote:
Look at the specs and descriptions of various tube manufacturers. Gold pins aren't necessary. We lived without them in the 60's and 70's. I wouldn't spend the money on NOS tubes for a HRD amp. I guess I'll get shouted down for that comment too. LOL


I've only ever had one Ruby it was expensive here at 20$, and lasted a month before it fried. But then any tube can pack it in, at any time. To me it did not sound much different than the Groove Tube it replaced.

_________________
Keep on Truckin, Going full speed ahead down the highway to hades.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:27 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:50 pm
Posts: 23
Location: Connecticut
rholloman wrote:
See what I mean??? :wink:
Didn't take long did it? :lol:

Here's a thought;

Fender amps come with Groove Tubes. Why??
Does Fender want their amps to sound their best - or do they want them to sound terrible? What tube is the amp designed around - and designed for?

Maybe you say - It's because they own Groove Tubes, so they can get them cheaper.
But couldn't they have bought just about any tube business? But, they choose Groove Tubes.

Or, you could think of it this way. If YOU were making and selling amps - would you want bad tubes that would surely kill your business - or tubes that you feel would make your amp sound it's best? (notice the "you feel" qualifier) (which says "opinion" - and therefore changes with each individual)

As for the reliability and longevity of Groove Tubes. IMHO (notice "opinion" again - just like yours is "your" "opinion" ) One "brand" is about as good as the other. (talking strictly "reliability" here) Meaning - it's "hit-or-miss". You might get one that lasts 30 years - or it might go bad as soon as the amp is turned on. And anything in between.

I just had to replace a tube in my CT SE. Was I happy that it went bad? No! Did I like having to replace it? No, certainly not! But that's what you get when you use tube amps.

The "un-reliability" of tubes, and tube amps, is one of the main reasons why solid state amps were made.

Over the years, I have gotten caught up in the "hype" surrounding this tube, or that tube, - which ever was the favored tube of the day. (or "flavor of the day" :lol: ) I wasted a lot of money buying up different tubes to try. (one reason I have more than I'll ever use with what ever time I have left)

Conclusion to all the tube swapping? - You MIGHT get some very small difference in sound with one tube from another. But, a greater difference could be had by simply turning the tone knobs on the amp. A speaker change was usually more effective at changing the "tone" of an amp, than changing tubes was - IMHO.
But we're talking tubes here, not speakers.

And then there's the idea of - buy an amp that already sounds good to you. That way you don't have to try to change things to make it sound the way you want it to. And then you can concentrate on the more important thing of just making music. :D

As for using the amps often - I still use my guitars and amps just about every day. I might take a day off every once in a while - but that's not often. But, I do move and treat them with care, and like they are the fragile things they are. Which is what I have found over the years to work best for me.

A foam lined amp case can help some. But mostly - just make sure that who ever is carrying and moving your equipment exercises some care and gentleness in it's handling. (if they don't - let them go, and get someone that will do the job the way you want it done)
Absolutely there was a period in when groove tubes came on the scene and a large number of musicians were swapping out stock fender tubes for groove tubes and fender saw this and it looked profitable can`t say i blame them it was good for business but you must remember when a company buys out another company things always change so what you have now is a basic stock fender tube but fender decided to retain the groove tube name on them[quote]


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:06 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
What's a Fender "basic stock tube"? Fender doesn't manufacture tubes either.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:32 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:05 pm
Posts: 733
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
63supro wrote:
What's a Fender "basic stock tube"? Fender doesn't manufacture tubes either.


So far as I know, the modern tubes -- that is, tubes that are still manufactured as opposed to New Old Stock (NOS) tubes -- are made by a handful of companies in Eastern Europe and the remnants of the USSR. The biggest name among them is probably SovTek. These tubes are purchased wholesale by companies like Groove Tubes which relabel and sell them. In reality, Groove Tubes is much like your grocery store in that they don't manufacture their own product, but simply sell products made by others.

The nature of this business, it seems to me, makes discussion about the relative merits of tubes offered by many large companies irrelevant because they are selling relabeled versions of the same tubes. Even the much-heralded JJ tubes are sold by the factory to a company called EuroTubes. While ET is much smaller than, say, Groove Tubes, they are essentially the same business.

So to answer your question, the basic Fender Stock Tubes are SovTeks (or another manufacturer's tubes) relabeled as Groove Tubes. They are good sounding tubes though, despite what you may hear. We too often succumb to the vagaries of the ear and the mind, and evaluate tubes on the name and not the sound.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:58 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:19 pm
Posts: 8827
Eurotubes is a US distributor of JJ's. They sell no other brand of tubes. They are nothing like GT. Eurotubes re-brands nothing. I've dealt with Bob on many occasions. He works very closely with the plant.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:10 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:05 pm
Posts: 733
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
63supro wrote:
Eurotubes is a US distributor of JJ's. They sell no other brand of tubes. They are nothing like GT. Eurotubes re-brands nothing. I've dealt with Bob on many occasions. He works very closely with the plant.


What I meant to say was that EuroTubes, like every other distributor, gets its stock from Eastern European factories and, more importantly, that there are no "American Standard" tubes. They're all redistributed, relabeled or not.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:15 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:50 pm
Posts: 23
Location: Connecticut
Great info on tubes guys!


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:21 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:05 pm
Posts: 684
Location: Canada
Getting back to the OP's question about the Deville...

I'm not an expert, but could this be an issue of the amp being biased too cold? I'm wondering if the bad sound he's hearing could be crossover distortion.

_________________
The ultimate Rolling Stones experience!
https://www.facebook.com/TheMainStreetExiles


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 28 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: