Just had a six month old JJ 6v6 let go in my Deluxe

[LPV]

Not cool man

Usually if they get to a month or so they go the distance. I hate re-tubing new tubes. Waste of $.

[hipofutura]

That sucks! Very inconvenient buying new tubes.

That's why I play unplugged. Damn amp lasts forever!

[rocknhorse1]

I got one you can have for free. I can ship today if you want. It came out of my Champ clone. OHHHHH, you need two tubes for that amp, huh?

[LPV]

Its cool. I've got to get a few anyway for some other potential projects. Ya, it takes 2 so I'm going to have to get some in. So I have a spare 6v6... wonder what I could do with that

[hipofutura]

Originally Posted by lpv

so i have a spare 6v6... Wonder what i could do with that

Tweed Champ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lurko]

In my humble experience, JJ tubes sound amazing but are simply not reliable, so I don't use them any more. I've had three JJ 12ax7s go microphonic with minimal play time and one EL-84 rattle straight out of the box. No more. Sovtek me, please.

[LPV]

I was actually thinking tung sol for the 6v6's. The one I got with the Swart is pretty good. Not a vintage tube good, but good.

[LPV]

Originally Posted by hipofutura

Tweed Champ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or a variant

[hipofutura]

LPV, I just re-wired a tiny 6V6 based amp I bought on ebay. It's from a 1960's era record player. It's now a Tweed Champ clone, except it uses a different rectifier tube. I built a tweed cab for it and installed a Weber Blue Pup alnico. I'm planning on bringing it to the N.E. MLP meet.

They really are fun amps to play with. Such a simple design!

[Tuya Customs]

Originally Posted by LPV

I was actually thinking tung sol for the 6v6's. The one I got with the Swart is pretty good. Not a vintage tube good, but good.

I've read that blues players love the Tung Sols

[Case24]

LPV, I have a pair of slightly used new production Tung Sol 6V6GT's you can have if you like. PM me your shipping address.

[napsak]

Originally Posted by Lurko

In my humble experience, JJ tubes sound amazing but are simply not reliable, so I don't use them any more. I've had three JJ 12ax7s go microphonic with minimal play time and one EL-84 rattle straight out of the box. No more. Sovtek me, please.

It's not only you guys going through JJ's.My local shop has had to order tubes for me a couple times over the past year and like a fool I kept telling him that I wanted JJ's.Within weeks they burned out.I'm just at a loss to what quality of crap is being sold to us.The money starts to add up over time.Different vendors have been tried to no avail.Same quality of crap.One thing I don't want is down time from my music.All I can say is I'm not using JJ's anymore.

[FF_Pedals]

That's weird, I had kept reading how the JJ 6V6S was supposed to be rugged and able to deal with high B+ values. I bought a pair for my new 6V6 amp. See how long they last...

I plugged one into my Vibro Champ without doing any fiddling with the bias just to hear what it sounded like compared to an old Sylvania 6V6GT. The JJ didn't sound very good at all with the amp cranked but maybe it could have been dialed in with some different biasing.

I'm looking forward to trying a different set in my new amp to see if I notice a big difference.

[LPV]

I wonder if the fact that with the VVR they run distorted all the time has anything to do with it. Its not supposed to. Its supposed to be the opposite.

[LPV]

Originally Posted by Case24

LPV, I have a pair of slightly used new production Tung Sol 6V6GT's you can have if you like. PM me your shipping address.

Thanks Case. Pm'd.

[rocknhorse1]

Ha! I just noticed your sig LPV. Nice gesture Case!

[napsak]

I never set my amps at high distortion.Slight crunch,so I can still hear notes ring true.If I were to keep putting JJ's in,I'd be replacing them every other day.I live in a small village on the Oregon coast and other than one local shop which has to order tubes also,I would have to drive 100 miles each way to purchase replacements.My Ford pickup likes gas and at $5.00 a gallon online ordering seems the way to go.What I save on fuel lets me afford the Gold lion brand tubes.I'm starting to think tubes are like sneakers.High as hell in price and worthless once you walk out of the store.

[HOT-BRIT]

JJ have been reliable for me

[nicolasrivera]

Get a peavey solid state, they never fail! Hahahahahahaha

[Liam]

I just put a new set of Tung Sol RI 6V6s in my Princeton Reverb. Only got as far as running the amp on my test rig. Looked very unbalanced and assymetric, and then one of the tubes died. Approximate lifetime of the dead tube would have been 20 seconds.

The NOS Phillips tubes that were in it might be rattly (in fact only one of them is very rattly), but I'll have to live with it. Not at all impressed with Tung Sol RI, I guess I'll add them to the long list of 6V6s I don't like.

Liam

[rocknhorse1]

New production tubes are just lacking in everything, tone, reliability, and longevity. For the prices they charge for them, for $30 more, or in some cases as little as $10 more it is worth getting ANOS, or NOS tubes. If nobody buys their product, then they will have to take a serious look at the way they manufacture them, as well as quality control. 20 seconds on a tube is pretty bad right out of the box.

[lespaul01]

I agree, I think the reliability/longevity is the big problem, also tone, but I guess that is "subjective".. I use tubes that are 50 years old. They have been worked hard, test extremely well on multiple excellent testers and they could last indefinitely.. There is really no comparing the build quality, reliability and tone of quality Vintage Tubes to anything today. Of course this is just my personal opinion..

[Splattle101]

I have four new production Tung Sol 6V6GTs in my Mongrell, which is a cathode biased amp with an output stage based on the tweed Deluxe. That amp gets flogged, and the new TS valves are fine.

I have another that I use from time to time in my Champ, and that only ever gets flogged. It's fine, too.

I've got another pair of new Tung Sol 5881s that's had a good 18 months of abuse in my Bassman and they're still sounding great. That amp runs very hot, too.

The only problems I've had with the new TS valves was with a 12AX7 that carked it. For the rest, they've been excellent in terms of sound quality, microphonics and noise. I don't agree that vintage is always best. I've had vintage 9-pin minis that were very average, and some vintage octals that were just shit, too. There's plenty of crap out there in vintage boxes.

[Splattle101]

LPV , on the subject of killing a power valve in a Deluxe, you might want to look at the amp. You're running a power scaling thing in that amp, and consequently running the output valves pretty hard. Fender never designed his amps with dirt in mind, so that output stage is not really designed for the kind of flogging we give it. However good it sounds.

A simple mod that takes some of the strain off your output valves is to add screen resistors to them. They're not there on the 5E3, and as a result the screens are coupled, meaning they're always working against each other. It also means it's relatively easy to get too much voltage on the screen. These things contribute to early valve failure if you run the output valves hard.

A couple of 470 Ohm resistors and you'll significantly improve your valve life. That said, your JJ might just have been a dud. It happens.

[rocknhorse1]

I don't use the octal preamp tubes, so I have no experience with those. I won't use a New Sensor preamp tube as they are too fat around physically, and don't like to fit in the base of the shields that are on my amp, others have had this same issue. I have had spectacular results with every old tube I have used compared to the new production tubes. This is just my personal take on it, and others may have a different point of view. I find the old stuff to be much less of a crap shoot than the new stuff. Most reputable dealers do offer a return policy for their tubes. So when you spend the money, you are guaranteed a good tube (preamp) that will probably last a very long time, and the power tubes usually last twice as long. By math, that tells me the older tubes are a better value. Some may disagree.

[Case24]

I'm split here between both camps. I've had very good luck with the new production Tung Sol 6V6GT's and lousy luck with the JJ 6V6S tubes. For preamp tubes, I've found vintage preamp tubes to be of much better tone, far less noise and an overall better value. The new production 12AX7's and 12AY7's I've found to be pretty noisy. I've also had bad luck with JAN Philips 6V6GT tubes and great luck with vintage Tung Sol 6V6GT/G's and 12AX7's. I've got a pair of Hytron 6V6GT's from 1957 coming in the mail; I'll see how I fair with them.

And LPV, Splattle is right, screen resistors are a great addition to a Deluxe.

[Tuya Customs]

I just got a JJ EL34. First off this thing Was erupting with saturation - too much. It took away all the amps dynamics and it didn't even sound good. Then came a worse sound: silence

Put the kt66 back in and it was all better again

[rocknhorse1]

Originally Posted by Case24

I'm split here between both camps. I've had very good luck with the new production Tung Sol 6V6GT's and lousy luck with the JJ 6V6S tubes. For preamp tubes, I've found vintage preamp tubes to be of much better tone, far less noise and an overall better value. The new production 12AX7's and 12AY7's I've found to be pretty noisy. I've also had bad luck with JAN Philips 6V6GT tubes and great luck with vintage Tung Sol 6V6GT/G's and 12AX7's. I've got a pair of Hytron 6V6GT's from 1957 coming in the mail; I'll see how I fair with them.

And LPV, Splattle is right, screen resistors are a great addition to a Deluxe.

I have a 50's Hytron in my Champ clone and LOVE it. Like it better than an RCA black plate 6V6GT.

[lespaul01]

Originally Posted by Tuya Customs

I just got a JJ EL34. First off this thing Was erupting with saturation - too much. It took away all the amps dynamics and it didn't even sound good. Then came a worse sound: silence

Put the kt66 back in and it was all better again

If you have not, but do get the chance to try a metal base amperex el34, I am sure you would be blown away. They are very very expensive, but you can't beat em imo, absolutely gorgeous.

[lespaul01]

Originally Posted by rocknhorse1

I have a 50's Hytron in my Champ clone and LOVE it. Like it better than an RCA black plate 6V6GT.

wow, thats a tall order too.. the Hytron is CBS correct?