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Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's vs. JJ 12AX7's


butterknucket

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I liked Ehs for a while. They could add some brightness and crunch to wimpy circuits, but they are so sterile. They aren't what I would describe as organic sounding at all.

 

JJs may be ok for high gain circuits, but I never liked them in lower gain applications. They seem to suck the life out of those kinds of circuits.

 

I guess I wouldn't recommend either. You may want to get your hands on some Mullard 12AT7s. Readily available and cheap as new production tubes. Much more character and much more versatile. Almost as much gain as a Mullard 12AX7, too.

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EH 12AX7's by a long shot. The EH preamp tubes have always sounded at least decent in the amps I have tried them in.

 

The JJ Ecc83S are another story. They sounded good in a sovtek mig 60, but every other amp they have sounded like I put a blanket over the cab and been overly grainy and dull. They were really hyped about 3-4 years ago on this forum and I bought a complete batch for my 2 amps at the time. They are all sitting in their boxes at the moment :)

 

 

 

My personal new production preamp tubes are the Ei elites.

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Originally posted by KCA NOS Tubes



Look no further.

 

 

Did you get rid of the EI Elite 12AX7's? I hope not, those are my favorite current production preamp tubes.

 

I will have to check out those ruby tubes. For some reason I couldn't find them without searching for them specifically on your site....

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Originally posted by blackba



Did you get rid of the EI Elite 12AX7's? I hope not, those are my favorite current production preamp tubes.


I will have to check out those ruby tubes. For some reason I couldn't find them without searching for them specifically on your site....

 

 

The last batch of EI elites I bought have over 25% rejects. I simply can't waste my time rejecting that many tubes on a particular item.

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Originally posted by KCA NOS Tubes



The last batch of EI elites I bought have over 25% rejects. I simply can't waste my time rejecting that many tubes on a particular item.

 

They may not last long but they sound great IMO.

I bought a whole bunch for 6.95 a piece last year, at that price who cares.

I thought the Elites were the same as the Reg EI's but they were select tubes sorted at the factory with the different silkscreen?

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I think both are great tubes. I personally prefer the Highgain graded versions for both of those instead of the "standard" ones. But I think each of those 2 comes in handy in certain situations. If your looking to brighten up a dark sounding amp or an amp that has alot of lowmid type tone, then the EHs might come in handy, while the JJs I found to be excellent in taming an already bright amp.

 

on the Highgain and lowgain sounds? both are excellent. The EHs sounded crunchier while the JJs sounded a bit more smoother. Both love to be cranked, specially if you get the highgain graded ones.

 

Noise wise? I personally found the JJs to be a bit lower noise then the EHs.

 

This is all ofcourse going to depend on what kind of setup you use. I used:

- Epi Lespaul

- ADA MP-1 3TM modded

- Carvin T100 tube poweramp

- 212 cabinet with celestions.

 

Anyways.. hope that gives you an idea and hope it helps.

 

 

Good luck!

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I use JJ's in my C30 exclusively.

 

My MP-1 sounded fantastic with EH's about a million times better than JJ's. Then, I had it modded with the 3 tube mod and now it sounds much better with JJ's than EH.

 

My valvefx sounds better with EH.

 

Either way they're my 2 favorite brands of preamp tube. One or the other usually works great depending on which sound I'm going for and what piece of equipment its going into.

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