JJ = Crap

[Living_justice]

Just had my full retube kit for a dual recto, and the 2 recto tubes gone bad and, v1 and v3 preamps gone, and also full preamp tubes for my mark 4 are gone, all brand new. i will never use their crap again, just bought full groove tubes for the recto, and wow gold tones man amzaing.

 

[Flashpoint]

That sucks, man. I haven't had any problems with JJ tubes so far. Where did you get yours from?

The Groove Tubes are awesome as well. I'm using their 12AX7-C in my V1 and V2 sockets.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

There are bad tubes from any brand.

If you bought these from a retailer, or any other brand of tube for that matter, there is always the chance that they will go bad.

I have had very few JJ's fail on me due to their defects. Mostly, it happens during shipping. I used to live in Hawaii and bought all of my tubes from CE Distribution. There was a very high failure rate until I started making them bubble wrap all the tubes they shipped to me.

I have had fewer than 3 in 100 JJ tubes fail on me.


Groove Tubes and Mesa are more expensive because they test all of their tubes before shipping. Most Tube manufacturers, however, just make them and don't have the time to make sure that there will be no failures.

Call Groove Tubes and ask them how many tubes they buy that they throw away because they don't live up to expectations.

Just because you have some tubes fail, doesn't mean that this is a bad brand. Look at all of the people here who have bought JJ's from guys like Bob at Eurotubes. They are very happy both with the tone and with the reliabillity.

 

[Living_justice]

Bob thats who i bought them off, i had 3 channel dual recto back in 05 and i had a full tube kit then for it, and they went as well, no more, should have
moved on too groove sooner.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

That's a bummer.

Most of the guys I know who have bought tubes off of Bob really liked them.

I've had a set of his High-Gain preamp tubes for about 2 years now and they are still going strong.

The only JJ's that I've had fail was from buying in bulk or shipping problems.

Oh well, I guess my 2 cents was only worth a penny. :shock:

 

[siggy14]

Pre-amp tubes hardley ever go bad, describe what you mean by bad? Usually they will go microphonic, but usually never just die unless you abuse them.

Do you go from hot to cold often? Do you start moving your amp before it has time to cool off? First thing you should do soon as you are done with a set is turn off your amp right away. Give it a good few minutes to cool before moving it, best bet to take cab and guitars away first.

I have two sets of the JJ retube kits and do not have a problem with either set. Both are in dual recto's. Either you got really bad luck, or you are doing something wrong.

 

[Living_justice]

guys i gig alot and we need to get are gear off stage fast, but they go in flight cases tho, does this help?.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Most tubes are fragile when they are hot. It is good advice to get the head off stage last.


When I was in High School, my band got kicked out of this house we were playing in.

It was about 10 degrees.

I had an old Sunn head, 100 watts.

We had been playing for a few hours, the amp had been cranked.

It never worked again after that night. The cold cracked all of the tubes, and I was too poor to buy new ones. The idiot at the repair place said the Output Transformer was dead and wanted $250. I was bummed.


I've only played in Hawaii for the last 7 years, so temperature wasn't a factor, but humidity was.

Tubes are as tempramental as a woman, but, once you learn how to not piss them off, they will treat you right.



Is there any way that you can let the amp cool at least a little bit before moving it or putting it in your case. It may be that the case keeps them hotter for a longer period of time and they are getting tossed around.

 

[Living_justice]

try telling big bands this, your gear not off in 5 then they out in the street

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I can definitely understand that.

You might try putting top on the case last or putting it in the case last so that you can at least maximize the time it has to cool off.

 

[stokes]

The whole moving the amp when the tubes are hot is not as devastating as people say.Is it a good idea to let them cool some before bouncing the amp around?Sure but it is as equally a good idea to not bounce the amp at all,hot or cold.In over 30 years of using tube equiptment I have never had a tube fail because the amp was moved when the tubes were hot.I used to rehearse and store my amps in a room we rented that had no heat except for a couple of electric heaters we turned on when we would rehearse,when it was 10 degrees outside the room was just as cold inside,as there was a large vent fan covered in the winter with just a towel,I had that room for 6 years and two of my Ampegs still have the same preamp tubes,and they were moved in and out of a locked closet 2 or 3 times a week from freezing temps to as hot as they get.Tubes are designed to operate at very hot temps,if the tube fails because it was jostled when it was hot,it makes sense that the vibration in some combos would rattle the tube into failure in a couple of hours.So moving the amp when it is hot once or twice a week isnt cause for catostophic failure,unless you are in the habit of bouncing the amp like the UPS man handling a box marked fragile.If new production tubes are prone to this type of failure then I guess it is just a case of they dont make them like they used to.

 

[cesjr]

Yeah I agree with you there stokes. If that was the case then the low frequencies/vibrations created by our amps, (especially in tube combos) would do more "damage" and cause more stress to a hot tube than simply moving, lifting, and carrying your amp. However dropping a hot tube verses dropping a cold tube is where you'd see a difference. Anyway, maybe there's a difference between tube manufactures but I've never had any problems with tubes I've used.

cesjr

 

[Shep]

i have a mk iv which is load with JJ..one pre amp tube failed on me ages ago but they sent me a new one out..just wanting to know wat tubes you load your amp's with..

 

[Dr.Viossy]

I replaced the original MESA tubes with JJ. I bought 'em from Bob at Eurotubes.

They work perfectly fine and I've noticed that the 4th channel of my RKII is now quite brighter (used to be much darker than the 3rd ch). I'm very pleased.

 

[domct203]

siggy14 wrote:

First thing you should do soon as you are done with a set is turn off your amp right away. Give it a good few minutes to cool before moving it, best bet to take cab and guitars away first.

How would one take the cab off stage without moving the amp head??

Sorry, could not resist :wink:

I always thought the same until someone knocked my Carvin head off of my Recto cab at rehersal. All it did was knock a preamp tube loose, which blew the breaker in the amp. I just re-seated the tube, reset the breaker and all was fine.

I do save the backline for last. I'll pack up guitars and pedalboard first, which will give the head a min or two to cool. I do it more for the electronic components than for the tubes.

Dom

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Oh tone is so subjective.......I bought JJ's from Eurotubes and I find them sterile. The clean channel is better but channel 3 on my Dual Rec is totally dry with jj;s. Keep in mind tone is subjective and one week i want el 34's and the next week I want 6l6's. But JJ's are just not for me.