michaelmellner
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hello to everybody. I don't want to start a battle with this topic but I need to do the better thing in chosing the tubes for my 290.
I contacted a vendor which replied with a sort of explanation about different attitude by various tube types.
Hello-
Ruby Tubes does not make tubes, they simply relabel cheap Chinese and Russian tubes. Most Chinese and Russian tubes have a flabby, boomy low end, a harsh cardboard like midrange and a very shrill and brittle high end. When they distort they are not smooth they are very hairy and grainy. The JJ Electronic tubes in contrast are very linear tubes which allows your EQ to respond more like it should. They have a deep, tight low end, a natural and harmonically rich mid and a sweet high end with a nice sparkle. The JJ tubes overall are very smooth with a lot of detail so there is quite a difference.
I would suggest going with all 6L6GC’s unless you’d like to add some British midrange complexity to your tone.
Here is how the JJ EL34 family shapes up:
The standard JJ EL34 is just like the old European EL34's. These are a bit soft with a shallower low end and a smooth breakup with a nice crunch, a typical high quality EL34. Standard EL34 tubes are not real tight and are known for a slightly looser feel.
The JJ E34L's provide a deeper low end and are more aggressive and punchy than an EL34. The E34L is tighter with slightly more headroom and power with a more aggressive crunch, a very articulate British tone.
The JJ KT77's have even a bit more low end extension than the JJ E34L's and they have a nice sizzle in the top end that is not brittle. The clean tone is very fat and full and the crunch at loud volumes has more of a chunk to it. It's very punchy but not quite as aggressive as the E34L.They are a great tube for rhythm and solo work if you like the pushed mid and upper mid tone that all EL34 type tubes have.
The JJ Big Bottle 6CA7 is as close as you can get to mixing a 6L6 with an EL34. The low end is big and round like a 6L6 and the mids are more like an EL34 but not quite a bright. These are great sounding tubes and especially nice if you're trying to tame down the highs and beef up the lows and low mids.
So for a comparison the JJ 6L6GC's have a little more low end than the KT77's, but are a cleaner tube with a later breakup and they are not as midrange heavy, more of a traditional Fender type tone. The 6L6GC's are a better way to go if you scoop your mids to any degree and these are a great tube for heavy rhythm and or melodic drop tuned Metal. They will also give the fattest and most linear full spectrum sound of all the small bottle octal tubes which also makes them a great tube for just about anything from Rock to Jazz to Country.
For the front end I use three of the JJ ECC83S preamp tubes that are matched and balanced because they are used as drivers and phase inverters. The JJ's have a very deep tight low end, a natural harmonically rich mid and a smooth sweet high end with a nice sparkle that's not brittle.
please note that Ruby are the tubes I now have. besides, note that I'm in no way linked to JJ tubes. I just pasted what I got.
it looks like a good explanation to me but instead of helping me it got more choices thus letting me have more doubts.
any comment on it? anyone got experience with this kind of tubes? consider that this guy offered both combination 6L6/EL34 and 6L6 alone.
all the best
michael
I contacted a vendor which replied with a sort of explanation about different attitude by various tube types.
Hello-
Ruby Tubes does not make tubes, they simply relabel cheap Chinese and Russian tubes. Most Chinese and Russian tubes have a flabby, boomy low end, a harsh cardboard like midrange and a very shrill and brittle high end. When they distort they are not smooth they are very hairy and grainy. The JJ Electronic tubes in contrast are very linear tubes which allows your EQ to respond more like it should. They have a deep, tight low end, a natural and harmonically rich mid and a sweet high end with a nice sparkle. The JJ tubes overall are very smooth with a lot of detail so there is quite a difference.
I would suggest going with all 6L6GC’s unless you’d like to add some British midrange complexity to your tone.
Here is how the JJ EL34 family shapes up:
The standard JJ EL34 is just like the old European EL34's. These are a bit soft with a shallower low end and a smooth breakup with a nice crunch, a typical high quality EL34. Standard EL34 tubes are not real tight and are known for a slightly looser feel.
The JJ E34L's provide a deeper low end and are more aggressive and punchy than an EL34. The E34L is tighter with slightly more headroom and power with a more aggressive crunch, a very articulate British tone.
The JJ KT77's have even a bit more low end extension than the JJ E34L's and they have a nice sizzle in the top end that is not brittle. The clean tone is very fat and full and the crunch at loud volumes has more of a chunk to it. It's very punchy but not quite as aggressive as the E34L.They are a great tube for rhythm and solo work if you like the pushed mid and upper mid tone that all EL34 type tubes have.
The JJ Big Bottle 6CA7 is as close as you can get to mixing a 6L6 with an EL34. The low end is big and round like a 6L6 and the mids are more like an EL34 but not quite a bright. These are great sounding tubes and especially nice if you're trying to tame down the highs and beef up the lows and low mids.
So for a comparison the JJ 6L6GC's have a little more low end than the KT77's, but are a cleaner tube with a later breakup and they are not as midrange heavy, more of a traditional Fender type tone. The 6L6GC's are a better way to go if you scoop your mids to any degree and these are a great tube for heavy rhythm and or melodic drop tuned Metal. They will also give the fattest and most linear full spectrum sound of all the small bottle octal tubes which also makes them a great tube for just about anything from Rock to Jazz to Country.
For the front end I use three of the JJ ECC83S preamp tubes that are matched and balanced because they are used as drivers and phase inverters. The JJ's have a very deep tight low end, a natural harmonically rich mid and a smooth sweet high end with a nice sparkle that's not brittle.
please note that Ruby are the tubes I now have. besides, note that I'm in no way linked to JJ tubes. I just pasted what I got.
it looks like a good explanation to me but instead of helping me it got more choices thus letting me have more doubts.
any comment on it? anyone got experience with this kind of tubes? consider that this guy offered both combination 6L6/EL34 and 6L6 alone.
all the best
michael
