Thinking about some DR eurotube kits....

[Platypus]

The "blanket" sound was a preamp tube issue - had nothing to do with KT77 vs. 6L6. The opinion that the ECC83S do not work well in Mesa preamps is shared by many (but certainly not all) members of this board. If you want to try one or two and can get them cheap - go for it. But I'd think twice about doing a full JJ preamp section.

I spoke with Myles Rose of GrooveTubes about this issue actually and he said he would NOT recommend a GT12AX7M in V1 or V2 at all and he liked the JJ but commented that too many of ANY tube in all slots is a bad idea. He told me to order a JJECC83S with a transconductance of 1600 from Bob at Eurotubes and put that in V1 only and see how I like it. I plan on doing this next week.

If I like it I'll probably get one for V2 and get some 9th gen chinese utility type tubes for V3/V4 and a GT 12AX7M balanced for V5.

 

[CaughtLikeFire]

I spoke with Myles Rose of GrooveTubes about this issue actually and he said he would NOT recommend a GT12AX7M in V1 or V2 at all and he liked the JJ

Myles said that? No sh#@ . . . this is probably the first time I've really disagreed with anything he's ever said :lol:

Never tried the 12AX7M in V2 but its been great in V1. I also have no complaints about the 12AX7Cs so far - work very well in a Rectifier preamp. The ECC83S' I used were from Doug @Doug's Tubes and he selects them really well. They weren't quite as high gain as the ones that Bob sells though. Wonder how much of a difference there is.

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

I spoke with Myles Rose of GrooveTubes about this issue actually and he said he would NOT recommend a GT12AX7M in V1 or V2 at all and he liked the JJ

Myles said that? No sh#@ . . . this is probably the first time I've really disagreed with anything he's ever said :lol:

Never tried the 12AX7M in V2 but its been great in V1. I also have no complaints about the 12AX7Cs so far - work very well in a Rectifier preamp. The ECC83S' I used were from Doug @Doug's Tubes and he selects them really well. They weren't quite as high gain as the ones that Bob sells though. Wonder how much of a difference there is.

The Hi-Gain 83S's are not as dark as the "regular" ones. The front end kit I got from Bob is 115/115 or higher across the board. (A textbook 12AX7 is 100/100)

Tried the GT12AX7M in V1 and it worked just fine. Also the EH, Sovtek LPS, stock Mesa, Mesa SPAX7, JJ ECC803, JJ ECC83S (standard and Hi-Gain). The GT, 803, and hi-hain 83S were my favorites, and I settled on a super-hot 83S (120/119)

 

[CaughtLikeFire]

My ECC83s were 110/110 - still pretty high up there. But dang . . .120? :shock: thats definitely a hi-gain tube

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

The last batch I got was 120/119, 115/117, 115/117, 109/110, 115/115balanced. This is my second hi-gain kit from Bob, but the first one was all 113+ as well.

 

[fatboy135]

The ECC83S sounded way too dark in my Rectoverb and not very clear - I hate to use this worn-out phrase, but it was like a "blanket over my amp." I tried the more expensive 803's and the mids were too strong for my taste. I like JJ power tubes for my Mesa, but the preamps just don't work well at all in my opinion.

Sorry to be disapointed, on my TA the jj ecc83s rocks very nice

I was not impressed with one particular tube in all positions, you have to mix and match to the sounds your looking/hearing for

that is a great true.

Several people have posted their formulas here you can find them by digging through the posts

just refers to my TA topic and you could see my tube setup.

But I'd think twice about doing a full JJ preamp section.

I think that there isn´t any tube able to do an only full preamp section, in my case I´m using the jj ecc83s on V3 and V4 on my triaxis, on V1, V2, sounds very bad and in V5 sounds quite similar to "C" but in V3 and V4 it sounds better than any other tube.

ANY tube in all slots is a bad idea

Your friend is totally right