Favourite EL-84 & ECC83

[Outsider]

Got some smoke out of the tubes on my last gig and I figured that it's time to chang the tubes, even though the amp still works. It's a Crate V3112 combo, nice sounding amp with four EL-84's in the power section and three ECC83's in the preamp.

I thought it's best to change the preamp tubes as well. My candidates are JJ Electronics and Electro Harmonix, the latter being a bit cheaper, about 60 euros for the whole set. JJ's aren't very much more expensive but I wouldn't want to pay for nothing. I read that JJ' preamp tubes are quite dark-sounding and the EH's are best for high gain amps, so neither one is just what I'm looking for...

Any experiences or comments about either brand? Or is there some hidden secret brand that I could order from Europe? I can't afford NOS-tubes, unfortunately...

 

[marcusnieman]

Just yesterday put a matched pair of Electro Harmonix EL84's in my Fender Blues Junior - replacing the stock Groove Tubes.

LOVE them!! Much more color and a broader output that the GT's (which sounded great by the way). I'm thinking of doing the same to my Ampeg JetII amp - it's new and the factory tubes are far too distorted at medium volume - great for harp but sucks for humbuckers. I'm going to pop the EH's in it and see what it sounds like.

 

[luis]

I was able to get EL-84 pairs for a great price(Miniwatt and Marconi brands),mostly used but testing high(7000-8000 mu) and I only own 1 EL-84 based amp(18Watt).This is because EL-84 was the most common tube used in Europe. I cannot get 6L6GC pairs however and I own a 5e5-A Pro replica which is great sounding and works well with humbuckers,Ibanez Super '58 specially,and needs some 5881 or 6L6GCs.

Regarding ECC83 I love Mullards(cannot get them cheap if any) and Telefunkens, but if you own a Fender style amp get Marconis as they?re very good tubes for this kind of amps(soft and clean sound) and not expensives as they were in old radios and there wer a Marconi Company here in Madrid,as far as was Phillips Miniwatt in Barcelona.Some Miniwatts could be Marconis rebanded and some Marconis could be Miniwatts because internal construction,and some Marconis silver plates could be rebranded Mazdas....

 

[Outsider]

Thanks for the replys. I have to wait for pay anyways, so I have some time to check out the options. But thanks again!

 

[marcusnieman]

Just yesterday put a matched pair of Electro Harmonix EL84's in my Fender Blues Junior - replacing the stock Groove Tubes.

LOVE them!! Much more color and a broader output that the GT's (which sounded great by the way). I'm thinking of doing the same to my Ampeg JetII amp - it's new and the factory tubes are far too distorted at medium volume - great for harp but sucks for humbuckers. I'm going to pop the EH's in it and see what it sounds like.

Here's a twist......I took the Ampeg's stock Sovtek EL84's and swapped them with the Junior's new EH tubes..........the EH tubes sound killer in the Ampeg and the Sovtek sound even better in the Junior! Go figure.....
I'll keep them that way.

 

[Outsider]

Hey Marcus!

Are your amps auto-biasing models, or do you set the bias again when you swap the tubes?

I guess there isn't any other way to know if a tube works well in a certain amp than to try it yourself. But thanks anyway!

 

[marcusnieman]

I talked to my amp guy.....he said that as long as you buy MATCHED sets of tubes, you really don't need to rebias your amps - and I didn't in this case. We'll have to see what happens but I can tell you that both amps sound great now......

Although, I've always thought that different tubes have different character and output - even if they are the same EL84 types and you do need to rebias with each new set you put in.

 

[Outsider]

I bought a new set of EH 12AX7's and a matched quartet of JJ Electronics EL84's and replaced the stock Groove Tubes. No re-biasing was necessary according to the shop I bought the tubes from. I found the reason for the smoke as well - a guitar pick had gotten in to the amp and melted against a power tube! So no biggie, fortunately.

My Crate V3112 amp sounds nice and crisp, the overdriven sounds are a bit more aggressive and there's more gain available. I'm really happy with the amp, it's nice to be able to change the tubes without taking it to the shop. Haven't played it with the band yet, I really look forward to it.

Thanks for the input, my decision was quite unsuprising, but I'm happy with the results. Someday I will invest on NOS tubes...

 

[luis]

It?s your choice.

I agree NOS tubes are going too much but I exchange the stock EH 6072 in my Pro tweed replica by 2 GE NOS 60?s clear glass and the sound improved a lot.I took the Celestion V30 70w(the Marshall labelles one) out and replaced by a vintage Jensen P12N and I finally got want I wanted and all the controls works now,the V30 make the amp give at 2 a lot of volume,now i can go up to 4.....

 

[Outsider]

Does anyone know does installing lower gain preamp tubes give you more headroom. I have EH 12AX7 tubes on my combo and I'm struggling a bit to get a loud enough clean sound. The EH tubes have quite high gain. Is it a solution to replace them with 12AT7 or 12AU7 tubes? Do they give more headroom? Thanks!

 

[Outsider]

Does anyone know does installing lower gain preamp tubes give you more headroom. I have EH 12AX7 tubes on my combo and I'm struggling a bit to get a loud enough clean sound. The EH tubes have quite high gain. Is it a solution to replace them with 12AT7 or 12AU7 tubes? Do they give more headroom? Thanks!

Ok, I'll answer myself in case someone else might need the info. Just changed the driver tube (the first one) of the preamp tubes to a EH12AT7 and it cleaned up considerably. More headroom, less overdrive, just the way I wanted. My Love Rock still pushes the clean channel into a slight distortion so I'll probably change the pickups to cooler ones. Or maybe I'll try if changing all the preamp tubes to 12AT7's will make any difference.

 

[arclight05]

I love ei el84 , Yugoslavian . They are very "ampy" meaning they are sonically very colourfull I tried the russian 6bq5 .. ukanian .. and they were very clean ... would suit a hi fi more , very uncolored I wouldlike to here some of the Famous el84tubes , telefunken, mullard etc , buti dont have the faith to slap down 200 bucks for what might be only a relative improvement .. so for my bread , the EI tubes are GREAT , and that is what my 97 ac30 came with so that is fine by me :roll: