Unbranded Tube Identification

J

Jangles0331

New member
Hello all. Picked up a used EVH 100W Stealth (6l6) and it had unbranded tubes in it. It doesn’t sound terrible, but certainly a little different than the new one I demoed for about a month. I do have a new full set of JJ tubes.. however I’m curious what these are, and what tonal properties my be different from the JJ’s..

For the pre-amp.. all were marked with only 2K1 laser etched on the side. Comparing side by side with the new JJ’s.. it’s looks identical inside. Googling the part number also brings up a bunch of JJ brand links, but nothing clearly saying anything to give credit to. Maybe the google machine has some info in the background.

One of the 8 tubes was different. It was marked with 4K2 on the side. Replacing this tube in V2 really changed the sound a lot. The rest I’m playing around with don’t change things too much. Very slight.

The four power tubes are marked with 12J0.. similar story when googling. Whas is weird about them though is one is actually a different height. See pic.

Just looking to identify these and understand what the tonal properties are compared to my new ones. Would like to experiment a bit mixing and matching and knowing more would help me out.
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Preamp tubes are JJ's.
Power tubes look to be JJ's as well, They usually have a single hole in the center of the plate for the 6L6.
 
Jangles0331 said:
Hello all. Picked up a used EVH 100W Stealth (6l6) and it had unbranded tubes in it. It doesn’t sound terrible, but certainly a little different than the new one I demoed for about a month. I do have a new full set of JJ tubes.. however I’m curious what these are, and what tonal properties my be different from the JJ’s..

For the pre-amp.. all were marked with only 2K1 laser etched on the side. Comparing side by side with the new JJ’s.. it’s looks identical inside. Googling the part number also brings up a bunch of JJ brand links, but nothing clearly saying anything to give credit to. Maybe the google machine has some info in the background.

One of the 8 tubes was different. It was marked with 4K2 on the side. Replacing this tube in V2 really changed the sound a lot. The rest I’m playing around with don’t change things too much. Very slight.

The four power tubes are marked with 12J0.. similar story when googling. Whas is weird about them though is one is actually a different height. See pic.

Just looking to identify these and understand what the tonal properties are compared to my new ones. Would like to experiment a bit mixing and matching and knowing more would help me out. View attachment 148165

View attachment 148159
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Like stated before, Preamp tubes are JJ. The only tube that looks like this are NOS Tesla tubes, as they were made with the same machines.
The soundchange from V2 could come from a tube with low gain or maybe it was a 12at7
 
Both the preamp and power tubes are JJ.

The power tubes are 6L6GCCZ. The giveaway is the “W” shape at the top of the plates.

If you want to tinker, just change V1 preamp tube and listen. JJ preamp tubes tend to sound a bit dark and dull. For fun, try a Chinese 12AX7 to hear a big difference. Of course we all hear things differently and you may like the JJ’s.
 
A/B the preamp tubes with covers on/off. Off, to many, yields better tone. Covers suck!
 
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