EVH ECC83 preamp tubes?

MetalHeart

Active member
Anyone use these? I need to replace one or more in my 5150iii el34 50 watt. Kinda expensive $60 plus for a pair.
Are you paying just for the name? The ones that came from the factory are unmarked .
 
I don't own an EVH but I do have a Peavey 5150 and JJs work great in that amp. Alternatively I will put a current production Tung Sol in V1. I would imagine this would also work well for the EVH amps.
 
JJ are good enough for 5000€ amps so they will good for EVH. And there are more than one JJ preamp 12AX7's. In modern higain amps priority is low microphonics than anything else imho.
 
Tell me more 😀
Tung Sols are brighter and with less midrange clutter/stuffiness than JJ's. Cool tubes, but I like Svetlana 12AX7SV's better than TS's. They've got the same kind of clear/clean midrange as Tung Sols, but are not as harsh up top as TS's can sometimes be.

Everyone is going to have their preference when it comes to tubes. Everyone is going to tell you how much these tubes sucks and how much those other tubes rule. I'd say just buy a bunch of different ones and see which ones you like the best.
 
I retubed my 5150 III 100W with JJs from Eurotubes and it sounds HUGE.
JJ's are really reliable tubes. Retubed a few other amps too. They all sound amazing now.
I bought a used PRS MT100 that had 4 microphonic preamp tubes in it.
Retubed the preamp tubes, and now it sounds massive.
JJ's work.
 
FWIW, I've NEVER had a JJ ECC83S fail. Ever.

OTOH, I've NEVER had a JJ power tube NOT fail, LOL. Not even exaggerating.
Yeah Ive had good results from JJs. But less than a week after buying this amp I had a preamp tube go bad. Surprise me.
I replaced with JJ but was told the amp came with unbranded JJs.

I may have dirty send and return jacks as it so far only has the symptoms when effects are switched on.
 
Yeah Ive had good results from JJs. But less than a week after buying this amp I had a preamp tube go bad. Surprise me.
Sometimes it's a crapshoot. Luck of the draw.

If you know you like JJ's, I'd stick with JJ's. Preamp tubes aren't super expensive. And it's JJ preamps. Very low risk from buyin a few spares off ebay sellers.

But I do recommend you try some different tubes. It's just like guitar strings. JJ's aren't my favorite, but everyone has their preference. Not all work for everyone. Everyone is going to have their opinion, but we can all be wrong. What matters is what works for you.
 
I loved JJ's in my splawns and 800's. Electro Harmonix also.

When compare reliability across the board as a whole, JJ is one of biggest current tube manufacture. Not many left. So when a few bad batch happen. People assume they always bad. I've had bad tube from many brand.

Including TAD which are supplied as better tube.

I have like JJ in Mesa. Marshall. Peters. Peavey. Framus. ENGL.

And power tubes, had more TAD go bad than JJ. And more ruby go bad than JJ, so the testing of Ruby must have slack for a while. I think they were Chinese original labeled ruby at the time I had those.

If you produce this many tube, it bound to have bad ones. If you purchase through reputable company like EUROTUBE then chance of getting bad tube go down very much.

They are the place to get JJ tube. Very good pre-screening seem like.
 
In all my years of changing tubes, the only tubes that red plated after installing them brand new were a set of Ruby's. I didn't even get a chance to touch the bias pot and they were blaring red!

I think Ruby's today are refurbished?
 
Tung Sols are brighter and with less midrange clutter/stuffiness than JJ's. Cool tubes, but I like Svetlana 12AX7SV's better than TS's. They've got the same kind of clear/clean midrange as Tung Sols, but are not as harsh up top as TS's can sometimes be.

Everyone is going to have their preference when it comes to tubes. Everyone is going to tell you how much these tubes sucks and how much those other tubes rule. I'd say just buy a bunch of different ones and see which ones you like the best.
They'll wake up a blue channel, just play with the treble and presence.. That brightness and tighter bottom end works well with those amps. Best thing he could do is clip that C137. The EL34 50 watt is my least favorite EVH. The red channel does what the red channel does, but the blue channel stock sounded awful to me. I think that amp was an experiment gone bad. The 100 watt is totally different, and lightyears better.
 
In all my years of changing tubes, the only tubes that red plated after installing them brand new were a set of Ruby's. I didn't even get a chance to touch the bias pot and they were blaring red!

I think Ruby's today are refurbished?

Put them in hot Marshall bias and they blew a few fuses for sure from going out.

I stopped using after 3-4 of that happening. Lowered bias too but they just not robust seem brittle and... delicate or something compare to others. JJ has been more robust than other in my experience rolling hundreds of tube.
 
Back
Top