I think I wanna mod my TJ to have KT88's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Trippled
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Trippled

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Hi,

Some of you probably remember I've ordered a TJ directly from bogner and ordered it with
EL34's.

Well, I'm actually thinking lately that I might wanna get a tighter, cleaner sound and I'm getting the impression from the tone merchants clips and that clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSjMZVpo0U that the KT88's could actually suit me better, it still has that great uber voice but just tighter and with more headroom.

The question is - can I do it? Iv know the plate voltage on my amp is suppoused to be lower, can I mod it to be like a stock
TJ? If not, will TK77's get me closer to that and might for me good too?

Thanks,
Daniel.
 
No comments? Someone?

I know alot of people here like the 34's but I've noticed that most of you guys are heavy rock players,
I play tech metal, I need that clarity and defenition, the tj does sound great with 34's but I loved how it sounded
on the LA amp fest and on the tone merchants demo with the 88's, very clear and tight, but still has the bogner beautifull mid structure
and I feel that mine is sometimes too mid heavy and abit too much saturated, the 34's also get really mushy on reharsel levels.

I know I need to switch some blue resistor or something and then rebias? Can someone here drop some info?
 
Gary from the board, recommends Gold Lion KT77's...closer to 34's. The KT88's are very dry and unsaturated, but may be your thing. I agree, the 2nd channel could be a bit tighter, although the amp does sound good with 34's. The only thing is, that since you bought your amp with 34's, the plate voltage may be less than the KT88 version...probably not a big deal, though.
 
btw I read the comments on the kt77 and while it sounds promising, that's loads of money to throw on a tube.
I dunno, I think that the original design could actually work for me, it sounded great to me on the clips, sounded like the right ballance between a tight tone and a warm/open tone - I guess I'd love the 34's here alot more if I didnt need that extra clarity and defenition, I could stay with them and be very happy still, but I'm just having the impression that the original design was actually suited to people like me, it's a different tone and I understand why people that loved the rev blue didnt like twin jet, personally on the amp fest the twin jet sounds alot better for what I need than the rev blue.
 
KT88's cost more than Gold Lion KT77's. I recently swapped every tube type. Gold Lion KT88's and Winged C EL34's and 6550's. Natuarally this is subjective but I went back to the KT77 within four days. I gave each tube type a fair shake in my amp. The 77 wins for me. It's a perfect ballance between the EL34 and the 6550/KT88. Its still a kinkless tetrode which the power section was designed around. It's a drop in replacement for you. I did like channel one with the 6550's as it was more agressive just as Leib posted but overall the 77 does it for me. I biased a litttle hotter to 33ma at 525 pllate volts. I use a probe and for some reason they are not accurate to the low side. KT88's suck in the amp. Sorry. Dry and glassy and harsh. EL34's are better but have a mid structure that is too focussed. Sharp mids. the GL 77's have rounder mids, sweeter highs and better lows over the 34's and even the 6550's. The 88's give more low end but :no:
 
The GL KT77 ae 40$ per tube - this is insane, the big bottles are always more expensive but
I dont know about if these really worth it.

I'm actually thinking towards the e34l right now, suppoused to be very aggresive with
alot more headroom and low end than a regular el34, bob from eurotubes said they have as much if not more low end than kt77\6ca7.

Even if the Gold Lions are great, retubing once in a while in 160$ compared to 56$ for E34L is really a huge gap, on top of that, we might be looking for different stuff.

Rob from eurotubes claims the KT77's will have a looser bottom end compared to 34L's,
he was referring to JJ'S but I dont know if there would be such a huge difference, he also stocks every tube I asked on, I dont think he had any interest to recommend a specific tube.

I appreciate your advice, currently I think I'll try the simplest\cheapest solutions before I jump to pay 160$ for a retube, JJ's aren't bad tubes, and if they'll work for me than it would be really great.
 
Didn't really like the Gold Lions all that much. The low end was too stiff and extended for me. The E34L's are a bit squishier to me, which I like. The Winged C's are best though.
 
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