JJ 803S Gotta try em

[talbany]

I've been hearing rumblings about the JJ 803's being a nice tube for high gain amps so I thought I would try em.. Well I was pleasantly surprised.. Loaded it in a Non HRM w/220/150 plates Fender power, Marshall output 100 watt w/Mullard EL-34's test amp I keep at the shop.. Several things I noticed immediately was the the focus of the low end.. as well as an evenly voiced tone..The tube has the larger plates similar to the LPX EH's but a smoother top end with very little if any buzzy-ness to it.... I noticed no difference in the tubes gain characteristics than that of a an AX although you can run the gain/ trim whatever you call it up higher and the low notes won't give as quickly as an AX..this is what mosts impresses me about the tube...Very nice I recommend them highly and thinking of going here on all our high end amps..Good Luck



Tony VVT Amps

[deiseldave]

I tried several JJ 803S in my guitar amps, and also a tube mic pre, and as much as I wanted to, just couldn't make myself like them.
It's hard to beat Sovtek LPS IMO.

[talbany]

Sorry I should have clarified I was talking about the V2 tube in D-Style amps.. Not really anything else.. or have not tried it in anything else yet..




Tony VVT

[Bob-I]

I've tried a few, not impressed. I found the OD a tad hard sounding compared to an EH or LPS.

Each to his own.

[talbany]

Thanks for the reply Bob..... That's wild the LPX'S sound a tad harsh on the top end to me though I do like them in the PI.. I as well like the EH'S we used to load all of our amps with them.. Many went micro phonic in a very short period of time or came in Micro phonic so we had to axe them...Too bad!!
Maybe this tube happens to work in this particular amp I guess..... The OD tone I was getting was noticeably smoother and tighter I thought.... I'll try it in an HRM style next see how she do there... Thanks for the reply s guys....I'll keep digging...






Tony

[stelligan]

Tried them and like them a lot. Thanks for the reminder because I can't remember which of my amps still has one in V2. The Eurotubes site mentioned that some vendors label them as "high gain" when, in reality, they are not?

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5269

[dogears]

I have three and all three are either dead or microphonic. Bad QC IMO. However, sounded good when it briefly worked.

[Fischerman]

IME those tubes have quite a bit of a more 'scooped' tone than usual...with lots of sparkle in V1 of a clean circuit. I like them but they seem to always go microphonic on me. Never tried one in V2...might have to see if the ones I have are non-micro enough to use there. Thus far I've been waffling between an EH and a Tungsol in V2...and once I put an RFT in V1 it spoiled me so it's probably staying there.

[blue_dog]

I've tried a few, not impressed. I found the OD a tad hard sounding compared to an EH or LPS.

Each to his own.

I found the same thing about the JJ's, I had them in the V1 and V2 but found them a tad hard at the end I went back to the LPS. But I really loved them in a fender HotRod.

[talbany]

This is just me be but many of the tubes manufactured today especially 12 ax's Chinese and Russian (but not so bad) have a pronounced mid range that to me is not very pleasing to the ear.... hard sounding in the 1K area.. Our ears get used to the pronounced mid range so when we put in a tube that doesn't have that we tend to call it scooped when my ears are calling it evenly voiced.. Just me!!! no offense
Oh I also tested the gain on them today and they are all 5 around 90/110..So it's high gain..
Thanks again for the posts looks like another Micro phonic LOSER!!!


Tony VVT

[erwin_ve]

I tried them in my ODS clone, nice sound, but a pair of selected TAD sounded nicer and more open for a ods. The 803s are now in my Fender Champ and they sound extraordinary!
No complains on microphonics so far.

[deiseldave]

About a year ago, I wanted to do a preamp tube shootout, and skinned down on some expensive NOS 12AX7/ECC83 tubes, and also borrowed a few NOS gems from a guitarist friend (Casey).
Some of the tubes in the shootout were very expensive models: RCA, Sylvania, JAN Philips, Mullard , etc. I wanted to see if there was really a difference in tone.
The tubes were put into V1 of several different amps. To me, the tone of the best NOS tubes was so close to some of the decent new production 12AX7's out there (EH 12AX7EH, JJ ECC83S, Tungsol 12AX7, etc), that I chose to classify NOS tubes as expensive and non-essential.
I then let my friend borrow my NOS Gems, and also, some of the new releases, and he agreed that the difference was minimal.
FWIW, here's what we picked:
Me: #1) Sovtek 12AX7LPS, #2) Tungsol 12AX7 (New Prod), #3) JAN Philips NOS.
Casey: #1) Sovtek 12AX7LPS, #2) Mullard ECC83 NOS, #3) JJ ECC83S
That was what we picked, but the differences were so minimal, that on a different day, Electro Harmonics, Ruby, RCA NOS, or whatever, may have made the top 3.
Bottom line (IMO): I haven't had any troubles with the Sov 12AX7LPS, they're cheap, and good. YMMV.

[Funkalicousgroove]

IMHO some tubes work better in certain positions than others: to me long plate tubes (GE, Telefunken, EI, JJ ECC803) work better in the PI position, and really show their stuff. I tend to like shorter plates (Mullard CV4004, JJEcc83s, certain amperex, certain mazda, etc) in V1 and 2. YMMV of course

[glasman]

I have used a lot of the 803's over the past 2 1/2 years. They were my tube of choice a couple of years ago.

Much feelings are :

1. Sonically better than the JJ83S.
2. Virtually every one is microphonic.
3. Had to replace virtually every one in the field with TS or EH.
4. Would NEVER use one in a combo amp.

My choices today for NEW are : Mullard reissue from New Sensor, the EH 12AX7H and selected chinese tubes. I was using tungsol for a while but they really sound like a$$ to my ears.

[stelligan]

Our ears get used to the pronounced mid range so when we put in a tube that doesn't have that we tend to call it scooped when my ears are calling it evenly voiced.. Just me!!! no offense
Oh I also tested the gain on them today and they are all 5 around 90/110..So it's high gain..

I only have 2 of these and, to my ears, they sound good. Perhaps I got lucky with these - ordered them tested from TubeDepot. I spent around an 8 to 10 hour "test fest" in my studio about 7 months ago with 3 amps and a couple mittfulls of tubes. All cheap and readily available types. Ended up liking JJ ECC83s in the PI, EH in V1, and either JJ 803s(in my HRM) or EH(non HRM) in V2. Just my totally non scientific finding based on my limited stock of tubes and my ears and mics. I had lots of EH tubes, Sovteks, and JJ 83s, only 2 JJ 803s. The JJ ecc83s seemed less predictable/reliable in V1 than the EH or Sovteks.

Thanks for the heads up on the gain thing - Not that it matters. I dig the tones with ones I have be they "high gain" or not.

This is a quote from EuroTubes :
"ECC803S ( 12AX7 )
The latest preamp tube from JJ is a very long plate classic European style tube with thick mids and a little more high end than the ECC83S. Great in V1 or in all positions in vintage amps. Also available matched or with balanced triodes for phase inverter use. These are NOT high gain tubes as a couple of other resellers claim!!!"

This is the quote from TubeDepot:
" JJ / Tesla ECC803s ‘high gain’ - Hotter and fatter than the regular JJ, this tube gives more headroom once in the circuit. Creamy tones and great low end. "


What's a novice numbskull like me to know from this?