18Watt.com

My new JA-TMB is coming with all Ei tubes. I've never tried any of their tubes before. Anyone have any experiences with them, good and bad?

I've had great experiences with the EL84s. They sound really good with a lot of chime.

The ECC83/12ax7s are another story. They sound really good, but are prone to microphonics. Sometimes right out of the box, and sometimes just days or months later. The gold pinned Premium version doesn't seem too much better than the regular ones. However, if you can find a good ECC83 then it is a great sounding new production tube.

My advice is to go ahead and use them. If you start having problems then replace the ECC83s with JJs or NOS.

I've got some jj's in stock as well as some old Fender greyplate 7025's, eh's. I've also been hearing good things about the Tung Sol and Golden Dragon 12ax7's. I've had bad experiences with the GT mullard ri so I won't be trying those again.

rjgtr wrote:I've had great experiences with the EL84s. They sound really good with a lot of chime.

I agree! They're my favorite new production EL84 and they sound better than a lot of NOS tubes.

rjgtr was on the money, I use the Ei 84's and the only EL84 I have found to sound better to my ears is some NOS mullards! Thier 12ax7's are very prone to microphonics got 3 of the elites and 2 were microphonic right out of the box, the other one went south in a couple of months, It sounded great while it lasted though. I've had great luck with the tung-sol 12ax7 reissues. Rob

Thanks guys, good to hear the positive reviews on the 84's. I've read similar reviews about the 12ax7's, they may be some of the best out there if you happen to get a good tube.

Exactly. The 84s rock, but stay away from the preamp tubes unless you are totally willing to deal with the microphonics...

Which Ei 84s? The regulars or the "selected" EL84EGs?

blaren wrote:Which Ei 84s? The regulars or the "selected" EL84EGs?

I'll let you know in a couple days......