Reply With QuoteNelskie posted a pretty lengthy description of some tube swaps that he did with his Jr. I'm not sure where it is on here exactly, but that post would be a good combination to have along with yours. Plenty of good info for us Jr. owners.
Lefty O'lman
Valve Jr. tube swap project
Not sure it would be considered a "mod", but I got around to a project I've been wanting to do for a while. I replaced the tubes (all 2 of them) in the Valve Jr. head with a couple of JJ's. The EL 84 is a cooler "28" grade and the 12AX7 is the JJ ECC803S gold pin.
My impressions:
The amp "warmed up", notes seem "tighter" both low and highs seem clearer and less muddy. The amp seems (to me, at least) to have a bit more headroom before breakup begins, and when it does start breaking up, it's more harmonically "in tune" with itself. Notes seem more even, less ghost notes. When bending strings and using finger vibrato, the amp "follows" what you're doing better than before. And it sounds overall better, as long as you play cleanly. I think it's less forgiving of mistakes than before. What you play is what you get, you play sloppy, you hear it plainly. OOPS!
I also ordered a warmer grade EL84 (36 grade), an ECC83S gold pin, and an ECC 81, and will be doing more swaps later to see what results they yield. But for now I'm leaving it like it is so I can PLAY it since I finally have a weekend off!
Glenn
Luke Skyrawker
Nelskie posted a pretty lengthy description of some tube swaps that he did with his Jr. I'm not sure where it is on here exactly, but that post would be a good combination to have along with yours. Plenty of good info for us Jr. owners.
"No Tele For you." - The Tele Nazi
Ha! Tele-ish now inbound.
Regular Fretter
Play that puppy. I tried an entire set of JJs for the first time when I got my Classic 30 (EL84s, ECC83Ss) and picked up some ECC83Ss for my Marshall yesterday (V2, V3 postion...Groove Tube Mullard stays in V1). I like these tubes. Very musical and warm with the nice harmonics you want to hear. I think the 803S gold pin is a good choice for the Valve Jr. Warm them babies up and play them hard they'll be good to you.
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
Regular Fretter
i just put a set of jj's in my valve jr....ecc 83s for the 12ax7 and jjel84. It definitely made a difference....much less harsh with a warmer more balanced tone.
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Last edited by warren0728; November 18th, 2006 at 10:55 AM.
Guitars: Gibson 1998 Les Paul Special : Peavey Predator (Early 90's Fat Strat Copy) : Ibanez GAX30TROriginally Posted by just strum
Brownsville Reso - 101 Electric Reso : Fender GDO-300 Maple Quilt Top Acoustic
Amps: Fender Super Champ XD
Effects: Digitech RP250 Modeling Guitar Processor : DVM "Phased and Confused" Script Phaser Clone : Digitech Bad Monkey
Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus : Behringer Distortion Modeler : Ernie Ball Volume Pedal : Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Regular Fretter
I've got a JJ Gold pin 803s in my Tonelab with my future valve jr head's name on it.
Any other suggestions? I've gotta dig up Nelskie's posts on this subject.
I pick a moon dog.
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