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My review of the new JJ frame grid E83CC tube

Posted by Permanent Waves (A) on October 23, 2019 at 17:35:57

First off there's good news and bad news. I'll start with the bad news. I got my first pair of gold pin versions last week and certainly some of the first batch of production tubes as I'm not aware of any of the USA sellers having the gold pin version available yet. I had mine sent from a European dealer. Unfortunately out of the 2 tubes I got, one tube tested excellent with a extremely close balance on the triodes and above NOS readings. Sadly the other tube left the factory with one excellent section and the other barely alive and testing very low. No big deal but a little disappointing as I would have hoped JJ would be checking these tubes very close initially. There is clearly going to be some growing pains as they perfect production. That being said I have auditioned the other great tested tube in both a guitar amp as well as v1 in a class A amp listening to music. I have at the moment 36 hours of straight use on this tube and it has burned in nicely. In my humble opinion it is easily the best sounding 12ax7 tube in the JJ tube family and is perhaps the best new production 12ax7 going. I feel I can say that with some small degree of certainty as I have regularly used most of the new production stuff available in all my equipment. I also have a huge vintage collection of all the greatest 12ax7/ecc83 ever made so I know what a good one sounds like from a crap one. Although I expected the tube might be lacking in this area I was pleasantly surprised at it's excellent bass qualities and pronounced mids. Highs were not shrill either. Simply a stellar sounding tube. Now as far as the early failure rate and longevity factor which often plagues new production tubes compared to vintage glass I obviously can't speak to yet. Compared directly with a vintage Tesla E83cc it is virtually indistinguishable with the nod going to the JJ for the better low end. The JJ tube feels slightly heavier compared to the Tesla so I don't know what to attribute that to but its a very stout tube. It is not harsh sounding as I felt most of the other JJ tubes sounded with the ecc803 tube being the best prior to this new tube offering. So if you were considering trying these out I can say at least initially they sound fantastic. I'll try to add more to this thread as I get more time on the tube or if anything goes south. When I get my replacement tube I will give it full time guitar amp duty which is usually a little harder on the tubes as better test of durability.
Sitting here on the Group W bench

Edits: 10/23/19 10/23/19

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