Well, it’s been a journey. I bought a 65 deluxe reverb reissue recently, and it’s had an auspicious start. Rectifier failed blowing a load of fuses. Rattly ass JJ 6V6s. No matter I thought; new valves can be bought. A matched pair of new JJs arrive. Still rattle. It can’t be those though, they’re new. Go through every last screw and bolt on the amp (of which there were many in need of tightening, boooo fender, booo) STILL rattle. I swear it sounds like the valves. Dampener rings ordered. Still rattles. Wits end. Order a set of TAD 6V6GT-STRs out of desperation / a bid to prove myself either right or mad.
What would you know, rattle gone. Not only that, but these sound loads better to my ear too. More headroom, more clarity, more dynamic range. Just better.
Are JJ Valves shite now? - Internet wisdom had them as the choice for a DRRI, but they won’t be going anywhere near mine again. Now for an awkward conversation with hotrox about returning the JJs.
Comments
Theres a lot of older stock still in the market (older than five years old) and there’s also a load of junk that should have been scrapped when it was rejected back to suppliers. But I doubt it was…
As for JJs… in general they are usually very good. However, I’ve been made aware of fake JJs that are being ‘created’ in China - I’ve only been aware of them existing within China but there’s no reason why they couldn’t be in the market. Especially if the reseller in the West hasn’t checked carefully enough on the origin.
Combos are a challenge for rattles at the best of times - and generally are the source of most of my grey hair these days, but valve quality is a very close second.
If they made a version with dummy valves round the back I think it would fool a lot of people. And rattle as well .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein