Well I have switched back to Groove Tubes 12ax7-c's for the pre-amp stages of the Traynor YCV20. The JJ ECC83S either need some burn in or one has an issue. Word out in the ether is that the JJ ECC83s' have some manufacturing issues. One reseller dicontinued the tube because he had 25% rejection rates. I am in contact with Bob at Eurotubes and I'll post a post-morteum once I find out what the scoop on these tubes are. Tonight I will be trying them in the Champ 12 to see if I can isolate the issue. This issue is a ratty high frequency static that seems to appear in overdrive settings.
I left the balanced JJ ECC83S in the phase splitting spot and it seems to be doing okay. Though I might try a 12AT7 that I have. To see what that will do.
The EL84's from JJ are performing well and the overall sound is better than the Sovteks. I might swap back again just to make sure though...
I also investigated speakers and have decided on the Eminence Red Fang AlNiCo 30 watt speaker. Partly because of some favorable reviews and price. It is 1/3 the cost of an Celestion Blue and is close to the sound. I am sure the tube amp wolrd will start hearing more about this speaker soon based on a few things I have read. One reviewer on Harmony Central put the Red Fang and Blue in a head to head test. He said the Blue was still the best but the Red Fang had a different yet equally musical sound. Quite a excellent value. The weak dollar has allowed Eminence to gain some ground on Celestion on their UK produced speakers. The big bummer on the weak dollar is that is has put UK amps pretty much out of reach.
I had some mp3s of the tone but unfortunately they have too much digital clipping on them to post. So I will rerecord the samples and with more care on the amp settings and what I play to to provide a better comparision.
I'll put a new section on the website called "Combo Tube Amp" for you fellow tone freaks out there.
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