12AU7 / ECC82 Preamp Vacuum Tube

I bought this 12AU7 to tame a five watt 6V6 guitar amp. The amp came with a 12AX7 installed. These low watt tube amps are all voiced to have gnarley overdrive when you spin the volume knob past 1. That's not my cup of tea, and also, I'd like to be able to run some pedals into the front end without getting mush from the tubes. As you may already know, a 12AU7 has the least amount of gain for a tube that's swappable with a 12AX7. Some people say that 12AU7s suck tone, but honestly, I've only ever noticed it when the volume knob is under 5 on the amp. That's not why you put a low gain tube in an amp! You put it in so you have more pre-amp tube headroom and you can crank it up and hear the power tube sizzle (or at least crunch a bit). You will need to bear in mind that switching pre-amp tubes almost always does change the sound of your amp – including tone, not just volume. That said, I find that nearly always, a lower gain tube like this 12AU7 will actually make the tone knobs more usable and more reactive. Anyway, on to the end of this review: I put in the 12AU7 into my 5-watter and it is just what I needed. It's a clean machine up to about 8 on the dial. Once you hit 10, you get that wonderful edge-of-break-up that everyone craves. Dig in and you hear the power tube work. Back off the strings and it cleans up. I can now put any pedal I want infront of this amp, and I can keep my tone pristine. That's what one of these babies can do for you. I do want to mention that more complex amps with several preamp tubes and power tubes do tend to be more finicky when you roll preamp tubes. That said, I say, "Go for it!"

I have experienced this tube for over ten days now, and I can safely say most purchasers will not be disappointed. This tube intensifies and clarifies my source audio to a level stock tubes and other speciality tubes can not possibly reach in my personal opinion. The product provides the audio with deeper, cleaner, low frequencies, above-average mid-range, and stunningly-bright high frequencies. As a final note: this tube can take some average musical tracks and change them into a vivid, memorable listening experience. I am nearly sure they should be no disappointment to any of their buyers in terms of quality.I highly recommend giving this product the chance it deserves.EDIT:(07/02/2014) Unfortunately, my tube has perished today due to interior wire sever. I am unsure of why this occurred, but I can only assume the happening was due to heat-related. It was great while it lasted!

They worked in the amp, sound better than the old tubes.No complaints.

JJ tubes are my preferred tube manufacturer these days. They are reliable, well made, reasonably priced, and they sound very good imho. This preamp tube is a good choice if your amplifier has more gain than you need and you are looking to take it down a notch from what a 12AX7 is giving you. You can also use this tube to modestly increase clean headroom on some low watt amps. I used it to bring down the gain on an overdrive pedal that used a 12ax7. I bought this tube through Amazon with the vendor Musician's Friend. When the tube did not arrive, they sent a replacement via 2nd day mail. The original eventually made it's way to me and they told me to keep it- Thanks, Musician's Friend :)

Direct replacement for the 12AX7 reverb tube in my Princeton Reverb amp. Lower gain means I get more usable range in the Reverb knob (sweet spot at "4" instead of "2"). I use an attenuator with the amp, so this may just be my setup, but swapping this tube reduced the overall volume by about one number on the Volume dial. To my ears, it also darkened (warmed?) the amp tone a little. Both of these differences were neutral to positive for me, and can be easily adjusted-for by nudging another knob, either on the amp or on a pedal. I view this as a positive, inexpensive upgrade to the Princeton Reverb and I recommend it for anyone who wants a little more usable range from the Reverb knob.

So after reading every single feedback for this product, I truly don't believe it. I mean how in the world could this little bugger make it sound better. About a week after I bought my Bravo Audio V2, I upgraded the tube to this. And boy, did it sound WAY better than the stock tube. It is truly nights and days. I'm using headset from iPhone stock to Momentum 2. Even my stock iPhone headset sound much clearer and there is a punch to my music. I'm so glad I got this.

As many other reviewers have commented this is exactly what I wanted for my Behringer Tube Monster! I had a Groove Tube 12AX7 left over from a tube swap in my amp and replaced the stock tube in the monster with it. The JJ sounded good with my Telecaster, really good! However, I have a Stratocaster with Texas Specials and the hotter windings were just that too hot for the Tube Monster. There was zero smooth creamy overdrive! Just grind to super grind! Great! If that’s what your looking for. Enter the 12AU7. With the Strat there is at least a smooth transition from 0 to 1 1/2 then it starts getting gritty, in a good way! With the Tele.....Heaven!! Seriously, think Hotel California and Joe Walsh’s tone! Easily achieved! I do use a 2amp power supply for the Tube Monster because the 12AU7 although a lower output tube, does require more power than a 12AX7.

I bought this 12au7 to replace the blown 12ax7 in my Orange Micro Terror and the difference in how my amp sounds now is exactly what I was looking for. Basically, this tube allows me to turn the gain up without getting fizzy, almost-useless distortion. I used to have to keep the distortion down low, especially if I wanted to use a dirt or distortion pedal. It almost always sounded bad with the ax7 but now with the au I get an even smoother distortion (it sounds even better now) towards the end of the knob's range and I get nice usable clean-ish pedal-friendly tones.