EL844

The JJ EL844 is a purpose built low power EL84 substitute. It’s designed specifically for players looking to reduce wattage and attain an earlier breakup from their output section. Here’s the story: In 2009 we asked our good friends at JJ Electronic to build us a low power EL84 and they agreed to do it! It’s not an easy task to build a tube that has never been built, but JJ has proven they are the people to do it. The JJ EL844 is an entirely new tube that dissipates 9 watts and is a drop in replacement for most all EL84 amps. It has a very smooth sweet breakup just like the JJ EL84 but with less headroom and and slightly less overall output.

These will drop into most cathode and fixed biased amps like the Orange AD amps, VOX AC amps, Laney VC amps, Crate V and VC amps including the Palomino, Budda amps, Fender Blues and Pro junior amps. It is also an option for all the 5 watters like the Valve Junior, Blackheart, Mini Cat and others.

With adjustable bias amps like the Marshall 201 and 401 or Bugera V22, Jet City or Carvin, these must be biased 25% lower than standard EL84’s to compensate for the wattage drop (12 vs 9 watt maximum dissipation). For those of you who are familiar with the old EL83, the EL844 plate structure is quite similar but the EL844 is NOT a replacement for an EL83!!! It is quite different.

A note for the DIYers, the EL844 makes an excellent driver tube in triode mode. Try 250V B+, -5.8Vg1 (or 230Ω Rk), which will provide aprx. 25mA Ip, 11.3mA/V Tc, 2K6 Rp, and a real mu of 27.

After a 24 hour burn in all power tubes are tested for noise and matched at multiple operating points for plate current (± one milliamp) and transconductance. Please leave us a note in the comments section as to what amp they’re going into and or if you’re looking for a specific grade.