All our preamp tubes are stringently tested for noise and microphonics using Amplitrex testers driving an external amp. There is no extra charge for low noise and microphonics testing like with other tube vendors. Additionally the tubes undergo a battery of tests for basic performance characteristics and faults such as: Emissions, Transconductance, H-K and Grid leakage, etc... If a tube does not pass our strict performance criteria it's tossed or sent back to JJ Electronic for evaluation.
The Gold Pin JJ ECC83S utilizes a historically recognizable short plate design and spiral filament. This contributes to the tubes inherently low noise floor and resistance to mechanical noise and microphonics. The internal components go through additional selection and processing during assembly. After working with these tubes for several years we can confirm they do test more consistently and sound noticeably different than the original JJ ECC83S.
The guitar players out there will observe the open and lush clean tones these provide. When overdriven they're very smooth and refined sounding with less grit and "teeth" than the original JJ ECC83S. If you're looking for more attitude and grind stick with the original or high gain selected ECC83S's.
HIFI users should observe an increase in bandwidth with a very lush presentation.
