KT77s in my Stiletto - i'm pulling the trigger

Beware of putting a Tung Sol in V3. The Deuce does not like Russian tubes in V3 and V4. I had serious volume issues with a TS in V3 (more so on spongy). Stick with the stock Mesa tubes labeled Chinese in V3 and V4 and you will be good.

BTW, I still have Tung Sol's in V1 and V2 and they do go a long way in smoothing the tone and warming things up nicely. 8)

How is the gain compared to the JJ's?? I tried one new Tunsol awhile ago and it was very low gain compared to the JJ's, I proptly ditched it.

It seems to be just a LITTLE less gain (hardly noticeable and it may just be the way it smooths out the highs and thus a perceived gain difference rather than actual). BTW, I am using Mesas new relabeled JJs and they sound great and work in every slot (which is why they switched if I had to guess).

As for the KT77s, i've decided they are not the tone I want. They sound good, but take away the aggressiveness and a little focus that I like out of the stock EL34s or better yet the Tung Sol EL34Bs.

So, the KT77s are for sale!

Well....for the last 7-8 hours I've been swapping and testing EVERY tube I have in my Ace's V1 slot and here's what I learned:

Telefunken 12AX7- VERY musical and very articulate, but the gain dropped immensely.

RCA 7025 (2 of these)- Lower gain than Mesa 12AX7, just kind of ehhh, and really mushy. There was NO note separation on chords with this tube.

JJ 12AX7- Again, just kind of ehhh. I'll use this for 2nd line spares (or sell them).

EH 12AX7- I could really learn to love these. Very close to the Tung Sol's w/ just a little less bottom. Really clear at some good volume.

TungSol 12AX7- The winner (for me!). Just the best gain and tone w/ my set-up. Read all the other posts on the Board...they're pretty accurate.

That's it...the wifes in the Bahamas this week so I'm playing a LOT while I can! Hope my all nighter assists someone out there. It was fun to say the least. Cheers!

you owe it to yourself to try the mesa STR-450's.

i tried all sorts of tubes a while back with an ACE and hated the stock, hated the jj (el34, and L's) and the only thing that worked were the 450s.
i sold the ACE and bought a Deuce II that came with 447's i think, and promptly chucked them in the storage box and tried all the different tubes in the Deuce...and the 450's won again. adds more depth, more warmth, more distortion.
all around better tube for a Stiletto. expensive, but well worth it. I probably would have sold my Stiletto again without them.
(i saved the el34L's for my early recto, and holy moly aggressive!)

+1 on the 450s

I really like the Ruby EL34 tube, I tried the JJEL34L and the JJel34 and took them out as fast as I put them in. Preamp section in my duece I went with that kit that Dougstubes sales and its sounds really good. I think the next time I want to try the Tungsol EL34.

I installed the JJ KT77s in my Ace 112 and really like the sound i'm getting. I'm going to try to A/B them and post clips. I still have the stock preamp mesa tubes in there now, but have some brand new JJ's that I can try. At this point. I'm really happy with the tones I'm getting and may keep the JJ's for my dual rec as backups.

-Chris