I love those bantamps. My zombie has been getting quite a bit of mileage since I got it a couple of weeks ago and I wouldn't mind grabbing a jackman either. As far as the comparisons, I really couldn't hear any difference in tone between any of the tubes, but I did enjoy the riffage.
The thing ive noticed over the years, most of the low end in a mix should be carried by bass. Guitars with alot of low end tend to make the mix muddy or the bass in the guitars gets cut out in the mix anyway. Just my .02
Absolutely would love a shootout. A little bummed I got my zombie a little over a year ago, now they make the XL with a foot switch. Would obviously rather have that... Joyo stuff is honestly fantastic for the price point...I was blown away when I got my used zombie for $100. Packs quite a punch...does remind me of a Mesa quite a bit...there is a midrange frequency (low mids) that’s a little strange but that’s if I’m being kinda picky and that could easily be solved with a channel eq of sorts. Fantastic amp head. Love their products. I’ve been considering purchasing another
Same. I got my ZoMBie in June 2019 & told them that I gonna have to mod it by adding a Footswitch Input Socket to the Rear Panel hooked up to the Channel Select Switch, then a few months later I see they've a MkII with separate Channel Dials & Footswitch. They implemented my idea for an upgrade & took it 1 step better with the extra Dials!! 😂 NOW I gonna have to buy the MkII version & sell off my non-footswitchable one. LOL Then I want both a MkII Vivo & JaCkMan for a selection of Tonal & Gain options for separate L/R Guitars when recording in my home studio. Maybe a MeteOR also? 🤔 😅😅😅😂
I am completely with you. I can not hear any differences. My personal opinion is, they let all manufacture their Tubes at the same chinese plant. Just a different print and that's it. Cheers and stay healthy. Thomas.
in the orange micro terror tubes make a big difference. they must somehow be different enough in their preamp circuit. throwing a good tube in and throwing a good 12ay7 (way more headroom) makes a very noticeable difference.. im not really surprised orange would be a little more interested in a more real preamp style than joyo tho
No difference! There is so much more to making an amp sound the way it does than the preamp tubes. There is a decent amount of variation among tubes though, even from the same manufacturer, but even in the most extreme cases I think the only real differences you might get would be in terms of output level and/or headroom, which can be negated by gain and/or volume tweaks on the amp.
Yeah, I’m a second-generation Electrical Engineer, Guitar Player & Amp tech…changing preamp tubes in this kinda situation (because it’s still gotta go through a solid-state power section) & it’s a _head,_ god knows what it’ll end up going through for speaker(s)…. There’s a lot of variables, tube bias, tube brand (an RCA Black Plate, a J.J. Tesla, a Sovtech & Something which came out of a stock Bugera are going to sound like four *COMPLETELY* different tubes…some will have less variation than others, but they’re not going to behave the same…
Sorry, I have to disagree, although I do not have the amp to prove my opinion, I have had the tubes used. My concern is you didn’t really change the tubes, you changed the logo printed on the tubes. Try switching with a JAN 5751, NOS Mullard, GE, RCA 12AX7’s, etc. I haven’t tested in this situation, but this seems more like testing green M&M vs red M&M. Using a similar tube to my suggestions might skew it towards M&M vs Toblerone or candy corn… but the changes you imparted are negligible because tube choice was virtually same, just with a different logo. (disagree with initial post, but agree with electron post)
@@rbbrchckn7866 I love talking about differences that can be measured with electronic devices and charted, but just because most people can't hear the difference at all, don't understand electrical, engineering or material type differences. Comparing a short plate Chinese no name tube to a NOS mullard produces different results just in material difference alone. Whether those differences matter to the listener is a separate point.
What I would have liked to see is, is there any difference if you swap in a 12AT7 or 12AU7 which have lower gain factor. I tried that on a Micro Terror and found no difference at all. I pretty much decided it's a starved-everything buzzbox with way poor output control and only nominal gimmick tube stages even though it sounds good in youtube demos. Glad I was able to trade it in for something nicer.
I did that swap with a Harley Benton Tube5 and heard no difference also did the swap with a VOX Cooltron overdrive pedal and that gave that pedal a much lower volume.
1) great! video, playing, tone, testing, etc. 2) that inverted phase thing is such a great tool! Never knew about that but it's awesome to able to see/hear the difference like that. Could it work with different guitars being reamped as well to see a tonal difference? - maybe you could shoot out/compare some "tone wood" or pickup myths/comparisons ? 3) while listening to the shoot out section, I too felt that the JJ sounded different ("better") to my ears. It seemed to cut thru more and also the notes seemed to have a little more ummm "authority" 🤔 Edit: I did a tube comparison on my Jackman. I compared the stock tube, two different JJs, and a Marshall-labeled one pulled from my Valvestate VS100 (which I replaced with an EHX) The Marshall-labeled one sounded the best in this scenario. Out of the two JJs one sounded "weaker" than the stock and the other sounded just a little different but not enough to worry about. The Marshall made an actual impact. Little more grit and sizzle. I'm not promoting particular tubes or anything but if you have different ones laying around - try them all just for fun. Not saying get online and buy a bunch of different ones either cause the tonal change is very minimal.
Dude, if there is no sound when you invert the phase on one of the signals (which is what happened in this video with the two different tubes), then there is actually no difference. It's like 1 - 1 = 0. There is no room for interpretation. So whatever difference you say you heard, it's all in your head, because scientifically, you can't hear a difference. This is why blind tests are the way to go in these videos, instead of showing pictures of the different things. To answer your question, this only works with identical performances. For example, one DI signal re-amped through two different amps. With different guitars, there is way too much variety in the playing. They will cancel each other out in certain parts, but not in others.
@@BrandonKJohnson hey man, I'm just trying to help you out here. Not attacking you or whatever you think I might be doing. I absolutely agree, just play the guitar and have fun. That's why I think there's no point in wasting time thinking about mundane things that make no difference. I was simply pointing out that, in this example here, there is absolutely no difference. If you wanna indulge in tube comparisons, that's cool.
I changed out the stock tube in my Zombie to try to smooth out that top end sizzle but the new one made the Amp sound like it had a blanket over it, so I changed it back. I use an eq pedal to smooth it out now.
The best trick to switch its without taking a shock it's to unplug it before and it's the best trick for every electric materials but we also notice with time than little cheaps parts are the same they use on more expensive models,it's mostly the same tube with only a different names and it's cool that's you take time to do it
When you first put in the Mesa tube I thought the tone brightened up with more definition in the upper frequencies but during the rest of the swapping I couldn’t tell a difference. I think the Joyo Bantamps are cool but have very little experience playing tube amps. I would like to see how the Atomic compares to my Mini Super Beetle 🪲
WOW! GREAT video, dude! Best video on this amp period. Actually best amp vid. I subscribed and I never subscribe to anyone. I am SHOCKED that I can barely hear any difference. The JJ's sounded smoother. The JJs always sound smoother and I have no friggin' clue how they do that?! Every time I start swapping tubes in my amps I always think, "Well, THIS time the JJ's will not sound any different, or smoother!" And then they always do! I am starting to think that Mesa will put their logo on any tube and go more for reliability than a tonal difference. But dammit, the JJs sounded smoother here too! By just a hair, but still. So, you also helped me with a hypothesis that I have had about the JJs. Smooth may not even be the right term...organic really fits the bill better. Now we cannot really hear a difference, but could you "feel" one? More sag? One dug in better? Great video, dude. Have a good one.
as far as I know power amp output is D class amplifier from Texas Instruments. so you can barely understand difference between tubes, characteristic is somehow depended to the poweramp output characteristic & bode diagram, which frequencies are boosted which are damped.
It sounded the exact same. Why? Because with a null test (swapping the phase of one track with two playing), it cancels out the output, which means there is NO difference in the sound/tone. You must have magical ears.
The presenter said there's no difference in sound. And as for the JOYOs in general, the only difference between them is that some have more Gain than others.
I try to always keep the ISO to its native setting (400 for gh5). And then I light around that. Surprisingly you dont have to turn the lights up that much to get a nice neutral exposure... I typically shoot my main camera at 1.8 also, which is pretty fast. Everything else just works around that.
I use my Pod GO into the FX return on my 20 watt mono price tube amp and everybody laughs at me but I get some manly sounding rhythm tone out of it with the patch I'm using i love it. I just blew up my power tube so now I have to replace both of them but my preamp tubes are still 🤺
@@TaylorDanley I know ill take my Celestion Seventy - fifty speaker and play the king of the hill theme song real loudly so everyone knows I mean business. 😂
I couldn't tell any difference. In general, there should be a slight difference due to tolerances of the tubes. They are never the same. But the same can be said about each potentiometer and resistor in the amp... But I don't see anyone swapping pots trying to improve the tone.
for me the jj sounded a little less bottom end heavy on some points, but the mesa and joyo sounded exactly the same. don't think i will be swapping out of my zombie unless the tube goes.
I got the impression that the mesa was punchier and the JJ was 'shreddier" but less bassy. The Inverted phase trick showed that such is not the case. Pretty cool. I'll have to try something like that when switching tubes sometime. I think i have a similar JJ tube I use in my Behringer Tube Monster and it is quite different. I tried an 12AX7 and a 12AT7 from JJ, not sure which one I kept but it kept most of the gain while cutting the muddiness. But I don't expect a tube that comes with that pedal to perform well, and numerous people reported big differences. If the Joyo tubes soudn the same, I'm not going to change them... if I can ever actually get my Joyo Zombie to function :/
If there's any difference at all, it's lost the instant you use any kind of lossy digital format because of how minor it is. RU-vid uses AAC for audio compression (compression like reduction of file size...not like a compressor pedal) which is a lossy format. So while there may be a tonal change, it's so incredibly minor, and most audio is consumed in a lossy format that in practical terms, there's no difference.
I got the Joyo Bantamp Zombie II that I just a Heavy Metal Menance through the front. I kinda noticed the lack of lows, but I thought it might just be because I didn't have it turned up loud enough. I got a 10 level MXR EQ running through the effects loop but most of the bass settings are higher. But my tone knob on the actual joyo it at 12 o'clock. Maybe I need to adjust that a little, I just don't want my house shaking from a 12" celestian 30w lol
Is the tube even in the circuit ? THAT is the video we need. Is there an LED lighting the tube ? Sending a power feed to make it glow is easy to do as well. It seems more like a gimmick to sell amps to those who WANT a tube amp but can’t afford it. Like the Marshall VS series “hybrid” amps, the tube in the preamp section does absolutely ZILCH.
Changing out Fender-branded preamp tubes in my blackface Princeton Reverb to Telefunkens changed the amp from a good little amp to a member of the family. Its next owner will be my heirs. So yeah - it makes a difference...
You still need to drop some Fishman Fluence Moderns in a guitar. I’m a long time user of Emg 81’s, but after finally switching I understand what all the hype was over the last few years. 🔥🔥🔥
I am not messing with tubes, but i run a cheap artec graphic equalizer in loop with firebrand, and that really improved the tone for metal with that amp for me. It can add lots low end, and befy up other things very well too. I tried classic od boost, but it ain't done nothing good, it just added up unwanted noise ant boost up the trebles. But an eq in loop works wonders for me, in fx loop it boost certain frenquecies but without any noise. At the end, if i turn it on it improve the whole sound of that amp, classic od boost haven't done that. It adds up some volume too, but i can always turn the volume of the amp back a bit, so it's ok. I have a meteor too, but i haven't tried it with eq, for now i only tried it with firebrand.
Would have been cool to see different type of tubes, a messa high gain 12ax7 and JJ high gain 12ax7 are pretty similar. Even using a few 12au7 tubes could have been awesome.
That mid range is fuckin' GNARLY, now I'm not sure whether I'm more into the zombie 2 or this. Like I need another practice amp. Heard no discernable difference between the tubes on my bog standard sennheiser earbuds but what do I know.
I think that if you I need direct out and not through my speaker cabinet then yeah they probably sound the same but I think tubes react differently with speakers then like direct out I don't know whyI think the correlation of the preamp tubes working against the speaker is
It does sound a little thinner with the original, maybe a little less saturated, and a little dark with the Mesa (in these headphones) but not a major difference. I seriously might get one of these BantAmps, they're somewhat limited but otherwise a great value.
That's all in your head. He phase inverted the samples against each other and they cancelled out almost completely. Meaning the signals were almost identical.
Did Mullards get tested ? I did my own shootout between those and jj, ruby, electorharmonix, and sovtek - CLEAR difference in V1 - sorry to burst bubbles but there it is .. Mullards are clearly a different and my opinion better sound.
Hey Taylor . . . question. I recently got a Jackman. I did my usual tear down for curiosity sake . . . I noticed inside there's three orange adjustable trim pots inside. Any ideas what adjusting these might do?
I know nothing about how tubes work but shouldn't there be at least some difference? The phase inversion test you did makes you wonder, do the tube actually do anything in a bantamp soundwise or is just there for Joyo to be able to claim it's a hybrid tube amp?
The mesa tube is more punchy in the low mid where it is warm and wider on the low end. The other tube is more clearer with ever so slight upper mid and high end crispness that is only slightly over the mesa tube.
Tubes don't matter as much as every one says they do. The circuit does the majority of the work. There is no eq difference between tubes. You're really just using it for a bit of gain anyways. Go look at Glenn Fricker's video on it.
My joyo zombie stopped working :/ when I turn it on all you hear is one loud pop from the cab and it doesn’t play, any idea what it could be? It’s not the cab
That’s absolutely a shootout I’d like to see. I’m looking at putting together a mini-stack setup & I’m thinking I’m going to run either _Crate G200C XL A&B 4x6” cabinets,_ or _Seismic Audio 4x6” cabinets._ I’m trying to find which Joyo BanTamp to start with, I already have full-size Marshall JCM800 & JCM2000 full-Stacks, an EVH 5150-III (50W), Already have a blues Jr,I traded the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier head I DID have (plus over a grand) for a 1964 Fender Vibroverb. I’ve had barely any exposure to *ENGL Anything*
I got a Firebrand yesterday. It’s my second Bantamp, as I used to have the Zombie II. The first thing I did was I took the crappy Psvane Chinese 12ax7 out of it and put a JJ ECC83S in it. The amp became much better, imo. Less harsh highs, more detailed mids, and better sounding lows. Those Psvane tubes are real shitty.
I've always wanted an Orange Micro Dark with 2 channels. I see they now make the Meteor-II which is the jim root style amp with 2 channels. I wonder if the amp will fit a Micro Dark preamp tube to make it sound as close as possible to the orange but with TWO CHANNELS!
It's not a tube amp, it's a solid state amp. The preamp tube in this amp is not directly in the signal path running at high voltage like a real tube amp. It is running at a much lower volrage and acting as nothing more than a clipping diode, so unless the tube that's in there is bad, swapping it out will have no discernable difference in the overall tone.
Personally I feel there's a difference in eq in the tubes. Not anything to freak out over. Basically any difference that you can hear, can be changed by the amp settings.
It made a difference when my tubes were old and peace of mind. When did it really matter for tone? Never because it's change is nothing significant. What really mattered for tone? Different speaker, different cabinet, different amp. Not worth it for tone but for maintenance.
That boost helped it. But I really didn't hear any difference in the tubes. Not enough to go put a more expensive Mullard tube in it over a cheaper JJ.
12ax7 preamp tubes at Marshall put in there tube amp for preamps you put in the jcm jackman model and I don't know what tubes fireballs take and say their grove tubes you want to those
I think the distortion just sounds that way in general and I just happened to catch more of it on video with the stock tube in. I was really looking forward to this BanTamp, and the tone kinda bummed me out.
I use an Apollo Twin Duo USB. If you only need 1 input for guitar, apogee and audient have some good options I believe. Also, there is a pretty inexpensive SSL interface that looks promising. Antelope just released an interface called the zen go, which looks like a game changer!
That's all in your head. He phase inverted the samples against each other and they cancelled out almost completely. Meaning the signals were almost identical.
I noticed your Solar has the same "issue" as mine. I have the same color black scheme and similarly have worn a shiny spot where I anchor my pinky finger sometimes ~ I suppose it's I'm just going to call it a feature at this point. \m/
Haha, it's kind of a feature if you think about it! I think the reason they make flat paint guitars is so they wear with the habits of the user... so if you rub your pinky in a spot, the paint wears thin there and you get a cool unique "relic" guitar. Be proud of your pinky mark 💪
Could have been. I tried to keep them the same... I'm just biased. This made me realize how biased I am towards JJ tubes The settings are exactly the same in the demo portion though.
@@TaylorDanley in the demo it was forsure and thats al that matters. I would like a tiny Engl ish amp but I heard some weird breakup here and that that scared me a little. I believe you mentioned that aswell. Maybe theyll make a V2 with 6 knobs, than ill get one forsure. Great vid as always!
I found ya dude! I was lookin at getting this amp...and here you are in the comments 🤟👽 I owned a Fireball60 some time ago and was lookin for a similar tone for less. This is close to the real thing minus some low end. I would use it for practice jams and recording 🤟👽
I got a zombie and a jackman, I plugged a signal splitter into my guitar and ran both on seperate quadboxes at once. For some reason it damaged the valves when running the clean channels, they lost heaps of volume on the clean channels. Strange, as the signal splitter a/b/y pedal has worked fine with all my other tube amps for years. Now I have to get 2 new tubes
Help! I am having a hard time choosing a solution for my portable rig. My initial idea was to create a very portable amp/ pedal setup on one hand and on the other hand it should also be a serious adition to my already existing rig. So I have an egnater tweaker which gives me good brit and vintage us sounds, but I realy want somethin mesaboogie-metallica-ish. I thought about either getting a small tube hybrid amp (joyo zombie) or a preamp only (for example mooer micro preamp 008 cali, or other). Any suggestions here? Is the zombie's sound so much better that its worth the extra size, weight, ... Other options?
To me the stock tube had a had less gain than the other two. The JJ seemed to have a smidge more presence that the boogie. That's my opinion. I've played for years without using earplugs so I probably have damaged my eardrums and have no idea what any of these actually sounds like. Lol.
I heard no difference that is meaningful, maybe the Chinese tube was hotter running giving less headroom, different tone from tubes is pure mysticism and fairly dust, some tubes are louder or not so loud, so what your thinking your getting isn't tone but an Fletcher Munson curve effect with the different loudness.
