Amazon has them from Tube Depot and Tung-Sol. Is there any difference between the brands? Quite a difference in price. ($40 vs $82)
Tube Depot is a retailer like amazon. Tung-Sol is a tube manufacturer based in Russia. Many good tubes you get these days are made in Russia; the best ones are NOS tubes from the US but there’s a lot of scams.
Much like shaving razor blades, Russia still makes great tubes.
Real JJ 5751 are made by JJ in Eastern Europe.
Here’s one for $20 at Tube Depot:
Thank you!
Here’s JJ:
Electro-Harmonix makes their tubes at a factory in Russia, EHX tubes are good.
One time I bought some nice 12ax7 from a guy in the Ukraine that claimed to pull them out of dead Russian tanks ![]()
He was almost assurredly bullshitting but it’s a good story.
My brother was protective of some matched, rolled tubes for a HiFi amp that were supposedly NOS from Soviet Submarines. I just knew it sounded good. I did once use it while watching Das Boot.
I ordered one.
Curious to know your thoughts on this.
They have about 70% of the gain of a 12ax7. So, the net effect is you can go louder/higher gain with the preamp (and bring in more tube tone) before it starts to distort.
When I get back from my current trip, I’ll play around with it and let you know.
Massive congrats @PaulD
I spent some times playing with its little sister the BG-120 at @booker_t I recorded a couple of covers on it. Such a fantastic Amp for such small drivers. I could only imagine with 4x.
Thank you, @Al1885
I haven’t unboxed it yet. I have a lesson with my tutor this afternoon, so I’m taking it with and he’ll show me how to use it properly.
I’ll post some proper pictures when I’m back home later, of the BG-450 and what was in the box next to it ![]()
I wanted to ask about that mystery box but didn’t want to be nosy. Hope it’s not frozen shrimp or something!
If I turn it up, it’ll blow a wall off the front of my house! The power on the thing is astonishing.
There’s no chance of that happening before your ears bleed so I wouldn’t worry about that…at least for now, ![]()
Here we go, PJB BG-450 and PJB X4C Nanobass amps. My 66 Vintage jazz bass photobombed for scale purposes.
We used both of these amps at my tutor’s house during my lesson today. They both sound so clean and both have such an array of adjustment that I can’t ever see the need for a pedal.
The X4C is particularly impressive given such a small package kicks out 35w with no loss of quality as the volume cranks up. It has inbuilt Bluetooth and it’s pretty much the perfect practice amp. It’s so tiny, about the size of a four pack (330ml size), that it takes up hardly any space inside and is about as portable as it gets.
The power of the BG-450 is staggering, such incredible sound from something so relatively small is unbelievable.
Neither of these amps are cheap; as @John_E said on here a while back, something along the lines of ‘that magic comes at a price’, and he’s not wrong. But dayum, are they worth it!
“Sometimes, the answer is right in front of us. And sometimes, it’s behind us.”
Though my question was about the unmarked box on the left. Now revealed as a X4C Nano! So curious to hear some PJB in person some day.
So curious to hear some PJB in person some day
Hopefully you have a PJB stockist somewhere close by. Call me Capt. State-the-Obvious here, but take a bass of your own and don’t rely on a store instrument. I took my Fender in the picture above, freshly serviced and sporting new flat wounds, and I could not believe the sound.



