Good idea to swap McIntosh amp stock tubes?

@westcoastaudiophile 

"...sounds like you are tube design expert! please educate me on tube design, specifically how structure impacts tube performance, and how JJs are off-road from optimal!"

Just look at them!

@faustuss 

Are you able to post comparative pictures I think this issue you raised as fascinating.

Aside from NOS tubes most modern age tubes are probably manufactured the same way and they just changed the labeling.  Like when you buy food in a grocery store where private label and brand names can be the same. Modern day hi-fi tubes if they basically illuminate and meet specifications are all the same. So it's a scam just like the new green deal.

@emergingsoul  

"Are you able to post comparative pictures.... most modern age tubes are probably manufactured the same way and they just changed the labeling.....Modern day hi-fi tubes if they basically illuminate and meet specifications are all the same. So it's a scam"

So you don't know anything about the tube brands , where they are made , how they are made, etc etc. but declare that it's all a scam. How is your declaration credible?

"Aside from NOS tubes most modern age tubes are probably manufactured the same way"

News flash, "NOS" tube manufacturers in some cases made private labeled tubes for other companies.

@facten 

"News flash, "NOS" tube manufacturers in some cases made private labeled tubes for other companies."

Of course, and in most cases really and almost all the audio equipment manufacturers had their own logos on their tubes as well. 

@emergingsoul 

I will provide links to images which is infinitely easier than posting them here. You can look at them and decide for yourself.

This is a JJ labeled EL34 on the Viva Tubes site -

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-dfccaj35/images/stencil/608x608/products/39787/40962/NP034-1__89567.1653402318.jpg?c=2

This is the Telefunken labeled one from the same vendor -

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-dfccaj35/images/stencil/608x608/products/58752/62795/NP247-1__44302.1654019133.jpg?c=2

As an example, you’ll be able to see the similarities in the shape of the glass envelope, base and the anode though the Telefunken one is obscured by the silk-screening, you can still see the ventilation hole in the anode which is exactly the same as the JJ one. Also, the Telefunken costs $74.87 and the JJ $26.26.

Hopefully these links will give you a start, you can search vendors all over the internet and make image comparisons. Keep in mind that the marketing photos use different angles to photograph these dissimilarly branded products to deliberately obscure the similarities.

Gold Lion, Electro Harmonix, Telefunken, Tung-Sol, Apos Ray of which I could go on and on do not manufacture tubes but simply rebrand tubes that they purchase from Svetlana, New Sensor (Sovtek), JJ, Sino/Shuguang and call them their own.

All the tubes as far as I can tell from Apos Ray, Psvane, New Horizon etc., are manufactured in one factory in China.

@faustuss 

This is really disturbing. You have no idea what you're spending your money on. 

Thanks for all the info.  I've had bad experiences with McIntosh tubes not working and they don't provide any helpful information about where they come from. The logos are very pretty.