best current production 12ax7s?

newholland

newholland

Roadie
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379
hey all

just retubed my mark- and it spat out my jj ecc83 :LOL: microphonic- straight didnt like it and made all means of hell squawk noise.

so whats a good low noise short plater for a first position?

i stuck a mesa chinese production jobby in after trying a russian one that wasnt very inspiring- but need a fresh alternative.

what y got?
 
Man, for the small price difference, that is not so small these days, I am hunting for some old stock 12AX7s.

Last longer. Sound better. And for $30-ish or so you can get some great 12AX7s.

And if someone insisted on new for a Mesa then I would get a Premium Mesa 12AX7 for about the $30
they are going for these days. :idk
 
Frankencat said:
I like the current production Tung-Sol and Mullard 12ax7’s. They are both produced in Russia by New Sensor I believe.
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ive used the 84s and el34s, but havent tried the preamp tubes but for the rebranded mesa and didnt like that one. coulda been toast, though. i do remember liking the old sovtek 12ax7wa and wb, but that was 10000 years ago.

ill haveta check em out- thanks!
 
la szum said:
Man, for the small price difference, that is not so small these days, I am hunting for some old stock 12AX7s.

Last longer. Sound better. And for $30-ish or so you can get some great 12AX7s.

And if someone insisted on new for a Mesa then I would get a Premium Mesa 12AX7 for about the $30
they are going for these days. :idk
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yeah.. i have a bunch of NOS.. but in v1, ive had em howl badly. i havent tried all of mine, but they also tend to be long plates and theyll go microphonic, which sucks cause in lower gain amps, im 200% with ya. i had a SPAX in my amp previously, and it was okay ! just tryna see what else works.
 
Oh man! If they are howling that bad then they are "NOS" in name only. :LOL:

Just not a lot of great tubes in current production. To me. JJs are dark and murky.
Tung Sols are brighter, but go microphonic easily. I did recently but some
new production Genelex Gold Lion 12AX7s, but have not needed to use them. :idk
 
I don’t mind the JJ ecc83s, just not in V1. The 803s is nice in V1 in heads, gotta watch them in combo amps.

I put a current production tung-sol 12ax7 in V1 of a dual rectifier and I’m not sure where I stand with it. I have a couple new production mullards but haven’t slapped them in an amp yet.

In general I’ve not found it worthwhile to roll tubes outside V1 and occasionally phase inverters.
 
EOengineer said:
I don’t mind the JJ ecc83s, just not in V1. The 803s is nice in V1 in heads, gotta watch them in combo amps.
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Yeah, don’t sleep on the ECC803. It’s the only JJ tube I like. It’s ok in combos.

A long plate in V1 is my go to for any amp.

EOengineer said:
In general I’ve not found it worthwhile to roll tubes outside V1 and occasionally phase inverters.
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I’ve come to this conclusion as well. Well, channel switchers can have a tube in a different position that may benefit but whatever the first stage in whatever channel gets attention.
 
EOengineer said:
In general I’ve not found it worthwhile to roll tubes outside V1 and occasionally phase inverters.
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HomespunEffects said:
I’ve come to this conclusion as well.
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Same.

I've found that reliability is more important than brand of the minor sound difference between 12ax7 brands.
JJ's live long in cathode follower stages so that's what I put there.
My recent amps purchases (Peavey 6505, several Marshalls) all came with JJ tubes in all preamp slots, I amp manufacturers do that for reliability.
The boost pedal makes far more difference than what 12ax7 brand I use in V1.
 
yeah same realizaton here too- durability and lack of mech noise seem to be king in mesas. i have a bunch of long plate old stock stuff- id recently tried a sylvania and man did it grump- but maybe something else will work, otherwise may try the 803. that spax, besides being coated, im kinda ambivalent about it tonally- it worked okay.

thanks all!
 
la szum said:
Oh man! If they are howling that bad then they are "NOS" in name only. :LOL:

Just not a lot of great tubes in current production. To me. JJs are dark and murky.
Tung Sols are brighter, but go microphonic easily. I did recently but some
new production Genelex Gold Lion 12AX7s, but have not needed to use them. :idk
Click to expand...
JJ ECC83S is the worst sounding production tube out there IMO. It is somehow dark yet at the same time harsh. JJ makes other tubes that sound much better like the ECC83MG or ECC803S.
 
laxu said:
JJ ECC83S is the worst sounding production tube out there IMO. It is somehow dark yet at the same time harsh. JJ makes other tubes that sound much better like the ECC83MG or ECC803S.
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sure seems so with v1 on this amp! yuck. they appear fine in other positions- but i def. had to pull down treble a bit to defizz- and most of that wore off within an hour or two.

i'll see what i have that works this morning to perk this thing up a bit.
 
I've pretty much always stuck with Tung-Sol for, at least, the V1 slot. However, recently I've been using some TADs, and they have pleasantly surprised me. And their Redbase power tubes are some of the best modern production tubes I've tried.
 
Jaji said:
I've pretty much always stuck with Tung-Sol for, at least, the V1 slot. However, recently I've been using some TADs, and they have pleasantly surprised me. And their Redbase power tubes are some of the best modern production tubes I've tried.
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ive had great luck with TAD over the years- i have red base 6l6es in my mesa now- though theyre mesa branded, im thinking its the same manufacturer. ive used TAD 84s and 5751s... might not be a bad idea to scare up a 7025!
 
la szum said:
Oh man! If they are howling that bad then they are "NOS" in name only. :LOL:

Just not a lot of great tubes in current production. To me. JJs are dark and murky.
Tung Sols are brighter, but go microphonic easily. I did recently but some
new production Genelex Gold Lion 12AX7s, but have not needed to use them. :idk
Click to expand...

This has always been my struggle with 12AX7s.

JJs have always been reliable but I hate the way they sound! Dull and lifeless tubes

Tung Sol sound great but are not reliable at all.

Didn’t used to be a big deal back when a 12AX7 was $5. I’d just buy a bunch of Tung Sol’s and replace them as needed. Now that they’re $20-30 each I’ll probably stick with JJ and just take the hit on tone
 
metropolis_4 said:
This has always been my struggle with 12AX7s.

JJs have always been reliable but I hate the way they sound! Dull and lifeless tubes

Tung Sol sound great but are not reliable at all.

Didn’t used to be a big deal back when a 12AX7 was $5. I’d just buy a bunch of Tung Sol’s and replace them as needed. Now that they’re $20-30 each I’ll probably stick with JJ and just take the hit on tone
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Now that new production preamp tubes are as expensive as sourcing some old stock
I just spend my time sourcing old stock. I can recall the last time an old stock 12ax7
failed me. :idk
 
la szum said:
Now that new production preamp tubes are as expensive as sourcing some old stock
I just spend my time sourcing old stock. I can recall the last time an old stock 12ax7
failed me. :idk
Click to expand...

It’s crazy how things have changed with new production tubes. 15 years ago it cost me $20 to fully retube my Pro Jr, today even a cheap set from Eurotubes is $87. And more bad tubes than I’ve ever seen before.

NOS is becoming the more economical option these days
 
la szum said:
Man, for the small price difference, that is not so small these days, I am hunting for some old stock 12AX7s.

Last longer. Sound better. And for $30-ish or so you can get some great 12AX7s.

And if someone insisted on new for a Mesa then I would get a Premium Mesa 12AX7 for about the $30
they are going for these days. :idk
Click to expand...
You have to be careful with NOS these days. A lot of NOS being sold today were tubes they wouldn't sell 10-15 years ago when they had a larger stock, because they didn't test strong or were slightly microphonic etc.
The thing about NOS is that they're no longer made so as time goes by, the really good ones are already sold and now the "bottom" of the NOS pile is moving.
Not saying everyone is like that, but just be careful when buying them nowadays. Get them only from vendors you know and trust.
 
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