It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:02 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:34 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
When you're using your gain channel, are you playing heavy metal or metal? Or are you more into a hard rock style?

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:55 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
Ok, I just listened to a few of your songs on soundcloud. You're not a metal player as far as I can tell. My favorite modern tube is the Sovtek LPS. There's a lot of meat to it. Probably the closest I've heard to a nos tube. Doesn't get shrill, great bass tones, very musical in the clean channel.

I can tolerate JJ tubes as well. Those were the only two modern tubes I'd use if I took a tube amp to a general gig. I had very bad experiences with Tung Sol. I had an unacceptable number come out of the box DOA, and banned them for life. Any time I have people want me to check out their tubes, the first question I ask is "Are they Tung Sol", sure enough, 80% of the time the answer was yes.

The thing is, the Russian factory producing those tubes have either a very poor screening process, or none at all. The consumer becomes the screener when you buy from GC. "What's that you say? Your tube is DOA? Bring it back, we'll give you another. " the consumer then becomes the tester and screener. Cuts the cost of having it done at the factory.

That being said, I think JJ and Mesa do the most extensive screening. If you want one to last a while, I'd steer into that direction.

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 10:01 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 4:21 pm
Posts: 986
Location: moon base #9
Watched this the other day, thought it was interesting.


_________________
My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:09 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
I'm not sure if anyone stocks the Sovtek LPS anymore. If not, I'd go with the JJ 803s. The other Sovteks are pretty flat sounding.

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 10:59 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:50 pm
Posts: 4602
Location: ˚ɷ˚
Apart from NOS, I would say the best AX7 made today might be the Telefunken branded ones, made in the JJ plant unless I'm mistaken, to slightly different specs than the JJ ones, and the New Sensor Russian made "Mullard" branded ones, which have little to do with Mullard except for the brand name, but are still good for new tubes.
I've been so disappointed by EH and Sovtek (which is EH too).

That being said, by "good" I mean one that can amplify crispy clean without inherent reverb effects and only pleasing harmonics even at high gain (leave break-up to the power tubes). Others have different expectations - for hybrid amps with only the pre-amp section being tube, like the Orange Micro Terror, you probably want the exact opposite.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:20 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:10 pm
Posts: 5057
Location: The Capital Wasteland
well, my VJ has GE and Sovtek NOS tubes in it and it gets really gritty and opens up when chained up with another amp.

I recommend both.

_________________
1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:49 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:41 pm
Posts: 764
Location: Sydney. Australia
I've read recently on another forum JJ's 12ax are providing a bit stronger pre-amplification than other tubes thus an amp with JJ's 12ax is producing a bit more power.
Does this make sense?


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 5:10 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
A word in defense of the 12AX7EH. Vox uses them, so they can't be too bad. Yes they are made under contract by Sovtek, but the design is different from the Sovtek 12AX7. I like the EH tones fine for electric guitar. I also like how the seem to resist going microphonic like some other tubes do. The only problem I've noticed with the EH is they work great one day and blow the next. Expect about 1 year with daily use. In fairness the old RCA they are based on often don't last 6 months.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 6:00 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
I've never heard of any RCA built to last only 6-months. I had one in my Mesa for 3-years and it still had 80% life left (50-60 being in the replace range).

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 10:18 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Jah Soldier wrote:
...My favorite modern tube is the Sovtek LPS....I had very bad experiences with Tung Sol...The thing is, the Russian factory producing those tubes have either a very poor screening process, or none at all...That being said, I think JJ and Mesa do the most extensive screening...


Tung Sol RI, Sovtek, EH, Mullard RI, Gold Lion, Svetlana (new production), and others are all brands that are produced in the same Russian factory, called Xpo-pul (aka Reflector). Mesa also uses tubes from this same factory. I agree that MB, as well as GT, do have the best screening in the industry.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:00 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
Yea, I'm aware of that. But it's hard to recommend NOS tubes to people and have them not like the sounds of them. They're costly. It's all I use these days though.

For me to try to explain all of the differences and pros and cons of many different NOS tubes would mean writing half a book.

I tube my amps very meticulously with NOS tubes. Currently my amps look like this.

Peavey Delta Blues:
V-1: Sylvania 12ax7a/ 7025
V-2: Matsushita 12ax7a
V-3: RCA 12ax7 LP

Heidkamp:
V-1: Sylvania JHS 12ax7a
V-2: RCA 12ax7a/ 7025
V-3: GE 12at7wa/ 6201
V-4: Amperex Canada 12ax7

Hughes & Kettner Triamp:
V-1: Mullard CV4004
V-2: Raytheon 12at7wa/ 6201
V-3: Amperex Canada 12ax7
V-4: Telefunken ecc83 LP
V-5: GE 12ax7a LP
V-6: RFT ecc83
V-7: EI ecc83 LP
V-8: GE 12ax7a LP
V-9: Amperex Canada 12ax7

That's quite a bit to keep up with. And I have 3-times the backups for them. I haven't used modern tubes for many years. Only for certain gigging circumstances that were few and far between. I typically traveled and played most gigs with a Roland JC. That's a sure fire way to make sure you don't have tube issues on the road or during 3-hour sets in the Vegas heat.

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:08 pm
Offline
Roadie
Roadie
User avatar

Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:54 am
Posts: 228
Location: Alabama the Beautiful
does my heart good to se the name Amperex above.......had a set of their 6L6's in an amp for literally decades w/o issue. (still have 3 good ones from '70)

for 12ax7's JJs are good, older Russian (not Chinese) Rubys i've had good luck with.....NOS Tung Sol USAs are good......GTs will do in a pinch....as will EHs.

I LOVE NOS Mullard 12au7s (ecc82s) as well !

_________________
You won't hurt its feelings boy, play it like you stole it!
ASPCA We Are Their Voice !
Speaking up for those that can't speak for theirself.....
Proud member of the ASPCA "Guardian Angel" program.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:22 pm
Offline
Roadie
Roadie
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:06 am
Posts: 292
Location: SoCal
Jah Soldier wrote:
Ok, I just listened to a few of your songs on soundcloud. You're not a metal player as far as I can tell. My favorite modern tube is the Sovtek LPS. There's a lot of meat to it. Probably the closest I've heard to a nos tube. Doesn't get shrill, great bass tones, very musical in the clean channel.

I can tolerate JJ tubes as well. Those were the only two modern tubes I'd use if I took a tube amp to a general gig. I had very bad experiences with Tung Sol. I had an unacceptable number come out of the box DOA, and banned them for life. Any time I have people want me to check out their tubes, the first question I ask is "Are they Tung Sol", sure enough, 80% of the time the answer was yes.

The thing is, the Russian factory producing those tubes have either a very poor screening process, or none at all. The consumer becomes the screener when you buy from GC. "What's that you say? Your tube is DOA? Bring it back, we'll give you another. " the consumer then becomes the tester and screener. Cuts the cost of having it done at the factory.

That being said, I think JJ and Mesa do the most extensive screening. If you want one to last a while, I'd steer into that direction.


I have those Sovtek LPS in my V1 and V2 on a DRRI. There is something about those tubes that seems to make the tone "swirl" with all sorts of harmonics in the sound. I love them, but they are kind of "trebly". Have you tried these JJ's?:
https://www.tubedepot.com/products/jj-e ... acuum-tube
Long plate like the Sovteks, and I'm hoping the same dynamics with a little thicker tone.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:55 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:38 am
Posts: 650
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
Yea, I've tried them. Briefly. I think they're as good as the Sovtek LPS. I think you'd like them.

I only have one concern with these tubes, and it has nothing to do with sound or quality. It has to do with JJ using mica spacers with teeth. There really isn't a need to do it. Most modern tubes use smooth edged spacers. The reason I have concern, is for unsuspecting people looking to buy NOS or UOS tubes. Those smooth edged spacers are always the first sign that it's a modern tube.

Certain people being as shady as they are now have a way of faking NOS with these. I would still know, because I know what to look for. Unsuspecting people won't. Slap a GE label on that thing, and a lot of people can be fooled.

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: favorite 12Ax7 or tube in general?
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:54 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Jah Soldier wrote:
...Slap a GE label on that thing, and a lot of people can be fooled.


Or, add in the description a false statement such as "Formerly Tesla". :lol:

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: