What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

[JumpMarine]

How better tonally is the GT "Mullard" copy than say the average JJ. At $25 per vs. $5 it had better. Your thoughts.......

[dystrust]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

I'm not a big fan of JJs as I find them a little too dark for my tastes. My personal 12AX7 of choice is the 12AX7EH, which sounds nearly identical to the GT 12AX7M. When I look at a $7 EH and a $23 GT, the choice is pretty easy for me.

[Curly]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

here's the blurb on KCA NOS:

Best of the new production 12AX7s by far. Fantastic smooth, warm tone. Great in Fenders, Marshalls and every other amp my customers and I have tried them in.
I test each of these for gain and microphonics prior to shipment. Many customers have reordered several of these after trying one or two.

"Received the GT 12AX7 M tubes today..My impression is that they are the best sounding 12AX7 tubes I have heard yet..thanks for the quick shipping.."
-------------------

I tried one in V1 of my Blues Junior, and went back to my NOS GE tube.
(Those GE's, which I've had for a while, would be about $40 a piece now, BTW.)
I have a nice enough stash of NOS tubes to run in V1 of my amps, but the consensus is that the GT Mullard is very well made, US tube. I know that GT has a very high rejection rate in keeping the tube up to spec.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

Why GT Mullards? Because they ROCK!

Seriously. They give you a lot more gain. Much more bottom end (really tightens it up) and it's insanely articulate and rich. It's made my Triamp sound insanely good. Better than most boutique amps I've tried (on both cleans, overdriven AND distortion). The tube is unbelievable, and I only have one in there (in the V1 spot).

The rest of the tubes are JJs. In my amp they did wonders because my amp was a bit too bright to begin with. They darken it abit and make it a lot smoother, so matched with my GT 12ax7M, it's a knockout winner.

[JumpMarine]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

Is there anyone willing to post clips of the GT vs. Whatever?

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

In Curly's case, some of those older clean toned amps may benefit from tubes more similar to GE's, Sylvania etc. The GT12AX7M is a very gainy and fat sounding tube, which really livens up a Marshall, Mesa, Bogner, H&K type amp. All amps basically favor a different pre tube, especially in the first pos. My opinion is that it's best to have about 5 different pre tubes in a drawer. Everytime you own a new amp, try them out in it, then decide what to tube the amp with, overall. I've done it, and found that JJ ECC83's sound best in my Chieftain. The GT 12AX7C's sound best in the Ecstasy, and the 12AX7M's sound best in my Jubilee. These are the pre tubes I keep in my parts drawer.

Telefunken
Mullard
GT12AX7M
GT12AX7C
Tesla JJ
EI regular and gold Elites
Sovtek 12AX7 LPS, WA, WB, and A's

[Hawkman]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

I was pretty skeptical of the claimed performance of the GT mullard myself - especially with the hefty price tag . Like Gearjonser, I've tried all types of tubes... new production Russian, Yougoslavian, Chinese and the gamut of NOS from Telefunken to Brimar to Amperex and, yes, Mullards!

So, I broke down and picked up a few GT12ax7M's last month and honestly, no tube (new or NOS) has made my 50 watt plexi-type amp sound better. I was so impressed with the results I had on that amp that I swapped out some telefunkens I had in V1 of two Randall RM4 preamps - and now that thing sings like never before!

The tube basically drives the whole signal chain much stronger - getting the best true tone down to the phase inverter and into the power tubes. The specs on the GT12ax7 match my Telefunkens. Very few current production tubes can do this.

As far as the cost... for me, I'd rather spend $25 on a GT than $30 - $50 on a NOS Mullard or Telefunken. And, you know you're getting a good tube - not risking some vendors claim that the tube is NOS and "tests great."

Try 'em... you'll like 'em.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

I'm glad you reconfirmed my opinion of them. They definitely aren't cheap, but all you need is one, to liven up any amp. Like Hawkman, I've even compared them to the best of NOS, and they still win! And, how do you know those NOS tubes didn't sit in someone's amp for 15 years, then get returned to a NOS box? GT cost more because they throw away more tubes. Other companies test them to be good. GT tests them to meet a certain performance level.

I have 3 of them, and was so excited about putting them in my Bogner head. I'd already had some real nice sounding GT 12AX7C's in there. I put the M's in the amp, and to my surprise, they were TOO fat and TOO gainy. The Bogner is a finely tuned preamp that was designed around Chinese pre tubes, so these M's just put the gain over the top. I left the 12AX7C's in that head. I think Kevlar had a similar result with the M's he bought for his modded plexi.
For most amps designed for gain, the 12AX7M's will really blow you away.
I'd love to hear what they do to a Mesa Rectifier, DSL, or Plexi Reissue!

[Curly]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

well, in my case, I take everyone's word that these are great tubes

I don't think my test in one amp means much, and I still have a few amps to go.

and I think the best comparison price wise is probably to good NOS tubes, rather than new production tubes

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

Personally, I'd like to try them out in some old Tweed amps, just to see how gainy I could make them. A Les Paul into a Tweed Bassman w/ 3 12AX7M's is something that sounds Fufufufu PHAT! LOL

[kevlar3000]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

Love it in my Plexi, less gain and brightness than an EH, a bit more open sounding. My Carlsbro really like JJ ecc83s as they fatten it up in a way I really like and my Traynor Bassmaster does real well with the EH 12ax7. A bit more gain, more compressed sustain which is what that amp needs. I really connected with the GT when I put a 12AT7 in V3, I thought it was a bit to grainy with 12Ax7 across the board. I picked mine up for 18.00 and don't regret the purchase. It is a solid tube, but each of my amps seems to have its own fave.

[some_dude]

Re: What's so special about the new GT "Mullards"?

well, in my case, I take everyone's word that these are great tubes

I don't think my test in one amp means much, and I still have a few amps to go.

and I think the best comparison price wise is probably to good NOS tubes, rather than new production tubes

I like the comparisons to new production stuff. I'm too lazy to go chasing NOS stuff and too ignorant to know what NOS stuff is good or bad for what.

If I can order a current production GT Mullard copy and it's known to sound good, I'll do it. I don't even care if it's a Mullard copy or some new design; I only care if it sounds good.

Has anyone tried these GT M's in a Dual Recto?