Golden Dragon 12ax7....great tube!

[JumpMarine]

I've been swapping pre amp tubes in my 18 watt and finally tried one of the Golden Dragon 12ax7's in V1. Stratdeluxer's comments on the tube from his preamp tube shootout really had me intrigued. I've tried various tubes(Tungsol, EH, EI, JJ, RCA Grey plate, and an old grey plate 7025) in all of the positions but V1 is the most sensitive to change. The GD has been the most musical, very quiet, great gain, low end and mids, very smooth highs and no icepick. I've found a winner in my own little shoot out. Great tube and inexpensive. You can still find them on ebay. Thanks John for turning me on to the Golden Dragon!

Current tube line up:

EL84-Ei's
V1- Golden Dragon 12ax7
V2- Tungsol 12ax7
V3- JJ 12ax7

This all equals wicked tone, I love this set up!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Golden Dragon 12ax7....great tube!

I've been swapping pre amp tubes in my 18 watt and finally tried one of the Golden Dragon 12ax7's in V1. Stratdeluxer's comments on the tube from his preamp tube shootout really had me intrigued. I've tried various tubes(Tungsol, EH, EI, JJ, RCA Grey plate, and an old grey plate 7025) in all of the positions but V1 is the most sensitive to change. The GD has been the most musical, very quiet, great gain, low end and mids, very smooth highs and no icepick. I've found a winner in my own little shoot out. Great tube and inexpensive. You can still find them on ebay. Thanks John for turning me on to the Golden Dragon!

Current tube line up:

EL84-Ei's
V1- Golden Dragon 12ax7
V2- Tungsol 12ax7
V3- JJ 12ax7

This all equals wicked tone, I love this set up!

Cool buddy! THE only current made tube that I Like more than the GD,is this GT12AX7M....So far so good and it's holding up fine,just did a 4 hour gig with it and no problems. :fingersx:

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Golden Dragon 12ax7....great tube!

That's another one I've been wanting to get, just to have in my box of preamp tubes, until it beats something else in an amp.

I don't know much about it, but is it possible it's just a Shuguang 9th Generation Chinese tested to high standards, or is it an entirely different tube?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Golden Dragon 12ax7....great tube!

Does anyone remember PM Power Tubes from the UK? (well, most made in China) I have some of those and they're spectacular. They did (or do) a lot of supervising in China, and somewhere I heard that the Golden Dragon is one of theirs. Like the GD is the same tube as the PM12AX7A or something. PM had some proprietary design ideas built to high standards in China, and their 12AX7's and 7A's are my favorite today, I just can't find them anywhere. Anyway just checking if anyone has heard of a correlation between the two.

Edit: Oops! I guess I CAN find them, they're on e-bay.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Golden Dragon 12ax7....great tube!

That's another one I've been wanting to get, just to have in my box of preamp tubes, until it beats something else in an amp.

I don't know much about it, but is it possible it's just a Shuguang 9th Generation Chinese tested to high standards, or is it an entirely different tube?

Not sure on that GJ? Bought mine from Doug Hoffman in the early 90s and that's what he used in his amps and swore by them...He used the GD EL34s also..