Let's talk tubes!!

[Thames]

Hey, its been a long time we havent talked about tubes huh ?!

Let's see the fresh meat we have...

- New Sensor Mullard EL34 Ri
- New Sensor Tungsol Ri
- GT-12AX7M

and.... TADAM! the new Groove Tubes EL34 Mullard Ri ! Yes, finaly GT has released a Mullard Ri EL34. I trust GT more than NS.. let's wait for the sound tests..

On my side, I spent a few times tweaking tubes recently.

We found (!!) that if you swap the 12AX7 in V1 for a 12AT7, it will help to tame down the harsh high-end your amp could have, or simply reduce the gain for a sweeter, cleaner tone. HOWEVER, at 12AT7 is not a "tone-tube", more for electric application like Reverb driver and Phase Inverter. The best choice would be a 5751, low-noise/gain mil-spec 12AX7. A direct replacement, with all the qualities of a 12AX7, with a tad less gain.

JoeBelley and I put a 12AT7 in V1 of his Fender Blues Deville 4x10, he found the tone he wanted (more clean headroom), but some highs and harmonics were lost. We'll soon try a JAN GE/RCA 5751 in there.

On my side, I swapped some V1 tubes... the finalists were 1-Mullard, 2-EH, 3-Nothing, 4-JJ... the amp ? My trusty Laney.

In terms of tone, seriously, I didnt noticed much more diff between my Mullard and the EH12AX7. However, I hated the JJ in that position. The EH and Mullard were VERY close, if not equal. On a 5-star scale, Mullard 5/5, EH 4.75/5.

I cant wait to try out some of the newest offerings from GT and NS. Current production tubes are getting better and better, even China makes some very nice tubes today!

Some of you already know that I'm building another amp in the next weeks, a mighty 1959SLP repro :cool2: I plan to put my Mullard in V1, some EH or new GT-M in V2-V3, and now... with the new GT-EL34M... I only hope they are as good as their 12AX7-Mullard Ri... I'll not have to spend big bucks on NOS!! 'cause I plan to run them HOT :smokin:

 

[jeremy]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

i went thru and tried every type of gt preamp tube in an old fender musicmaster bass amp and the gt12ax7c had the best tone. the amp only has one preamp tube so there was quite a range of tones and it was easy to see what each tube did and because there is only one tube to switch it can be done fast. the 12at7 had the loudest clean tone, the 12ax7m was brighter and ok but not as warm and thick as the chinese tube, the ecc83 didnt have as much definition but was tonally between the c and the m. the 12au7 was kinda flat dynamicly but very balanced tonally. none of the russian tubes really do much for me, they all have some kinda thing going on in the high end, kinda a harsh quality. the r3 was the best, the r2 was ok and the plain old r was pretty weak and crappy. the 7025-y that we tried sounded like it was bad, squealed alot.
this is with me plugging in a strat of some kind straight in with a good 12' cable and going for a bluesy type tone

 

[FretFire]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

I decided to try some of the Shuguang 9th gen 12AX7 pre tubes in spots 1-3 of my Rectoverb, with JJ ECC83S in 4 and 5 (<- PI). I like the tone much better with the Chinese pre's in 1-3 than the JJs. I see no reason to take the JJs out of 4 & 5 though, and I love their 6L6GC tubes in the power section.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

I just retubed my Hiwatt with some EH KT88s, RFT ECC83s(12AX7) & an ECC81(12AT7) in the P/I.......very friggin' nice!!!!

The RFTs I believe came from the same factory as Telefunken or Siemens & IMO are on the same par as Mullards only they have a little more bite, good for classic rock/blues rock.

I'm liking them!

 

[mrid]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

I love those 9C's! Plus, you can get them for around $5 a piece if you don't require the GT label.

 

[Thames]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

i went thru and tried every type of gt preamp tube in an old fender musicmaster bass amp and the gt12ax7c had the best tone. the amp only has one preamp tube so there was quite a range of tones and it was easy to see what each tube did and because there is only one tube to switch it can be done fast. the 12at7 had the loudest clean tone, the 12ax7m was brighter and ok but not as warm and thick as the chinese tube, the ecc83 didnt have as much definition but was tonally between the c and the m. the 12au7 was kinda flat dynamicly but very balanced tonally. none of the russian tubes really do much for me, they all have some kinda thing going on in the high end, kinda a harsh quality. the r3 was the best, the r2 was ok and the plain old r was pretty weak and crappy. the 7025-y that we tried sounded like it was bad, squealed alot.
this is with me plugging in a strat of some kind straight in with a good 12' cable and going for a bluesy type tone

Jeremy, by ecc83 you mean the ECC83-s right ? The JJ version.

And by 7025-Y, I guess the Y stands for Yugoslavian, thus Ei. Right ?

I think the -R = WA, the -R2 = WB and -R3 = LPS ?


Interesting, those 9th Gen Chinese tubes sound interesting, might grab a couple pretty soon. Not a big risk, such low price!

 

[Youngpup]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

I am running the EH 12AX7's in my Super Reverb and I realy am happy with them. I tried the JJ's but they did not have the tone and richness I wanted. I also tried some Sovtecs, They were ok.

What do you guys think of the Winged C,s. I am pretty happy with the ones I have. I replaced the old RCA 6L6's with them and that is a good match.

Younpup

 

[celticafro]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

Hey, peeps. Since we're talking tubes here...

I realize it's one of those questions that you all probably answer all the time, but, I know next to nothing about tubes anyway. Can anyone reccomend a good place to find out about them, somplace that gives good ground-up knowledge?

Reason I ask is I've got a MESA MkII, and I'm PRETTY happy with the dirty tone I get, but at higher gains it tends to get kind of muddy and even "swirly." Dunno how else to describe it. It's a pretty harsh distortion, none the less. Cleans are freaking fantastic, full and clear and chimey, but sometimes the dirt leaves me wanting something more.

I know I'm running 12AX7's, but I don't know where, and I don't know what else is in there. Ultimately, I'd like to get a sort of Marshally SuperLead crunch. I'm not a big fan of M's high-gain, but the cleans break up, I love it. Any off-the-bat ideas as to what tubes will give a smoother distortion?

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

Hey, peeps. Since we're talking tubes here...

I realize it's one of those questions that you all probably answer all the time, but, I know next to nothing about tubes anyway. Can anyone reccomend a good place to find out about them, somplace that gives good ground-up knowledge?

Reason I ask is I've got a MESA MkII, and I'm PRETTY happy with the dirty tone I get, but at higher gains it tends to get kind of muddy and even "swirly." Dunno how else to describe it. It's a pretty harsh distortion, none the less. Cleans are freaking fantastic, full and clear and chimey, but sometimes the dirt leaves me wanting something more.

I know I'm running 12AX7's, but I don't know where, and I don't know what else is in there. Ultimately, I'd like to get a sort of Marshally SuperLead crunch. I'm not a big fan of M's high-gain, but the cleans break up, I love it. Any off-the-bat ideas as to what tubes will give a smoother distortion?

Check out www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com


Good place to start!!!

 

[Thames]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

www.kcanostubes.com
www.dougstubes.com
www.thetubestore.com (dont buy NOS from them!)
www.groovetubes.com

Lots of other cool places....

 

[Curly]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

I took my BF Bassman to one of the amp clinics done by Myles Rose over at Guitar Amp Blueprinting. He spec'ed out my amp (for free, I might add), then gave me one of the Chinese 12AX7s to check out.

I know that's one of his favorite preamp tubes; same thing goes for my amp tech.

Like Joneser always says though, it's best to try a handful of different ones in an amp, then use your ears to decide what's best ... sometimes the results surprise you, and sometimes the differences are amazingly easy to tell.

that first position preamp tube is the best bang for the buck upgrade, as far as tubes go

 

[sonnyblu]

Re: Let's talk tubes!!

Post Resurrection! I'm still looking for more new "New Sensor Mullard 12AX7 RI" reviews... As far as I can tell they fall between the Beautiful Bright sound of the Tung-Sol and the Dark Muddiness of the JJ ECC83.

I'm considering V1 Tung-Sol 12AX7, V2 Mullard 12AX7, V3 JAN Phillips 5751 PI