My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

[NegativeEase]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

I think it’s something like this

There are 3 major producers of tubes.
Chinese
Slovakia - JJ Tubes.
And Russian under the New Sensor name. They manufacture everything that the other 2 don’t.

All of the past names, Mullard, Tung Sol etc are basically bought and used to market the tubes.

Not sure if that’s 100% correct but it’s pretty close.

That sounds right, but why do we need 4 names for the same Russian tubes? :lmao:

and where is my beautiful Svetlana? I liked to talk dirty to my tubes back in the day -I can't talk dirty to a girl named Sovtek, Tung Sol, or Mullard.

..and a b*tch named "Mullard" probably wears a mumu and curlers in her nappy hair.

 

[Howlermonkey]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

Before the transistor took over, GE was working on super small tubes.

Currently, NASA has experimented with Nanoscale vacuum-channel transistors but it's not known if they "sound good".

Does this mean there is an unexploited niche for "better tubes".....meaning tubes designed with certain amps or characteristics in mind?

I'm curious what kind of EPA troubles you might run into in america if you decide to try manufacturing tubes here.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

I'm curious what kind of EPA troubles you might run into in america if you decide to try manufacturing tubes here.

It just wouldn't be feasible likely, you cant even etch circuit boards in the US without a tremendous cost from regulation and handling -but that's fine by me -I'd rather not live in a cess pool of chemicals in the water table.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

That sounds right, but why do we need 4 names for the same Russian tubes? :lmao:

and where is my beautiful Svetlana? I liked to talk dirty to my tubes back in the day -I can't talk dirty to a girl named Sovtek, Tung Sol, or Mullard.

..and a b*tch named "Mullard" probably wears a mumu and curlers in her nappy hair.

Haha!! There is still a Svetlana tube but it’s not the famous winged C anymore. Those are all done being manufactured.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

What’s your source on the Beijing Shuguangs?

I get them off ebay seller "listeningchina.hifi.cn". They have 100% postive feedback & all the ones I've bought from them have been great. Used to be under $10.00 each but they're about $ 14.00 now ..still don't break the bank :lmao:

 

[Adieu]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

That sounds right, but why do we need 4 names for the same Russian tubes? :lmao:

and where is my beautiful Svetlana? I liked to talk dirty to my tubes back in the day -I can't talk dirty to a girl named Sovtek, Tung Sol, or Mullard.

..and a b*tch named "Mullard" probably wears a mumu and curlers in her nappy hair.

Svetlanas were fun... at one odd point in my life, I was seeing two of 'em in parallel

I had to list one as "Sveta" and the other as "Lana" in my phone to avoid confusion :13:

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

Svetlanas were fun... at one odd point in my life, I was seeing two of 'em in parallel

I had to list one as "Sveta" and the other as "Lana" in my phone to avoid confusion :13:

Hah Svets are fun! Agree.

Svetlanas make the best strippers too....

 

[Jacew]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

That sounds right, but why do we need 4 names for the same Russian tubes? :lmao:

Same reason other companies rebrand them. They test them and tubes with different characteristics are sold under different names.

It's actually pretty smart branding.

I'm curious what kind of EPA troubles you might run into in america if you decide to try manufacturing tubes here.

I doubt any. They basically just glass and metal.

 

[dystrust]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

That sounds right, but why do we need 4 names for the same Russian tubes? :lmao:

and where is my beautiful Svetlana?

There used to be two Russian factories making tubes; Svetlana and New Sensor. Originally New Sensor sold their tubes under the Sovtek brand, and they added Electro-Harmonix in the early 2000s. I bought my first batch of EHXs in 2001 and they were great tubes. The Svetlana factory closed a couple years later. I don't know how accurate it is, but I'd heard that maintenance and upkeep of the factory became prohibitively expensive, so they closed. Shortly afterward New Sensor bought the rights to the Svetlana name, along with Genalex, Mullard, and Tung-Sol. While it's true that all of these tubes are made in the same factory, they're not the same tubes. If you compare their structures they look different (in some case quite different), and they sound different as well. This is definitely not the same as Mesa, TAD, Ruby, etc rebranding Shuguangs to sell under their own name.

 

[Adieu]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

There used to be two Russian factories making tubes; Svetlana and New Sensor. Originally New Sensor sold their tubes under the Sovtek brand, and they added Electro-Harmonix in the early 2000s. I bought my first batch of EHXs in 2001 and they were great tubes. The Svetlana factory closed a couple years later. I don't know how accurate it is, but I'd heard that maintenance and upkeep of the factory became prohibitively expensive, so they closed. Shortly afterward New Sensor bought the rights to the Svetlana name, along with Genalex, Mullard, and Tung-Sol. While it's true that all of these tubes are made in the same factory, they're not the same tubes. If you compare their structures they look different (in some case quite different), and they sound different as well. This is definitely not the same as Mesa, TAD, Ruby, etc rebranding Shuguangs to sell under their own name.

Are the Shuguang rebrands different or the same?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

Sometimes, they get Shuguang to make them STR's (Special Tube Requests) to their specs/design, but it's far more common to see the same couple of diferent Chinese 12AX7's just be rebranded.

What's funny is Shuguang actually make a have a copy of the Russian Sovtek WB.

 

[Adieu]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

Sometimes, manufacturers get Shuguang to make them STR's (Special Tube Requests) to their specs/design, but it's far more common to see the same couple of diferent Chinese 12AX7's just be rebranded.

Is that what STR was?

Are TAD EL34B-STR Selected's considered good? Any way to tell WHAT the special request entailed? Got 4 of em in a cheapie marshall off CL

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: My thoughts on a few CP 12AX7's for high-gain amps

Is that what STR was?

Are TAD EL34B-STR Selected's considered good? Any way to tell WHAT the special request entailed? Got 4 of em in a cheapie marshall off CL

Looks like they're visually the same tube as the Ruby EL34B-STR?

TAD tubes are usually well-regarded. I guess they're good if they've been reliable and sound good to you. Only way to know is to try other stuff as well.