Re: On the 0-120 scale, what's the lowest a good tube will be rated?
Why don't tube makers like GT, Sovtek and JJ replicate these style of tubes?? It would make life a lot easier for guitarists
For the same reasons that an '63 re-issue Strat is never going to be the same as a real L Series Strat. They include availability and legality of materials, workmanship, quality control, cost effectiveness in production, machinery and ethics. As much as the Russians and Chinese like to make reference to the "golden era" tubes, the differences between their factories in 2007, and the factories of the likes of RCA, Mullard and GE in the 1950's and 1960's are too vast to replicate anything from that era.
Whilst it is logical to think that technology should be advanced enough to produce such replications, in the real world it is not the case. The Chinese so-called "Mullard" replicants may have adopted a rough tonal similarity to the real deal, but in practice they are going to last about 1/10th of the life of a real early 60's short plate Mullard from the Blackburn plant, because in reality they are just another Chinese produced tube, made to a principle of planned deterioration in keeping with today's production and profit ethics, or lack thereof. In the 50's and 60's, the ethic was to deliberately make something of high quality which would last as long as possible in accordance with strict quality control standards, because so much equipment in everyday use was dependent on tubes.
In effect, there isn't a tube factory on the planet which could produce the equivalent of a 50's blackplate RCA 12AX7. Apart from hearing the difference in an amp, you only need to hold one up against anything from Shunguang (Chinese, Valve Art, Ruby Tubes), Slovakia (JJ), Serbia (Ei) or Saratov (Sovtek, Electro Harmonix) to physically see the difference 50 years has made. It should also be noted that GT and Sovtek do not manufacture tubes, they are simply brand names.
Cheers......................wahwah
Thanks! I knew AX's were much hotter. My other Gibson amp is 12AU7/EL84, whereas the one I got tubes for is 6EU7/6V6. Can't wait to hear how different they are, once I get them working.
