Your Favorite Tubes

[Sam SG]

So what are everyones Favorite tubes and in what circuits?
For EL34 I like the Chinese, 6L6 I like RI Tung Sol, 6V6 JJ and EL84 NOS Polam. I tend to steer away from vintage power tubes.
Now 12ax7s I have tried/ own many.
In a Marshall I like I63 Mullard( I61 too),and RFT for gain and Telefunken flat plates in PI( but im out and prices are crazy now)so I find the Chinese Rubys to work well in PI
In Fender circuits little beats an RCA short grey, RCA long Black Plates too and again Chinese Rubys in the PI.
Seems those chinese make nice PI 12ax7s and Im trying not to waste vintage stuff in a phase inverter slot.
Good geneneral purpose tubes in most amps IME are Ei and GE( both short and long grey plates)
Not a fan of JJ, EH Sylvania or Tungsram. I like the RI TungSol 12ax7s...(but they can only be used in a gain stage inwhich case there are better vintage tubes)
What do you like in your amps?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

As far as EL84's, I like old Russian 6P14P-EV's. I also like current Sovtek EL84M's. I find they sound the least like EL84's, and while they don't sound quite like big tubes, they sound wider and cleaner than most other 84's. Plain old Sovtek EL84's are fine too.

As far as 6L6's, I like the cheapie wafer base Sovek 5881's. I find they have a raspy, aggressive quality to the high mids that I like, and a firm, tight, not overly boomy bass.

As far as 12AX7's, I like the old Shuguang 12AX7B's. Big, yet tight bottom-end with some rasp in the high mids that I find very pleasing. I also like Mullart CV4004's and Svetlana 12AX7SV's.

I like JJ 6V6's tonally, but I try to stay away from JJ power tubes. I've had a few pairs, and I've actually never had a pair not fail on me.

 

[jeremy]

i use jj 6v6 in my old deluxe reverb running 425v on the plates and havent had an issue

 

[Chistopher]

Whatever they put in the 6G15

 

[GuitarStv]

I've come to the conclusion that as long as there isn't anything wrong with the tubes, I can tweak my amp to sound close enough to what I want to make me happy with pretty much any set. Unless directly comparing them back to back, there's not really enough difference for me to worry about.

That said, the marginal gains results of my testing thus far are that I like JJ 6L6GC power tubes over cheap Sovtek 5881WXTs, JJ 5881s, JAN-Sylvania 6L6WGB or GE 6L6GCs. THe RCA and GE 12ax7s I've tried win out over Mullards, Tungsram, JAN-Sylvania, or any of the different gain JJs for preamp tubes. I was fortunate enough to find a whole bunch of tubes when clearing out the old farmhouse at my dad's farm after the resident passed away, otherwise I'd have never tried any of the vintage stuff. I'm also not sure of the amount of use any of the old tubes I have found/tried had on them, as I pulled them out of dozens of old radios and audio equipment that were lying around.

 

[Securb]

I have Mullards in everything. My Peavey just got out of the shop, and the tech put two JJ preamp tubes in it. They sound very fizzy at lower volumes. Had I known it needed tubes, I would have brought him the Mullards. I will probably swap them out at some point.

 

[Sam SG]

New Sensor Mullards or 60s Mullards?
I tried the reissues years ago they sounded pretty good.
I got a small stash of tested low hour British Mullard 12ax7s for the V1 slot in my Marshalls.

 

[beaubrummels]

Of what I have experience with, I liked these...

Tesla EL-34 (vintage) - Marshall JCM-900
TAD EL-34B STR - Marshall JCM-900
JJ KT77 - EmerySound Superbaby, want to try in my Marshall, but requires some adjustment
EH 6CA7 - Orange AD50

Valve Art KT-66 - EmerySound Superbaby, Wallace BKW-45

Tung-Sol 5881 (vintage) - EmerySound Superbaby
Sylvania 5881 (vintage, branded?, not sure actual make, could be RCA?) - EmerySound Superbaby

RCA 6V6GTA (vintage) - EmerySound Superbaby
Tung-Sol 6V6GT (reissue) - EmerySound Superbaby, Fender Champion 600

Mullard ECC83 (vintage) - Marshall JCM-900
TAD 12AX7A-C - Marshall JCM-900
JJ ECC803 S - EmerySound Superbaby
Ruby 12AX7AC5 - EmerySound Superbaby
Vokshod 12AX7VKA - EmerySound Superbaby
Tesla ECC82 (vintage) - Crate GT-80DSP, EmerySound Superbaby

I don't like any EL-84 brands in particular, though I have El-84 amps that sound great. They tend to have JJs in them.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Tung-Sol 5881 (vintage) - EmerySound Superbaby

Never tried the real deal, but the reissues are also pretty sweet if your amp can run them. They sound great on those amps that run big bottle tubes, but don't run them at full voltage. Kinda like EL84 meets 6L6 vibes. They sounded great in my old Krank Rev Jr. I just feel like only very specific amps can run them.

 

[Sam SG]

Id like to try the RI Tung Sol 5881 I know I like thier 6L6s.

 

[beaubrummels]

Never tried the real deal, but the reissues are also pretty sweet if your amp can run them. They sound great on those amps that run big bottle tubes, but don't run them at full voltage. Kinda like EL84 meets 6L6 vibes. They sounded great in my old Krank Rev Jr. I just feel like only very specific amps can run them.

IME the vintage 5881 is like a flavor of Marshall, tone sits in between 6V6 and EL34. To my ear, 6V6 is like a spongier mini-Marshall, the 5881 is like a mid-sized Marshall, where the EL34 is THE Marshall tone. Hard to explain in words.

 

[jeremy]

for 6v6, i like new production jjs for a slightly bigger more modern tone. i really like the tung-sol 6v6 for a more vintage tone. really like the tung-sol 5881 reissues too.

 

[Hsb]

In my Marshall I actually liked the Groove Tubes I had in it prior to the power tubes going bad. Think they are Mullards in there now, and a mix of 12AX7s.

There are JJ EL84s and AX7s in my lil H&K amp, havent had to change them yet so not sure how I like those compared to something else.

 

[JMP/HBE]

I used to have good luck w/ Russian power tubes EL-34's [and other] & NOS pre's.
Since the Ukraine war when Russian prices doubled ive gone full NOS / power & pre.
They are very expensive and you really gotta know what you're looking for from vendors.
Some folks still selling bogus tubes. I try and only buy NOS that test as new or higher.
Ive had very good results. NOS is out there but limited.

 

[Sam SG]

I used to have good luck w/ Russian power tubes EL-34's [and other] & NOS pre's.
Since the Ukraine war when Russian prices doubled ive gone full NOS / power & pre.
They are very expensive and you really gotta know what you're looking for from vendors.
Some folks still selling bogus tubes. I try and only buy NOS that test as new or higher.
Ive had very good results. NOS is out there but limited.

Agreed.
I only use New Production for power tubes.But I used to use NOS Polam for el84s but dont have an el84 amp anymore.
I have some NOS 12ax7s from both KCA NOS and Brent Jessee and some RFTs from The Tubestore in Canada.....I think I still have a tube or 2 from Sgt. Overdrive....man I remember buying NOS GE grey short plates for $25 nib and not rebranded at that. $40 for long grey plates.....been at this awhile lol
But i have a bunch of test new off ebay too. You gotta know what to look for and you need to look at a bunch of the same sellers test results. If every tube they have tests at or above new and some have the black ring at the base and or ghost flashing its safe to say thier tester isnt calibrated and I should pass.
I have a couple sellers Ive delt with that I can trust on ebay.

 

[Explorer84]

I prefer JJ's in my 5150 combo. They add some warmth to the amp. I've tried other brands but I always come back to JJ's.

 

[misterwhizzy]

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Chinese 12AX7 PSVane tubes. Probably the best value in new-production preamp tubes, no worse than Mullard or Tung-Sol or EHX, which I think have the best reputation, and to my ear at least, much better than JJs. I have no love for JJ ECC83S tubes, but I think their power tubes are fine, and I like the long-plate ECC803S tubes, especially for the PI spot. I have Tung-Sol EL34Bs in my Marshall Origin 50 right now, and I had to look to see, because I generally don't look for power tubes to do much in terms of tone-shaping.

 

[Fender_Punk]

Honestly I usually just buy JJ because they're affordable and made in Europe. I've never like Sov-tek. I like Mesa tubes but have never paid for replacement ones.

A little over a year ago I bought a bunch of EL-34s for $150 and have slowly experimented with the various ones. I swapped TAD tubes out of my Carvin Legacy before I sold it and they're nice, but I wouldn't buy them new at their current prices.