Your Favorite Tubes

[Sam SG]

Yea I wont buy NOS power tubes...way to much money and if your playing a master volune amp at normal club volumes your not gonna get the effect anyway. And buying used power tubes your asking for trouble.
Now vintage preamp tubes are another story......I havent had an amp in 20yrs I havent rolled tubes on. I usually run all nos and/or tested vintage tubes in gain stages and cathode followers.

Back in yee olden days when there were still secrets in the tube world I used to Scour ebay for mis labeled auctions. I once scored NOS Amperex long plate 12ax7s labeled as Philips( parent company)nos/nib for $20ea
I once score a sleeve of nos/nib Bel( philips /mullard) 12ax7s for $8 a tube.
Gap R 12ax7s were 85% of the time Telefunken flat plates. Lowery Organ tubes were usually GE long grey plates I knew how to( still do) identify almost every 12ax7 ever made by plate structure and knew all the date codes. So when everyone passed up the odd named 12ax7 auctions Id look at the plates found tons of deals. Nos Tung Sol square getter 12ax7s for $12 cause nobody wanted um. Etc...
Now every tube guru knows that stuff.... but back 20yrs ago I was a slueth.

 

[jeremy]

none of the amps i use regularly have a mv. i used sovtek 12ax7lps in the pi for years and its served me well

 

[bluesky636]

If you play out professionally and think anyone in the audience can hear a difference between a set of vintage NOS tubes and new JJ or EHX tubes in your SUPERDUPER MKII amp, you are fooling yourself. The audience doesn't know or care. I have never been to a concert by a major artist and thought "Gee. That vintage 1957 Mullard 12AX7 really sounds sweet". And if you are just a home player like me, and want to spend your money on NOS tubes, more power to you. I used to run a vintage NOS 12AY7 in V1 of the 5F6A Bassman I built. When the last one I had died, I tried both a JJ and EHX 12AY7 in it and darned if it didn't sound any different. Vintage NOS tubes are a waste of money and becoming more expensive everyday. Sooner or later they will die and I'd rather replace a $50 JJ than a $250 Mullard. In the 15 years that I have been building my own amps I can count on one hand the number of tubes that have failed across the 6+ amps I have built or modified. Three were NOS preamp tubes, one was a modern preamp tube, and one was a modern rectifier tube. Replacing all of those with modern tubes cost less than what one vintage NOS tube does today.

 

[Sam SG]

none of the amps i use regularly have a mv. i used sovtek 12ax7lps in the pi for years and its served me well

Ivr never tried a Sovtek LPS. I heard they are decent PI tubes. I'll have to pick one up to try.
I've been trying to find decent new 12ax7s for PI and driver tubes so I dont waste my dwindeling stash of old tubes. So far the Ruby china serves me well. I like Tung Sol but they dont survive in a cathode follower or PI.

 

[bluesky636]

Ivr never tried a Sovtek LPS. I heard they are decent PI tubes. I'll have to pick one up to try.
I've been trying to find decent new 12ax7s for PI and driver tubes so I dont waste my dwindeling stash of old tubes. So far the Ruby china serves me well. I like Tung Sol but they dont survive in a cathode follower or PI.

Been using JJ 12AX7s in the cathode follower and PI of the 5F6A clone I built for 15 years with zero failures.

 

[Sam SG]

If you play out professionally and think anyone in the audience can hear a difference between a set of vintage NOS tubes and new JJ or EHX tubes in your SUPERDUPER MKII amp, you are fooling yourself. The audience doesn't know or care. I have never been to a concert by a major artist and thought "Gee. That vintage 1957 Mullard 12AX7 really sounds sweet". And if you are just a home player like me, and want to spend your money on NOS tubes, more power to you. I used to run a vintage NOS 12AY7 in V1 of the 5F6A Bassman I built. When the last one I had died, I tried both a JJ and EHX 12AY7 in it and darned if it didn't sound any different. Vintage NOS tubes are a waste of money and becoming more expensive everyday. Sooner or later they will die and I'd rather replace a $50 JJ than a $250 Mullard. In the 15 years that I have been building my own amps I can count on one hand the number of modern tubes that have failed across the 6+ amps I have built or modified. Three were NOS preamp tubes, one was a modern preamp tube, and one was a modern rectifier tube. Replacing all of those with modern tubes cost less than what one vintage NOS tube does today.

Im absolutely certsin nobody even guitatist in the front row hear a differance ever.
But i certainly feel the differance in how fluid an amp feels. I have rolled more tubes in my life than most and when you have the optimum tube in each slot of an amp you dont have to fight against the amp it works with you not against you.
And yes the wrong nos tubes in an amp sound like shit too. Mullards straight accross the board in a Marshall thats an awefully expensive road to mud.
And tubes arent that expensive if you know how to shop for them used and have a tester.

 

[jeremy]

i do play out a fair amount, and its not for the audience, its for me. i tube roll in the preamp until i find one that stands out. could be a nos bugle boy, could be a cheap unbranded chinese. dual triodes will last almost forever in most preamp stages. the pi gets worked hard comparatively. i havent bought any tubes other than power tubes in years

 

[Sam SG]

i do play out a fair amount, and its not for the audience, its for me. i tube roll in the preamp until i find one that stands out. could be a nos bugle boy, could be a cheap unbranded chinese. dual triodes will last almost forever in most preamp stages. the pi gets worked hard comparatively. i havent bought any tubes other than power tubes in years

Same here I play every week. Had only 2 pre tubes fail ever. A sylvania went gassy on my years ago. And I auditioned a New Sensor Mullard one time and the top of tge bottle broke off clean like soneone cut it with a glass cutter.
Figure most vintage 12ax7s were rated 5000hrs and military and 10m 12ax7s up to 10000hrs.

 

[Mincer]

Most audiences can't hear the difference between a Strat and an LP. But playing guitar is a visceral experience, and if the guitarist feels better about his/her tone, the better they will play.

 

[misterwhizzy]

I find EHX 12AX7s sound just as good as Tung-Sols and are much more reliable. The PSVanes are also surprisingly good value for the money. I tend to find Tung-Sols a bit overrated.

 

[jeremy]

Most audiences can't hear the difference between a Strat and an LP. But playing guitar is a visceral experience, and if the guitarist feels better about his/her tone, the better they will play.

100%

 

[JMP/HBE]

If everybody liked the same shit what a boring world it would be.
Tube preference is as individual as hair color and titty size.

 

[bluesky636]

Im absolutely certsin nobody even guitatist in the front row hear a differance ever.
But i certainly feel the differance in how fluid an amp feels. I have rolled more tubes in my life than most and when you have the optimum tube in each slot of an amp you dont have to fight against the amp it works with you not against you.
And yes the wrong nos tubes in an amp sound like shit too. Mullards straight accross the board in a Marshall thats an awefully expensive road to mud.
And tubes arent that expensive if you know how to shop for them used and have a tester.

Please explain what a "fluid" amp sounds like compared to a nonfluid amp. How does an amp work for or against you?

Ken Fischer used vintage NOS tubes in his amps. Howard Dumble used modern tubes in his amps. Was one of them wrong? How many of today's boutique amp builders use vintage NOS tubes in their amps?

Confirmation bias is strongly in play when it comes to the vintage vs modern debate and ranks right up there with the tonewood debate.

Tube testers rarely test tubes under the same conditions that they operate at in an amp. What test parameters define the "sound" or "tone" of a particular tube?

 

[GuitarStv]

Most audiences can't hear the difference between a Strat and an LP. But playing guitar is a visceral experience, and if the guitarist feels better about his/her tone, the better they will play.

Honestly, I'd be surprised if most of them can hear the difference between a bass guitar and a regular electric. That's why I just try to make a tone that I'm happy with rather than care what the tin ear crew can discern.

 

[beaubrummels]

I don't use particular tubes for the audience. When I use them, it's for me, to help me play easier. The tone I need can be had multiple ways via emulations or even solid state circuits. But the behavior between the guitar and the output sound changes; e.g. to go from clean to heavily distorted with certain emulations, either I can't get fully clean without switching a pedal or rolling knobs while playing or I still have to switch channels or pedals to get to the level of distortion and it doesn't respond to the dynamic changes of my hands on the strings the way a tube amp does. But with the right tubes in the amp and set to the right gain levels, I can just play lightly for clean with barely any detectable grit, then just lay into the strings slightly to get the howling afterburner of a jet, without stomping a pedal or switching channels or rolling any knobs - it makes it much much easier for me to play where I can focus on just the music and my hands on the instrument and not have to fight with the equipment, and that improves the performance for the audience.

 

[Chistopher]

Honestly, I'd be surprised if most of them can hear the difference between a bass guitar and a regular electric. That's why I just try to make a tone that I'm happy with rather than care what the tin ear crew can discern.

There are a lot of songs where people mistake the bass for a guitar. Jerry Was A Racecar Driver for example

 

[NotDemanic]

I really like the JJ KT-88 in my Picovalve.

 

[Sam SG]

The remainder of my stash. Sold a a little over half back when

 

[Sam SG]

Please explain what a "fluid" amp sounds like compared to a nonfluid amp. How does an amp work for or against you?

Ken Fischer used vintage NOS tubes in his amps. Howard Dumble used modern tubes in his amps. Was one of them wrong? How many of today's boutique amp builders use vintage NOS tubes in their amps?

Confirmation bias is strongly in play when it comes to the vintage vs modern debate and ranks right up there with the tonewood debate.

Tube testers rarely test tubes under the same conditions that they operate at in an amp. What test parameters define the "sound" or "tone" of a particular tube?

Amp builders use what they can get redily available. No amp maufacturer has time to scour the internet to score 12ax7s 2 to 4 pieces at a time.
I am 100% aware most tube testers do not test at amp voltages.
As far as fluid. Certain tube combinations will make certain licks hard to play. Especially fast alternate picked licks. Not to mention harmonics. If youve ever tryed an I65 Amperex and just let a chord ring you will hear ghost like swirling overtones. Something you dont even realize is missing till you hear it.
And I can attest to confirmation bias like when I had a trio of Amperex long plate( befor I realized long pkates have l differant dynamics)(generally feel stiff to me other than PI) ecc83s one of the holy grails of ecc83s I popped um in my amp and after a number of days days of knowing the tone was in there..... i just gotta dial it in .....I ended up retreating to $60 rft 12ax7s...cause they didnt sound good in my amp for what i wanted...as was the case for both my old Silver Jubilee and Marshall 2210 JCM800.
I 100% used my ears and feel.
Its not about whats great on the internet its about which tube suites each stahe best for what you look for in tone.

 

[bluesky636]

Amp builders use what they can get redily available. No amp maufacturer has time to scour the internet to score 12ax7s 2 to 4 pieces at a time.
I amp 100% aware most tube testers do not test at amp voltages.
As far as fluid. Certain tube combinations will make certain licks hard to play. Especially fast alternate picked licks.
And I can attest to confirmation bias like when I had a trio of Amperex long plate ecc83s one of the holy grails of ecc83s I popped um in my amp and after a number of days days of knowing the tone was in there..... i just gotta dial it in .....I ended up retreating to $60 rft 12ax7s......as was the case for both my old Silver Jubilee and Marshall 2210 JCM800.
I 100% used my ears and feel.
Its not about whats great on the internet its about which tube suites each stahe best for what you look for in tone.

I think the fluidity you refer to has more to do with the circuit design and construction. Ken Fischer used a certain kind of wire in his amps because he felt it was "faster" than the wire used in Fender and other commercial amps. I'm sure Dumble made similar choices in his components.