Telefunken!

[boots]

I've been spoiled to have access to a lot of different vintage tubes. The one 12AX7 I've never had before is the Telefunken. I was lucky enough to pick up several today from a local guy.

I've heard some people say they are the holy grail of 12AX7's. I've also heard it said that Telefunkens are very bright, and maybe too much so.

After playing with them in a couple different amps, I am very impressed with how very clear and articulate they sound. They are definitely bright sounding, but in a good way. They are very different from a Mullard or a Bugle Boy, which are very "warm", almost mushy sounding. The Telefunkens still have a great distortion character, but not at all mushy.

I don't know if they are my favorite. All of these tubes sound great in the right context. I could almost see the merit of swapping preamp tubes between songs in a set to get the right sound for each song.

Have I lost my mind? I know I sound like a cork-sniffer, but there is definitely a difference between the different tubes. Tubes are magical. I know some of you would say that if you can't see the difference on a scope, it ain't so. But I know that my ears hear different kinds of magic from different tubes.

So there.

[Cliff Schecht]

I love Telefunken big smooth plates in Fender PI positions. Also had one in V3 of my Express for a long time. I keep these stashed away now though TBH, they're too hard to find and bloody expensive when you do. I mostly save them for the studio or when I know I'll be running them at damn near 6.3/12.6V on the filament (with a variac or other means).

[Cantplay]

JAN Phillips 5751 are very similar sounding, but less gain obviously.

Both are even better cryoed.

John

[rdjones]

Tone is paramount with preamp tubes, obviously ... but I have found that microphonics is pretty important too in a high gain circuit.
I have a pair of early '60s Tung Sol 5751s that seem to be absolutely silent with regard to microphonic susceptibility.
They sound pretty good too.

Another thing to keep in mind with published opinions is that some of what you read may be slanted toward 'HiFi' use and may not be fully transferable to guitar tone.
Sound producer vs reproducer.

reddog

[Structo]

Yes remember most guitar amps are torture chambers for preamp tubes.

Especially in combo amps.

[Blackburn]

I got my first taste of Tele smooth plates with my 66 Princeton, which sported them in V3 and V4. The one for the oscillator stopped behaving properly, so I replaced it with one of my RCAs. A week later I tried the Tele in one of my own amps and found it worked fine. Lower voltages made it happier, I guess.

[boots]

The ones I got are ribbed gray plates, but they really sound good. I got two that sound great, and a third that sounds pretty weak - maybe one of the triodes was abused more than the other.

The guy told me he tested them with a tube tester, but he didn't tell me that they tested good....Oh well, the price was right. So it goes with collecting old tubes.

Also as part of the deal I got a Bugle Boy that seems like it's a little weak, and a handful of RCA's (all AX7) that I haven't evaluated yet. But the two good Telefunkens were worth the price of admission.