Can never beat a Mullard ECC83

[Littlewyan]

I've heard about this and its a bit upsetting. You'd think the manufacturers would get better as time goes on but when you hear about the chinese putting more money into gold pins and fancy boxes rather than materials you lose faith. I remember Myles Rose saying in his blog how the plate resistances varied a lot in each batch of GT 12AX7M valves but the chinese engineers couldn't explain why. Just poor QC.

If there was a reliably good sounding ECC83 for a bit more money I'd have it. Unfortunately a lot of companies seem to sell selected valves for more money which aren't really any better than the standard stuff, so it puts you off. The JJ Gold Pins are supposed to be made from specially selected materials, and I believe them, but Myles tested a batch and found them to be just as inconsistent as the standard stuff.

[Reeltarded]

Those are the worst of the worst... and those fucking 803s.

All crap.

[TUBEDUDE]

NOS is looking better and better.

[Reeltarded]

Prices are off a cliff, and anything else is a hopeful lie.

Good pulls are better than retail garbage and cost less.

[RockinRocket]

Mullard 161 are great very smooth sounding tubes. Like them more than the 163, even in Marshalls. Other than that Amperex are just about the only other tube I look for

[David Root]

+1 on the Amperex ie Heerlen factory I65s. In most circuits I find them clearer, more articulate than I63 Mullards, including when overdriven. EG Dumbles, TW Express, old Fenders, etc.

OTOH nothing works better in an old Marshall than the Mullard! With Xf2 EL34s too, of course.

[cbass]

I've got some sylvaina long plates that I like better than mullards in my Marshall type amps .
Amperex is one of the few tubes I haven't tried .

[Littlewyan]

I have 4 Sylvania 12AX7s but I have to say I didn't really like them. I've only tried them in my Express admittedly but I just didn't like the lack of clarity I got with them.

I also have a Amperex Bugle Boy (HP Branded) which I haven't really experimented with yet and also a Brimar 12AX7, which again I haven't really tried. Not sure what the Brimar actually is though as I think they rebranded other manufacturer's valves at one point and this might be a later production valve.

I now have Mullard ECC83s i63s in V2 and V3 of my JTM50 and it sounds amazing. I will buy more soon as I liked a Mullard ECC83 in V2 of my Express but only have two in my stock at the moment.

Unfortunately now that I've put older valves in my amps my tonal expectations have risen......