Just as the title says, I'm looking for preamp tube recommendations for my amps. It's been a long time, like 10 years or more, since I went through tubes rigorously and I'd like some help. I remember thinking, back then, that nothing beat the cheap Eis we could get back in the 90s, before they went hopelessly microphonic... lively, bright and high gain and I only have one of those left. I had ended up with a stash of JJs, a couple of them long plate for the PI, EH and Chinese 12AX7A (or maybe B?, I forget). Anyway, thanks in advance!
I've never had a bad JJ 12AX7, they just seem to work and do their thing reliably, maybe not the 'best' sounding tube but they're always my fall back tube. I've been using the Sovtek 12AX7 LPS for the PI on most of my amps recently and they seem to work well. I've had some good NOS Chinese 'ruby' tubes that have been great too for V1/2. The current EH 12AX7 seem to be a good solid tube too.
If you can find great NOS tubes go for it, otherwise the above tubes have served me well in 7 or 8 ODS builds a couple of Trainwrecks, a Tweedle dee, a JM Wonderland and recently a Princeton reverb.
M
edit: I think a lot of new tubes quite often sound great but compared to the old tubes they just don't last as long. That's actually preferable to lasting as long as the old tubes but sounding shit
Last edited by norburybrook on Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JJ is my standard go-to 12A_7 tube as well. I've also had good sounding tubes from TAD but you pay a bit extra for their selection process. To my ears, the new Tung Sols are too harsh/fizzy as a preamp tube but they are my go-to for power tubes. Love their 6V6. Nothing about the new Mullards wow me. I've always really liked the JAN Phillips 12AY7 tubes too and they are not crazy expensive for NOS tubes.
This chart here ... https://www.thetubestore.com/tube-brands/groove-tubes ... is very handy. If you are ever in an emergency situation and have to - God forbid - make a Guitar Center (or even a local store) run for tubes and all they have are Groove Tubes, all is not lost. Most of them are actually very good tubes and this chart will tell you what you are actually getting beneath the GT label.
I always dug old GE tubes -short plates with halo getters in v1 and they can still be found for not a bad price(not new production - but, worth the hunt). For new - JJ seem to be fine now.
New Mullard reissues are my current favorite PI tubes. They are long plate and very reliably good there.
As far as an affordable Chinese tube goes?
I have found that the older NOS Chinese Beijings are far superior in sonic quality to any new production Chinese tubes. The Beijing contributed a great deal to the 1980‘s “Marshall/Mesa Sound.” A lot of hard-rock guys go crazy for these particular tubes.You must make sure to look for the ones that have a Dual-Supported Square Foil Getter Triple-Micas, Sometimes these tubes have white Military ‘Star’ markings. Others have ECC83/12AX7 written vertically in thick red paint on the side of the tube. Still others were re-branded by companies such as Groove Tubes/Ruby/older Mesa Boogie. Regardless of the paint, all the Square Getter Beijing 12AX7s are the same tubes and sound great. Remember that the Beijing tubes were produced for the Chinese military and, as such, are very well built and reliable. They are no longer being produced and are still considered a bargain for such a quality tube. Most of these tubes list for around $16.95-$19.95 on the Internet when you can find them (E-Bay). The bonus these tubes have is they are high gain yet very quiet!. I also use them in the reverb recovery spot to lower the noise floor. As far as the other new tubes go I've used the LPS's in the PI spot with good results. (If you can get one closely matched to get it balanced). JJ's for me are hit or miss on the noise but are not bad sounding tubes IMO.
Tony
" The psychics on my bench is the same as Dumble'"
You guys must be getting all the good JJ's, because I get mine from a reputable supplier and get like a 50% fail rate with the tubes just sitting. I keep running into vacuum loss or annealing issues with the glass. I like their long plate ECC803S in some applications, but literally half of them failed sitting in the box..
It's true i've lost my marbles and i cant remember where i put them
I remember thinking, back then, that nothing beat the cheap Eis we could get back in the 90s, before they went hopelessly microphonic... lively, bright and high gain and I only have one of those left. I had ended up with a stash of JJs, a couple of them long plate for the PI, EH and Chinese 12AX7A (or maybe B?, I forget). Anyway, thanks in advance!
