12AX7/ECC83 Recommendations?

[MX117.MC7150]

This seems to have morphed away from 12AX7 tubes.
I've been happy with the reissue Mullard 12AX7s. Quiet tube with no noise and a very nice sound in my McIntosh C22 MkV. Running one in my ATM-1S amp and have one for my ATC-3HQ preamp when it finally arrives.
The new GL 12AX7 is also a very nice tube. Have a pair to roll in when the time comes.

 

[BMC]

sonotone was a resell/rebrand, so they could be anything. many are telefunken and siemens; my sonotone 7025 are canadian RCA cleartop.

RCA canada cleartops dont have round micas not the 2 flat sides. oh, ill be damned--one of em has the typical 60s rca USA grey plate micas withv 2 flat sides.


most RCA canada 12AX7 and 12AU7 ive seen have round micas.

in the first link i saw a pic. i couldnt see the 12AX7 cleartops good enough to compare to mine. the article speaks of sonotone vacuum tube hearing aids.

interesting

very odd to think that. raytheon 12U7s dont much philips made, at least not to me. their 12AU7 looks like their 12AX7, dont think anything else looks like em. however, raytheon rebranded several japanese manufacturers. add to that the westinghouse was also a canadian tube manufacturer, and westinghouse rebranded a lot of japanese tubes. i have some westinghouse-branded matsushita 12AU7 cleartops, the only two ive ever seen. in addition, there may be some relation between westinghouse canada and RCA canada. heck, they may be one and the same. someone here must have a good grasp of the canadian tube manufacturing.

some cleartop 12AX7

GE-labelled and "canada" etched above tube type. this is black plate. the rest are grey.
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RCA-style micas with RCA-style tube type logo, used by several manufacturers really.
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tubes labelled "the fisher" or "sonotone" appear to be the same

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First off, thank you for the informative reply! And thank you for all the great pics. I did not know about the Canadian cleartops with black plates.

Here is one of mine. It’s a little different in that there is white goop on some of the internal wiring near the base. Also, compared to my other 12AX7’s, the glass envelope is smaller. I also have a quad of the exact same Fisher labeled ones you have. Two of them flash at startup like a Philips tube. Also, you can see the 787 Sonotone manufacturers code on there.

The RCA grey plate you posted has a hole in the side of the plate, but the Sonotone does not. And the plate tabs are different as well.

In the Sonotone link, they show a tube manufacturing facility that operated in the 50’s and 60’s making subminiature tubes for their hearing aids. So we know that much is true. But as far as 12AX7, nobody really knows I guess. It remains a mystery to me.

For what it’s worth, these are very low noise tubes and worthy of use in phono sections.

As far as the Raytheons go, here is one of the places that made this claim: Link

 

[Mr Boochie]

Have you have mu h experience with the Sovtek 7025's?
This amp kit I'm building uses 12AX7's instead of the 6N2's he likes in his higher powered JCM800 clone. I bought a pair of 6P3S-E's for the output, but all I have are some JJ 12AX7's at the moment to put in it. I was wondering if the Sovtek 7025's would maybe sound closer to the 6N2's.
From what I've read the Sovtek's can sound bright or harsh to some folks though.

I have no experience with the Russian-made 7025 tube. Have you used the Sovtek 12AX7LPS?

 

[Lavane]

I have no experience with the Russian-made 7025 tube. Have you used the Sovtek 12AX7LPS?

No. The only Sovtek tubes I've used are the EL84M and 5R4 rectifier.

 

[Mr Boochie]

The plain JJ's sound decent also. I've used them in a few preamp and phono preamp. When I built a guitar amp for my son we tried a whole bag of old stock 12ax7's I had and he liked the JJ over all the others I had.

It's groovy that there are good modern, available 12AX7 options. The JJ 5751 is not bad, either.

 

[Gigantic]

The plain JJ's sound decent also. I've used them in a few preamp and phono preamp. When I built a guitar amp for my son we tried a whole bag of old stock 12ax7's I had and he liked the JJ over all the others I had.

I've used both the plain and gold pin JJ 12AX7 and they're really good. However, I have fonud that I prefer JJ 5751 in my Glow Audio Amp Two's pre stage and in the P1 position in my guitar amps.

 

[ceylon]

First off, thank you for the informative reply! And thank you for all the great pics. I did not know about the Canadian cleartops with black plates.

Here is one of mine. It’s a little different in that there is white goop on some of the internal wiring near the base. Also, compared to my other 12AX7’s, the glass envelope is smaller. I also have a quad of the exact same Fisher labeled ones you have. Two of them flash at startup like a Philips tube.

i need to pay closer attention. i wonder.

Also, you can see the 787 Sonotone manufacturers code on there.

dont see it anywhere in those 3 pics.

The RCA grey plate you posted has a hole in the side of the plate, but the Sonotone does not. And the plate tabs are different as well.

right, neither do the fisher labelled cleartops. hmn. one thing ive seen in candian tubes is the parts seem to resemble multiple manufactures or come from several outside sources. not sure exactly what that means. at least one canadian manufacturer, rogers canada, used a good bit of philips parts or was in the philips family of manufacturers. so the mismatched construction plus european internals can indicate canadian manufacture. i noticed a while ago they mostly sold by canadians.

In the Sonotone link, they show a tube manufacturing facility that operated in the 50’s and 60’s making subminiature tubes for their hearing aids.

yup.

So we know that much is true.

yep. very specialized.

For what it’s worth, these are very low noise tubes and worthy of use in phono sections.

As far as the Raytheons go, here is one of the places that made this claim: Link

got me curious. koray has a good rep and his stock sure looks nice. im unabe to get a good enough look at em to compare to philips.

can you please screenshot the brent jesse claim referenced in this thread? somehow i cant find it. i cant find any mention of this on his website.

 

[BMC]

i need to pay closer attention. i wonder.

dont see it anywhere in those 3 pics.

right, neither do the fisher labelled cleartops. hmn. one thing ive seen in candian tubes is the parts seem to resemble multiple manufactures or come from several outside sources. not sure exactly what that means. at least one canadian manufacturer, rogers canada, used a good bit of philips parts or was in the philips family of manufacturers. so the mismatched construction plus european internals can indicate canadian manufacture. i noticed a while ago they mostly sold by canadians.


yup.

yep. very specialized.

got me curious. koray has a good rep and his stock sure looks nice. im unabe to get a good enough look at em to compare to philips.

can you please screenshot the brent jesse claim referenced in this thread? somehow i cant find it. i cant find any mention of this on his website.

I had to go the wayback machine to pull it up, but here it is. It was actually a Crown label he was talking about. There are Magnavox branded versions of this as well.


Also, yes the 787 code wore off from my sweaty fingers. But you can see it on this one:

 

[ceylon]

I had to go the wayback machine to pull it up, but here it is. It was actually a Crown label he was talking about. There are Magnavox branded versions of this as well.
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oh far out! well, hes quite the expert, but hes incorrectly identified a few tubes in my orders. id sure like to see these.

the crown tubes in that gear page link (https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/crown-clear-top-12ax7a-id-help.1179257/) are clearly not raytheon. no idea if these are the tubes BJ is talkin about.

Also, yes the 787 code wore off from my sweaty fingers. But you can see it on this one:

ah. sonotone, like many other rebrand/resell companies printed their EIA codes on the tubes they purchase for resell as part of the rebranding, as we see with this siemens ECC83 here.

GE did this as well, as did tung-sol...

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