12BH7A favorites, worst.

[Dave C]

I see many Sylvania 12BH7A tubes with green print. Are these all from military production runs? I have found Yellow print Sylvania to be very nice sounding tubes. GE variants are a little thin sounding.

 

[Kegger]

Charcoal plate RCA are my favorite. (non shiny black plate)

 

[diamondsouled]

Have a pair of 1958 BP Raytheon 12BH7As in my MC-30s right now and they are amazing.

 

[zekk]

Myself uses RCA 12BH7A with black plates in my my Mk.3 clones.
Fabulous sounding compared to 12AU7!

 

[Pio1980]

Try also taking this to the McIntosh forum.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[rebellovw]

I'm running some nice GE that I bought from Jim McShane for driver tube pair and some RCAs (they look black - but really dark grey) for the phase splitter pair. Wonderful sound - and dead quiet.

These NOS tubes replaced some new EH tubes that were very microphonic.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Dave C]

I almost ordered some EH 12BH7A's but research said they are GE copies. The GE tubes don't have the sound stage that my yellow Sylvanias do. I've got some green label Sylvanias coming, I want to get several different types this year for comparisons.

 

[byoungman1]

I've received rave reviews about CBS, Raytheon, and Tung-Sol black plates of this type. RCA black/charcoal plates seem to be the "go-to" though.

 

[Naptown Rob]

I'm currently running yellow label Japanese Raytheon 12BH7s in the 12AU7 position and black plate RCA's in the regular 12BH7 position in my MC60s.

I also like the yellow label Sylvanias.

 

[FidgetMaster]

I have few of the Sylvania's I like them very detailed for what they are but they are not as Clear as the GE version while GE I like but they are weird at the same time they come off as being dryer like most of GE preamps but GEs excel at that forward clarity and presentation/resolution to the sound. I'm just not sure exactly what I'm hearing maybe the GE "dryness I hear with all their preamps maybe its a certain type of neutral response, I don't want to say Bland, plenty of character but that flat like response with them I hear something I just would say is dry I don't hear that at all with the other manufactures Mullard/RCA/Sylvania/Phillips etc. GEs to me have a very characteristic wide/open sound though I like they are not stuffy or compress quite like the others at all to me.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Try some E80CC Tungsram tubes. They sound very good!

 

[captouch]

Did multiple companies make them for McIntosh? I bought a used 12BH7 marked as McIntosh, but never investigated the actual manufacturer.

 

[sKiZo]

I've got RCA gray plates, GE gray plates, and yellow label Sylvania, all mid '50's production. Of those, I prefer the Sylvania ... a bit dark, but I compensate for that by using a '40's RCA foil getter 12AU7 as a center driver ... very tasty combination.

 

[EliFisk]

While not strictly a 12BH7, my favorite 12AU7 equivalent is the CBS Hytron 5814