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Your Favorite 12AX7?

Freo-1

Freo-1

Well-Known Member
Well, I've been tube rolling 12AX7's in a Fisher KX-200, and it's been a lot of fun.

So far, here's what I tried:

1) Telefunken Smooth Plates: VERY seductive, a bit recessed, but in the right way. Excellent treble, great with vocals, good bass, good 3D stage, quiet.

2) Raytheon Black Plate D getter: Excellent tonal balance, a bit more forward sounding than the Telefunken, slightly less 3D soundstage, tight bass, very good vocals (not quite as magic as Telefunken), quiet

3) GE 17MM D getter: Does everything well, does not call attention to any area of the audio spectrum, good 3D soundstage, deep bass, quiet (a best buy at it's price point)

4) RCA Black Plate D getter: WOW! Extremely lush, great vocals deepest bass in this rig, big, wide, deep soundstage. A winner!

5) Tung Sol D getter: Another outstanding performer. Outstanding HF response, great vocals, deep bass, excellent 3D soundstage, another best buy. A bit brighter than the Telefunken or RCA.

6) Sylvania Black Plate D getter: A nice tube, but not as good as the others in this post. A bit more noise (still low), slightly recessed midrange, bass not as deep (but tight), clear HF.


There are HEAPS of 12AX7's out there, to classify them all is impossible. I also reckon that they will sound different from one application to the next, so just wanted to share what my experience is with this amp.

So, post your 12AX7 recommendations. It would be helpful to state the application as well.
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I've got your #4.'s in my Jolida 100 CDP. Perfect description. I too really like them.

Just recently I blew out a 5751 in my Jolida JD9 and was going to replace them with the RCA's but thought it would be more interesting to have something different. So I went with a matched pair of Telefunkens which just arrived today. Haven't even heard them yet. I'll chime back in tonight.

I've tried the GE's. Not bad. Not fantastic, IMO. Good value.

Tung-Sol I haven't tried but the more I read about them, the more praises I come across.

Any experience with Black Sable? Prices range $49-$599? Same factory producing the new Mullards & Genalex, I guess.
 
Adding a few: Tungsram - very clean and clear, precise yet not harsh. Mullard - Great at everything, but with a little "push" in the upper mids. Bugle Boy - Like the Mullard, but without as much midrange push. Rogers (Canada) - the ultimate sleeper. Sylvania - lots of gain compared to others, a tad on the bright side.

This varies from tube to tube and from amp to amp. Personally, I love Bugle Boys in Marshall amps and the like for guitar playing, but I like RCA in my hifi setup. I haven't really found an application that I like Telefunken for that I didn't like RCAs better.

My opinions only. This is, you must realize, from a guy that actually thinks the new JJ offerings are not bad at all, and very ruggedly built, besides.

rooster.
 
every time I change to something else, I come right back to Brimars, early 60's.
Mil. spec CV4004
wish I had bought several pairs @ half the price they're selling for now.
 
Tube rolling is an interesting concept. There are definite differences between tubes, but it seems that the differences are different in different amps (did I really just say that?). I prefer the ribbed Fisher branded Teles in my Allegro, but my Raytheons sound better to me in it than my ribbed NOS Teles. I like the NOS Teles better in my HK A50K, with the Raytheons coming in 2nd. My Heathkit preamp seems to sound better with Mullard, so I think the amp/circuit itself has a lot to do with the sound of the tube. Then of course I know people who hate the 12AX7 altogether. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Hello!

I think it is circuit dependent. Here are some of my observations -

1. Mullard reissue. Excellent in 1 piece of gear(DIY ST-35). A little rolled off in my other gear.

2. Tung Sol reissue. Excellent. currently in my Cornet 2 phono stage.

3. JJ gold pins. Really excellent. I have them in my PAS2. I have liked these in everything I have put them in. Charlie Kittelson(now deceased) recommended these to me at VSAC last year.

4. Sovtek LPS. I really like these. Very nuetral and quiet. Currently in my 500c preamp section.

5. Fisher branded Telefunkens. I have 3 of these that test good and am not that crazy about them. I know they are universally loved. I will hold onto them in case I find the right place for them.

Peace. Robert
 
I'm very happy with the ECC-803S gold pins, long plate, spiral filaments. :D

ECC803SJJ-GD.jpg
 
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I really like the crooked getter Matsushita 12ax7. It was produced on the exact same tooling as the short plate Mullard 12ax7, in a factory set up with technical and capital assistance from Mullard itself. In terms of appearance, they appear to be identical in construction to the short plate Mullard, down to the seams on the glass. In terms of sound, In my opinion, they are extremely close, if not identical to the Mullards in my Dynaco PAS2. Best of all, NOS pairs often sell for $25 or less, good used tubes even cheaper. They were often rebranded as Raytheon 7025s.
 
I have Telefunken smoth plates in the Phono stage, and the other four are Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH in my Bell. I have some RCA Grey plates that I might try instead of the EH’s.
 
mpholland said:
Then of course I know people who hate the 12AX7 altogether. Different strokes for different folks.
Click to expand...
No kidding! I have a friend that found a wounded 500C at a Ham Swap Meet. The Fisher was loaded with nice Tele 12AX7's. He sold them all with without thinking twice.

I like the sound of 12AX7's in my Fisher gear. The sound of my 12AX7s are very receiver/amp dependent. My Fisher X-101-B sound great with Mullards in the tone section and 5751's as the drivers. I tried Tele's in the X-101-B and they were way too bright. I like Tele's in the tone section and Mullards as drivers in my Fisher 400. I used some strong RCA's in the 400's multiplex unit. They are good, stable tubes. My Fisher TA-600 uses anything, G.E.'s RCA's and still has it's distinct sound. The only tubes that I've tried in the TA-600 and not liked were some 90's vintage Groove Tube Chinese 12AX7's
 
I agree Different tubes work differently in different amps: That said, in my PAS-3 Preamp my preference is Dynaco branded Tele's in the Phono section
Raytheon Black plates in the line section. I seem to come back to this combo time after time. Horns and fuzzed out guitars like this combo, i seem to say well I'll spin one more side

I'm new to tube rolling: but others I've tried are:
1.50's RCA Black plates...Disappointing,I really thought these would be better. Also noisy in the Phono section. Not bad, just not my favorites.
2. Canadian made Sylvania's, Harsh on the high end, fatiguing .
3. Brimars...clear and clean great separation..but I wonder if mine are real?
something just dosn't ring true about mine, I want to like them but find myself going back to the Black Plate Raytheons. Are there pirate brimar's out there?
4.Dynaco branded tele's all around my second choice.
5. Baldwin Branded Raytheon greyplates...nice but dense and more veiled than the Black plates.
6.I've got single Amperexs/mullards I'm dying to pair up...so guys stop bidding! Joking.
All that said, I think the Demo Records are also important....certain tubes and certain records pair up well but lets not go there.....
Cheers,
Kirk
 
Every tube amp definitely has it's sound character due to it's circuit design
and components used in construction. Tube rolling can have A big effect
on the overall sound of the amp and is very interesting to hear the deferent
tones they produce.
My Fisher 400 came with Fisher branded Sylvania's and I thought they
sounded decent, so far I have tried Fisher branded Telefunkens and thought
they were to brite for my taste, I tested the Tung Sol reissue and also to
brite for me, tried Electro Harmonix a little to dark sounding though not bad.
One day I was thinking about what I wanted to try next, I thought if one
tube sounded to brite and the other to dark why not try mixing them around
in the amp. I found that using the Electro Harmonix tubes as inverters and
the Tung Sol reissue tubes in the tone section of the 400 I got A very nice
tone and sound that I liked and that's awesome because those tubes are easy
to come by and don't come with that monster price tag.
My Dad likes the sound of the RCA tubes in his 400 but he pays premium
prices on ebay for them.
 
+1 on the Canadian Rogers tubes. I have many 12ax7's and I seem to always like the Rogers best. I use them in the same amp that I found them in. A Philips AG9016 that is a little stunner when I use it with my 12" Tannoy Gold's with the lights out. Pure liquid when spinnin vinyl using a Shure V15 III.
 
MelodyMaster said:
What about the 12DF7? Lower noise and non-microphonic, Supposedly better in every way than the base 12AX7.
Click to expand...

The 12DF7 is a very quiet tube. It can be a fairly difficult tube to find. I had noise problems in my preamp's phono section and rolled quite a few tubes including a few 7025's.. The 12DF7 I tried was made by Westinghouse...I believe. It was a very quiet tube but the problem was I prefer the Telefunken and Raytheon tubes for their sound.
 
golana said:
every time I change to something else, I come right back to Brimars, early 60's.
Mil. spec CV4004
wish I had bought several pairs @ half the price they're selling for now.
Click to expand...

I sure would like to try these as I've heard there very nice tubes :yes:
 
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