Hello. I recently refurbished a 1995 Trace Elliot V Type Combo I bought off Reverb. When I opened it up, it had the original Trace Elliot brand 12ax7 tubes. I was wondering if anyone could tell me who made the tubes for Trace Elliot?
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Trace Elliot 12ax7 Tubes
- Thread starter FryeHenderson
- Start date
Hello. Vintage tube collector here.
A quick search online got me only one photo of 12AX7 branded for Trace Elliot. Here it is below.
Do the tubes in your amp look basically like these?
Forget the paint. Instead, look at the visible construction: the shape of the tip of the envelope (the glass), the design of the plates, the getter shape and supports (the getter is the thing suspended above the plates and such, near the top of the envelope; often a ring or rectangle of wire, or a thin disc), and so on.
If so, then they are typical "modern" tubes made in Russia or China, I think.
Pretty sure they are Chinese.
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In my exerience the Mk I V-Type preamp is not very sensitive to tube rolling. I have one of the original all-tube V-Type amps. This is the green tolex version, and it's electrically identical to the later V4. I also have a V6. Both have the original tubes in V1, V3, and V4. My V6 came to me with Tube Store Preferred Series 7025 of V2 and it sounds fantastic.
The V-Type came to me with TE tubes in all four slots. I rolled a bunch of tubes through each slot and swapped one out for a Gold Lion ECC83/B759. I actually struggled with the decision because it's premium tube and the change in tone was very small.
Here is my thread: Trace V-Type Tube Rolling
Link Removed
In my exerience the Mk I V-Type preamp is not very sensitive to tube rolling. I have one of the original all-tube V-Type amps. This is the green tolex version, and it's electrically identical to the later V4. I also have a V6. Both have the original tubes in V1, V3, and V4. My V6 came to me with Tube Store Preferred Series 7025 of V2 and it sounds fantastic.
The V-Type came to me with TE tubes in all four slots. I rolled a bunch of tubes through each slot and swapped one out for a Gold Lion ECC83/B759. I actually struggled with the decision because it's premium tube and the change in tone was very small.
Here is my thread: Trace V-Type Tube Rolling
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,968
- 5
- 220,670
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
If the original tubes are working well, leave them alone.
Thanks for your help. Here's the before and after pics of my project. I'm rolling between the original TE tubes and some gold lions. I'm also experimenting with the original speaker and a Faital 15pr400. The Faital is certainly deeper sounding, but I'm back and forth on which one I like better. I used mojotone elephant tolex, white knobs, custom metal grill from reliable hardware, badge made by an eBay seller, moved handles to the sides. I think the amp sounds very good. But it is still 70 lbs. Most of the weight is in the 3/4 plywood construction.
Modern generic Chinese 12ax7 on the left, TE branded tube from a 90s SMX series amp on the right.
Please don't fret, I am extremely careful when removing/replacing tubes and the 90s TE tube only received gently wiggles. You'll notice that the pins on the virgin tube on the left aren't perfectly straight either. The TE tube was replaced as it had become so insanely microphonic that even touching the amp caused it to scream. I only kept it for reference, not to receive at critique of my amp maintenance, thanks all the same
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I thought the original TE tubes were all Sovteks… Maybe that’s the stock KT88’s?
MY V4 is fully loaded with JJ’s across the board. Very thick and articulate for me!
MY V4 is fully loaded with JJ’s across the board. Very thick and articulate for me!
The series II amps (V4 and V8) were loaded with Sovtek 12AX7 variants (WA and/or WB). When I bought my V8 all of the preamp tubes were Sovtek labeled 12AX7WA. I was not the original owner, but my guess is these were the original tubes.
All of the 12AX7 I have seen in earlier TE amps appear to be Shuguang with a TE label.
