Which preamp tube would you choose?

[Killed_by_Death]

Pleasantly surprised that I voted Tung Sol with the majority.
I put all Tung Sol in my H&K amp & livened it up a little from the Shuguang's that were in it.

 

[Wasnex]

That's where I got the idea - I tried about 1/2" of heatshrink on an old very ting-ey Mullard ECC82, result was massive reduction in microphonics. No heat gun so I used a hair dryer

Good to know. The Mullard ECC83, Genalex ECC83/B759, Sovtek 12AX7LPs, and JJ ECC803S are long plate tubes so they can be a little more sensitive to mechanical excitation, especially in high gain circuits. I haven't had any problems with these tubes, but good to know a little heat shrink can dampen them.

 

[beans-on-toast]

There are a number of military tube shields that will help dissipate heat and help shield the tube from picking up noise. One such product that fits a 12AX7 sized tube is an IERC 6020B. There are a number of different manufacturers that produced this style of shield under differnt numbers. They have different types of heat dissipating fingers under the outer casing.

At one time Groove Tubes sold these with their logo painted on.

There are getting harder to find.

 

[JN8642]

Mmmmmmkay so I'm gonna buy six JJ's (Two extra for spares) and a few Tung Sol's for experimenting tomorrow.

Quick power tube question before I order though, I'll be honest, I work at a music store on the side and get a small employee discount (Seasonal thing for a few extra bucks that ends very soon) and the Tung Sol's are the only power tube they sell that come in a sextet (matched I'm assuming, haven't asked the amp tech yet). Are the Tung Sol power tubes realllly that much of an improvement? It's got old Svetlana's in it currently and am thinking if it's better to just do the preamp tubes now and wait on the power tubes and get a cheaper set down the line.

 

[flyingmonkey41]

hope its not too late,at forum i found a topic about 12ax7s and a guy suggested that buy 1 jj-1 tung sol-1genalex gold
and my amp contains inner comp with tube 12at7 i bought mullard.its really really warm sound,if you like warm sound try it you wont regret

 

[Wasnex]

Mmmmmmkay so I'm gonna buy six JJ's (Two extra for spares) and a few Tung Sol's for experimenting tomorrow.

Quick power tube question before I order though, I'll be honest, I work at a music store on the side and get a small employee discount (Seasonal thing for a few extra bucks that ends very soon) and the Tung Sol's are the only power tube they sell that come in a sextet (matched I'm assuming, haven't asked the amp tech yet). Are the Tung Sol power tubes realllly that much of an improvement? It's got old Svetlana's in it currently and am thinking if it's better to just do the preamp tubes now and wait on the power tubes and get a cheaper set down the line.

IMHO. Vintage Svetlana output tubes are generally very high quality. It would be good to check bias and balance between tubes, but I wouldn't change them out unless there is a problem.

 

[ThisBass]

I always heard how awesome JJ's were. So I got some for my Electric. Never again. I still have them in there now but when they need to be replaced, I'm going Sovtek all the way. Or Gold Lions. The first time I replaced my power tube set (with the JJ's in there now), 1 of them went bad on my 2 days after. It was such a hassle. Then I learned that a lot of people have been having issues with JJ's for a while now.

We have got a parts reseller here in Germany with pretty high reputation. If there was frequent complaints about JJ tubes I'm pretty sure Dirk would immediatelly stop any offer of JJ 6550 tubes.
Here you are
Invalid Link Removed

 

[JN8642]

IMHO. Vintage Svetlana output tubes are generally very high quality. It would be good to check bias and balance between tubes, but I wouldn't change them out unless there is a problem.

Very good to know thank you! These are just reissue though unfortunately

 

[Coolhandjjl]

That's where I got the idea - I tried about 1/2" of heatshrink on an old very ting-ey Mullard ECC82, result was massive reduction in microphonics. No heat gun so I used a hair dryer

Some people use rubber o-rings as well.

 

[Wasnex]

Very good to know thank you! These are just reissue though unfortunately

FYI, Svetlana is a New Sensor brand just like Tung Sol. The tubes may be slightly different, but I would be very surprised if the Tung Sols would be drastically better, unless the Svetlanas are on the way out.

 

[JN8642]

FYI, Svetlana is a New Sensor brand just like Tung Sol. The tubes may be slightly different, but I would be very surprised if the Tung Sols would be drastically better, unless the Svetlanas are on the way out.

I got you! Thank you dude!

 

[ThisBass]

Good to know. The Mullard ECC83, Genalex ECC83/B759, Sovtek 12AX7LPs, and JJ ECC803S are long plate tubes so they can be a little more sensitive to mechanical excitation,

The Telefunken span grid 12AX7 machinery park was shipped to Tesla which now is JJ.
IIRC its the generic JJ 12AX7 which equals the famous Telefunken span grid design which promises best mechanical robustness you can get over time

 

[Wasnex]

IIRC its the generic JJ 12AX7 which equals the famous Telefunken span grid design which promises best mechanical robustness you can get over time

IMHO this is not accurate. I have JJ ECC803S and ECC83S in hand and neither looks like a vintage Telefunken ECC83. Telefunken ECC83 came in two varieties: long smooth plate or long ribbed plate. The long plate JJ ECC803S shares some visual similarities to the ribbed plate Telefunken, but it is not close to identical.

Info on Vintage Telefunken ECC83:
How to spot genuine ECC83 Telefunken 12AX7

JJ makes the current Telefunken Black Diamond tubes. Aside from labeling, I believe the current Telefunken ECC83 looks pretty much identical to a short plate JJ ECC83S. I have no idea what the current Telefunken ECC83s sounds like. Vintage Telefunken ECC83 are known for being articulate and bright. Pretty much the opposite of a JJ ECC83S in my experience. IMHO, the JJ ECC803S is articulate but I consider it more warm than bright.

 

[JimmyM]

Which tubes I use depends a lot on the usage. In my newer Ampegs I use the stock tubes, which are Rubys in the PF-50T and JJ's in the HSVT-CL and V4B. I've tried Tung Sols and a handful of NOS tubes in them, but they don't sound right to me with anything but JJ's. The Tung Sol and NOS tubes are a little too bright and tight for me. However, the Tung Sol and NOS tubes sound most excellent in my 73 Fender Super Reverb, which I use for guitar.

 

[Badwater]

It would depend on the application. And what Amp I apply it to. For a 5e3 I would go with JJs for pre and power tubes, and vintage GT for rectifier tube. For my original Silverface Princeton Reverb I would go with Mullard for preamp, JJ for power tubes, and old vintage GE or JAN tubes for the reverb preamp and rectifier. Yep that's what I use.

 

[Wasnex]

The Telefunken span grid 12AX7 machinery park was shipped to Tesla which now is JJ.
IIRC its the generic JJ 12AX7 which equals the famous Telefunken span grid design which promises best mechanical robustness you can get over time

Did a little more research and I believe you may be referring to the frame grid Telefunken ECC803S. Many consider this the finest 12AX7 variant ever made and it is a short plate tube. Internally it doesn't look like either a JJ ECC803S or ECC83S. NOS prices for this tube at trusted vendors is >$1,000

 

[Wasnex]

Which tubes I use depends a lot on the usage. In my newer Ampegs I use the stock tubes, which are Rubys in the PF-50T and JJ's in the HSVT-CL and V4B. I've tried Tung Sols and a handful of NOS tubes in them, but they don't sound right to me with anything but JJ's. The Tung Sol and NOS tubes are a little too bright and tight for me. However, the Tung Sol and NOS tubes sound most excellent in my 73 Fender Super Reverb, which I use for guitar.

Hey I thought tube rolling didn't matter to you! IMHO your descriptions in the post nailed some of the differences that tubes make.

 

[ThisBass]

Did a little more research and I believe you may be referring to the frame grid Telefunken ECC803S. Many consider this the finest 12AX7 variant ever made and it is a short plate tube. Internally it doesn't look like either a JJ ECC803S or ECC83S. NOS prices for this tube at trusted vendors is >$1,000

Besides the frame grid Telefunken ECC803S there had been the Tesla E83CC which is also a frame grid (NOS) tube.
The only frame grid tube currently in production is JJ ECC83s.

Any other 12AX7 / ECC83 tube (even the JJ ECC803s) are of usual design type.

Interestingly the JJ ECC83s is the frame grid tube while the JJ ECC803s is not.

Just have reread the history of the ECC83 frame grid tube.

In 1972 the Telefunken machinery park was shipped to Tesla in Czechoslovakia. Tesla continued the production of the frame grid ECC83 but unfortunatelly labeled the tube with a different identifier which reads E83CC.

Tesla sold her tube devision to Mr. Jan Jorgo who is the founder of JJ. The current production frame grid JJ tube is made on just the same assembly line that once was used for the TFK ECC803s.

All of this information can be read on a German language website.

 

[JimmyM]

Hey I thought tube rolling didn't matter to you! IMHO your descriptions in the post nailed some of the differences that tubes make.

I won't spend a fortune on tubes just to try them out, but if I have some scattered around, I might try them.

 

[MJ_Sotti]

This is why I'm happy with the MESA/Aggie emulation D stuff. When I had my CL I did this...it just drove me nuts. And I guess I liked the Mullards best for V1, but rolling stuff all the time to me was goofy. I just don't think my ear is as discriminating as some of you.