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Rolled some 12ax7's recently...

Hi All,
I went through my supply of 12ax7's recently and found some goodies.
I recently compared Bugle Boys to Telefunkens in the phono stage of my pre-amp. Interesting (to me, at least). I found the Telefunkens to be nice sounding; very clean and clear, very nice detail, over all a very nice sounding tube. The Bugle Boys, however, were magical! WOW! Timbre was so much more apparent. The soundstage depth and width increased; especially the depth. The music seemed to come alive and glow. It was much more captivating.
I found such a dramatic difference between two high quality tubes very interesting.
I have yet to try 10m's, and 70's Mullards that I found. I will report when I do...
By the way, NOS Sylvania's sound nice in the line-level stage. All tubes reported are vintage NOS. I match them with my tube tester. And, I do not change the volume setting between tube brands tested.
Any comments are more than welcomed! I appreciate any information on your experiences with 12ax7's. The price of some of these NOS is incredible; I am glad to have these nice examples in my collection!
Cheers.
bicycle_man
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
I had to laugh at Rodman's recommendation of the EAT 12AX7 as the only acceptable current production 12AX7. Oh, I'm sure it's an excellent sounding tube (haven't heard one myself) but what made me laugh was the fact that it costs $225!! So much for saving money by buying current tubes! (I was also amused that Music Direct thinks it best to hide the inside of the tube in their web photo;-) I actually did audition some (used) EAT KT-88's and they were terrible!

If you want a great pair of ANOS (almost new old stock;-) 12AX7's I have at least 1 pair (maybe 2) of RCA 17mm long blackplates I'd sell for half of a single EAT, and I bet you'd like them better than the EAT or any of the usual NOS suspects, BUT it really depends on where you're using 12AX7/5751's which I don't think you mentioned?

My favorite 5751 BTW is also the RCA TMBP (after endless A-
B with the Sylvania TMBP.)
.
rodman99999
3,557 posts
 
To quote Bicycle man, "It's a pity to think that good current production 12ax7's are so lame -- what to do when it is time to buy new tubes?", which is what I was responding to. Where in that post was "saving money" mentioned again? FYI: The EAT comes with the cooler/damper attached, and you'll ALWAYS see them advertised/pictured that way. To quote Ivor Tiefenbrun(founder of Linn Products), "If you gaven't heard it, you have no opinion."
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
To quote Ivor Tiefenbrun(founder of Linn Products), "If you gaven't heard it, you have no opinion."
Right! And good luck getting anyone to send you a demo tube so you can form an 'opinion'!

I'm more interested in how these TechTubes will sound. They should be ready (finally) to release them this month:
http://www.techtubevalves.com/
The have a new (for 9-pins) internal structure that uses CRT technology. And at $30 a pop (or so) I'd be willing to try a couple ;-)
.
bicycle_man OP
99 posts
 
Thanks Rodman! I have read good things about the Winged C el34's. The National el34's look nice, too. Great information!

I use the 12ax7's in the pre-amp phono stage.

Cheers!
rodman99999
3,557 posts
 
Happy listening!
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