My new Holy Grail 12AX7

Turmoil · Post by **Turmoil** » Sun 10/15/06 7:04 pm

About a month ago I bought a box of used tubes from a guy who stripped them out of old scientific equipement, to be used as sculpture. I've since been going through this box, and sorting out tubes I can use. All of the big players are in there, but the ones I'm currently diggin' are the Raytheon 12ax7 black plates with halo getters. These are dated 1961, and they sound terrific! Here are some photos of the box-o-tubes, some of the 100 or so tubes I have sorted out, and one of the Ratheons of which I speak.

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l120/ ... type=local

spyder · Post by **spyder** » Sun 10/15/06 8:17 pm

Hey,I got some Raytheons off ebay,some NOS 12ax7's and a 12au7,some used 12au7's.They have black plates and halo getter's.I'm using them in my super lite and I'm very happy with them.I'm saving some of the tubes for my next project.Spyder

Turmoil · Post by **Turmoil** » Sun 10/15/06 9:51 pm

Right on Spyder. I really didn't expect much from these, but I was suprised. I'm using them in all three positions of my TMB.

Tim

dotfret · Post by **dotfret** » Wed 10/18/06 10:28 pm

Raytheon never sold rubbish - very reliable tubes. Got bought out by STC. STC never sold rubbish - very reliable. Both names sold at high prices - not very popular, expensive compared to the rest, but very reliable.
Y learning!

Post by **zaphod_phil** » Thu 10/19/06 5:10 am

I've got a NOS Raytheon 6L6GC in my stash which is pretty nice ... as 6L6s go...

Fredaxis · Post by **Fredaxis** » Thu 10/19/06 5:15 am

I have some Raytheon, EL84 for the TMB, 6V6GTY in my 5E3, some 12AX7 as well, good sounding tubes.
would buy again with no question.

ajkimba · Post by **ajkimba** » Thu 10/19/06 8:31 am

I bought some NOS Raytheon 6V6's from the Sarge for my 5E3.

WoW! These tubes tight'n up the 5E3 beyond anything I expected. Must have been a "hard pair". I love them, seems like the amp is louder too..?

I have another pair of used 6V6 Raytheon's black bases, they must be beat because they don't sound anything like the new ones with the brown bases, smoked glass.

pylet2000 · Post by **pylet2000** » Thu 10/19/06 9:09 am

Completely agree, these tubes are really underrated. I consistantly like the blackplate Raytheon 12AX7 and 12AU7 just as much the RCA blackplate equivalents. You can usually get them cheaper, too.

I have some Raytheon branded 6V6's, but I suspect they are Brimar's, they have "Made in England" on them with black glass, can't see the plates. These aren't as great sounding to me as RCA greyplates, but they are good nonetheless.

Another sleeper when you can turn them up is the RCA 12AZ7. I got a bunch of them for free, and coulnd't be more pleased. It is a lower gain tube, but works in place of a 12AX7 and sounds great in everything I've put them in so far. If you can afford to cut back on gain these are nice round sounding preamp tubes. I'm thinking they have more gain than a 12AY7, but I could be wrong...

Alexo · Post by **Alexo** » Thu 10/19/06 9:16 am

Isn't it funny what brands turn up in NOS tubes? Raytheon makes fighter jets and cruise missiles now, for god's sakes...
As for other brand-you-wouldn't-expect sleepers, I ran into some very nice Motorola tubes... they came in an old Motorola stereo se el84 amp! They are very nice, but are really just "made in England" rebrands.

dotfret · Post by **dotfret** » Thu 10/19/06 5:31 pm

Brands you wouldn't expect - top of my list is National (Japan) - you still find them occasionally in old TV sets, and it is often difficult to see the code on the envelope - but they made their own design 6BQ5 and 12AX7, unlike the other Japanese companies - you get one each per TV - nice fat sound.

engels · Post by **engels** » Mon 10/23/06 4:18 pm

As far as I know, Raytheon was a brand many companies made tubes for. There are Japanese, English and American Raytheons - I've got one really **** old EL84 by Raytheon, I think it's MIJ. The question is - who made your Raytheons.

dotfret · Post by **dotfret** » Tue 10/24/06 9:14 pm

I don't wish to carp, but I've seen National valves marked made in England - Raytheon only made BIG tubes, they bought in the rest - but they never bought rubbish!

KrazyKabs · Post by **KrazyKabs** » Fri 10/27/06 2:56 pm

engels wrote:As far as I know, Raytheon was a brand many companies made tubes for. There are Japanese, English and American Raytheons - I've got one really **** old EL84 by Raytheon, I think it's MIJ. The question is - who made your Raytheons.

Raytheon made Raytheons!

That's like seeing a Mullard 5AR4 relabeled RCA or Sylvania and assuming that RCA and Sylvania didn't make tubes.

Raytheon, like just about every other tube manufacturer had NO PROBLEM re-labeling other manufacturer's tubes for types they didn't make in-house. It also seems they got out of tubes before RCA or Sylvania for instance so you may see Japanese "Raytheons" from the '70s.

BTW Raytheon is still a major supplier of communications gear to the U.S. military just like they always were.

dotfret wrote:Raytheon only made BIG tubes, they bought in the rest - but they never bought rubbish!

That's strange because I have a TON of Raytheon 12AT7s! I have at least one set of Raytheon 6v6s, I'm talking real genuine Raytheon manufactured by Raytheon and not re-labels!

Upon close examination the innards of Raytheon 12AX7s appear to be manufactured on the same tooling as Amperex, if you crack one open and mic the elements they're identical.

One of the hallmarks of Raytheon tubes is that the tube type is etched on the top of the tube near the nipple on their smaller tubes like 12AX7s or EL84s. You may think you've got an Amperex with the lettering rubbed off until you look carefully at the top.

Oh yeah, how about Raytheon 807 tubes?

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