12AX7 EH... no glow

[Colin_D]

Never tried these before today, but the heaters look really weak and dull next to other brands. (JJ, GT, NOS Mullard) I know that tubes vary from brand to brand but I've never seen something like this. It took about 45 seconds till I could even see the heaters glowing. I was told they would be bright & gainy compared to JJ's. They're actually darker/more quiet sounding. Definitely not the shimmering highs & jangly mids I was expecting. Tested OK in my tester, but what's normal for these things?

[leslie]

"One other note about the construction of these tubes is they have filaments that are almost completely encased in the plate structure. They often don't "light up" when working properly. This is not a problem, it's normal for the 12AX7-EH."
http://thetubestore.com/ehx12ax7.html