Absolute best tubes for LiteIIB

[FireLewis]

Hi Guys,

Just to mention TAD (tube amp doctor). I try their 12ax7 and love them. A little bit dark but can be a good match witch 18 watt brighty power section. They sound (to my ear) more rich/full then JJ's or EH but I loved the JJ and EH too. I have 2 Mullard reissue (12ax7) one is sound a bit microphonic and the other is ok. I found some similaritys with mullard and TAD but the mullard are less dark maybe a bit more articulated.

I didn't try enough all those tubes, I've just built my first 18 watt 2 weeks ago. But I just wanna mention that TAD are great. In my JCM 800 they sound awesome. Give it a try.

Lewis.

[Brewmaster]

Hi Guys,

Just to mention TAD (tube amp doctor). I try their 12ax7 and love them. A little bit dark but can be a good match witch 18 watt brighty power section. They sound (to my ear) more rich/full then JJ's or EH but I loved the JJ and EH too. I have 2 Mullard reissue (12ax7) one is sound a bit microphonic and the other is ok. I found some similaritys with mullard and TAD but the mullard are less dark maybe a bit more articulated.

I didn't try enough all those tubes, I've just built my first 18 watt 2 weeks ago. But I just wanna mention that TAD are great. In my JCM 800 they sound awesome. Give it a try.

Lewis.

The TAD 12ax7 Tubes are selected chinese 12ax7's. I understand they filter out the noisiest ones.
I like the EH, it has a nice gain structure and a little more high end, a brighter tube overall. They add more clarity to a high gain amp.
I now have several Mullard RI 12ax7's. To the eye they look like a Sovetk LPS which IMHO is the best of the Sovteks. I have to check them out further. I'm undecided on them.

FYI, I find the Chinese 12ax7B to be less noisy and lower gain than the Chinese 12ax7A. They might be your answer for the PI in the 18 Trem.

[dotfret]

12AX7B selected to be lower gain and lower noise than 12AX7A.

And 12AX7C is supposed to be even lower gain and lower noise.

[blackjack]

Does anyone know about or like/dislike the NOS GE el84 tubes?

[jgab]

Try NOS (or good testing used) General Electric 12ax7 tubes. The new production tubes I have tried just don't stack up to the old stuff.


I do blind taste tests to determine what my ears like without knowing the tube I try. Everyone should do things this way so you avoid the NOS hype.

I have tried Telefunken (Germany), RCA (USA), Valvo (H. Germany) that all test great, and they all sound great, but for the money, you won't be disappointed with General Electric.

The GE 12ax7 are still found at a good price and sound great.

I use old Mullard EL84 tubes and they are great.

As long as the EZ81 is functional and tests strong all is well.

Edit: The above findings are from my Lite 2b. Different amplifier models may have different results. Long and short plates are personal preference. Some people say long plates sound better, but they can also be more microphonic. I have used about a dozen long plates and I haven't had a microphonic one yet (even 17mm). I consider it luck.

[blackjack]

Very helpful jgab

I will look around for the GE 12ax7's and a low price always helps

EDIT: Whats the difference between long plates and short plates? You guys recommend which one?

[jgab]

I will be getting a pair of GE EL84 tubes to try later this week. I will keep you posted.

Just remember that if you are concerened about the small details of sound, that just because one pair of GE's (or other brand) sound less than great, doesn't mean the next pair won't sound better. Even new production tubes of the same brand have variences in sound and quality. There are general characteriestics to a brand of tube though. To the general public, certain brand/s will most often sound great (hence the high price of a certain brand/s).

[blackjack]

Gotcha. Ok sweet definately keep me posted with this GE el84s I really want to know how thhey sound


Thanks

[scottyj]

For what it's worth, I have a set of GE EL84's which came out of a Magnatone M-10 that our somewhat ebay compulsive bass player picked up. Since the whole thing was tubed with GE's, they could be the original set and who knows how many hours they have on them.

That said, they still sound so much better than any of the new tubes I have hanging around. Very even frequency response, much more definition. They do seem to break up later, but when they do it is very rich. Can't comment on how they stack up to other NOS brands as I don't have any on hand.

[jcny]

Are they EL84's or 7189A's out of the M-10?
Should be 7189A's, similar to EL84's but can take a MUCH higher voltage.

From what I know, you can use the 7189A's in place of EL84's but NOT the other way around.

And they do sound nice I have an M-10A and an M-15 in addition to my Trinity SIIIv6 18watt and Triwatt.

[scottyj]

Thanks for pointing that out - closer inspection reveals they ARE 7189A's Never noticed that before. Well, back into the M-10 they go since we don't have any replacements hanging around. They do sound really nice in an 18 though.

[timbo_93631]

Got all of the trem issues resolved on my amp now and the reissue Mullards are working out great. So in the end I have:

JJ EZ81
Mullard repro EL84's
Mullard repro 12AX7's

Lots of good breakup, great tone. Amp gets to breakup a little sooner, so it doesn't have to be cranked so much, which my neighbors and family probably appreciate.

[jgab]

Cool.

Do you have a sound clips? I know sound clips are nothing like being there in person, but I would still like to hear those new Mullards. Does anyone know if they are using the same tooling machines to make these new Mullard tubes?

[paulschnettler]

Got all of the trem issues resolved on my amp now and the reissue Mullards are working out great. So in the end I have:

JJ EZ81
Mullard repro EL84's
Mullard repro 12AX7's

Lots of good breakup, great tone. Amp gets to breakup a little sooner, so it doesn't have to be cranked so much, which my neighbors and family probably appreciate.

Timbo, what vendor did you get those Mullard's from. While I'm happy with Sgt. Overdrives tubes. I'm looking to populate a new build with some of those you mentioned.
thanks,
Schnauzer

[timbo_93631]

Bought them off of fleabay. EL84's came from: http://myworld.ebay.com/ctech-electronics-store/
12AX7's came from:
http://myworld.ebay.com/eosada/
Had to get a replacement set of 12AX7's, Ed Osada was great about it, he even refunded my shipping cost to return them back to paypal.

[Brewmaster]

Tube Depot has them, so does Dougs Tubes http://www.dougstubes.com/mullard.html and the Tube Store http://thetubestore.com/mullard.html.

[timbo_93631]

Filmed with my panasonic digital camera, suprised the sound quality was so good considering. Please excuse the junk playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMOWBh5bgtQ

[kyoungsteadt]

The Mullard reissues sound nice. Thanks for posting.

[chabby]

Believe it or not, my favorite cheap tube right now is a Mesa Tube. The tube base sticker is yellow and I believe the color code was either yellow or green.
They are Chinese and Mesa has a QC deal so they really hold to it.

Myself and many of the local area techs have switched to these for our everyday stock tubes for people that don't want to break their budget.

But there is no doubt nos is the way to go and the way I always go unless I can't afford it. I agree with krx when he says its more important on preamp tubes. But it applies to power tubes as well if you can swing. They were just made with better materials by better craftsman on new machinery who knew how to make them.

Its amazing how much longer nos tubes last as well as how few bad events I've had or seen in amps that had them. Modern tubes I see bad failure's all the time no matter how old they are, and I'm talking failures that take out transformers.

[kyoungsteadt]

Chappy,

How do you feel about JJ? I've had pretty good luck with their tubes.

Do the Mesa tubes sound good? I know that is a subjective question, but you know what I mean.