trinityamps.com

I'd like to get some opinions on this. Best Tone - Most Reliable.
Best Price - Where?

For starters, heres an alphabetical list .

Chinese Shuguang 12AX7-A
Ei Elite 12AX7-E
Ei Elite Gold pins 12AX7EG
Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH
Groove Tube GT-12AX7-C
Groove Tube GT-12AX7-M
Groove Tube GT-12AX7-R series
Ruby Tube 12AX7A-C4
Sovtek 12AX7-LPS
Sovtek 12AX7-WA
Sovtek 12AX7-WB
Sovtek 12AX7-WC
Svetlana 12AX7
Tesla (JJ) ECC83-S / 12AX7 [Short Plate]
Tesla ECC803S [Long Plate]
Tung-Sol 12AX7

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

I'll play ...

Chinese Shuguang 12AX7-A - A little harsh in an already bright amp, but a good utility tube. Hangs in there and has a good frequency response.

Ei Elite 12AX7-E
Ei Elite Gold pins 12AX7EG - both of these are about the same. A very good sounding tube, but prone to microphnics. The elite are better than the normal ones, but they can become microphonic at any time. But if it doesn't it is a great sound.

Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH - Not very exciting, but is a good tube in Fender style amps where a 7025 is called for. Not a bad sound at all, but not my first choice in a Vox or Marshall. Not as much gain as others, but a good sound.

Groove Tube GT-12AX7-C - Just a rebranded Shuguang - see above

Groove Tube GT-12AX7-M - A great tube when it came out. Very old school sound and gets nice and woody when distorting. Unfortunately, recent production has been a little unreliable. A little pricey to take a chance now. I used to love these when they first came out, but with the reliability issues, cheaper NOS are a better way to go.

Groove Tube GT-12AX7-R series - A Sovtek of some kind, depends on the number after the R (R1,R2). Not a great tube in my opinion. Very dependable but the mids get cloudy.

Ruby Tube 12AX7A-C4 - Another rebranded Shuguang. See above.

Sovtek 12AX7-LPS - very much like the EH. Not good in a cathode follower position but a solid tube.

Sovtek 12AX7-WA - Very reliable but not great sounding. Not a lot of gain.

Sovtek 12AX7-WB - more gain than the WA, but pretty boring.

Sovtek 12AX7-WC - Never heard one of these, but probably like the WA or WB.

Svetlana 12AX7 - Very rare. Never got to hear one, but reports are it isn't a great guitar amp tube.

Tesla (JJ) ECC83-S / 12AX7 [Short Plate] - This is probably one of the best all around tubes made today. Seems voiced with a mid to make up for a Mesa style amp's mushiness. Good sound and reliable.

Tesla ECC803S [Long Plate] - can be harsh, but also good sounding. More gain than the JJ ECC83S. I like the ECC83S more.

Tung-Sol 12AX7 - I have only played with this briefly, but my 1st impression is this is a great sounding tube for Fender style amps. A full sound, but very much in the RCA tradition. Not a very Mullard-like tone, which is fine. Best Russian pre made today.


Of those listed, I'm regularly using the Shuguang, GT-12ax7-M (generally older production) and Tesla ECC83S. Most of the time these are mixed and I'm using NOS in the first few stages (Mullard and Brimar generally; RFT are great when in distortion all the time).

If I had to choose one and only one, right now it would be the JJ ECC83S. It seems to be the best of all worlds, between reliability and tone.

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Richard Johnson
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Playing an insturment doesn't make you a musician, listening does

From my experience:
Ei Elite 12AX7 – sound excellent, detailed, balanced with a hint more topend. All types are microphonic or prone to microphonics even if they initially aren't (only took me a month). Hard to find a good set which is a shame because it's one of the better sounding 12ax7 in my book.

Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH – o.k slightly better than the sovteks.
Sovtek 12AX7-LPS – very average sounding, I found muddy in bottom end
Sovtek 12AX7-WA – cardboard tone
Sovtek 12AX7-WB – cardboard tone
Sovtek 12AX7-WC – cardboard tone
I'd forget the russian stuff.

Tesla (JJ) ECC83-S / 12AX7 [Short Plate] – To me was the best current one until shuguang improved their game. Great for rock tones, punchy, ballsy with a hint of midrange.

Chinese Shuguang 12AX7-A -9th gen the best current production tube, consistent and the most balanced on tone, c version apparently even slightly better. And good thing one of the cheapest too. $4-5 a pop from www.vintagelectron.com Buy from reputable sellers otherwise you may end up with some microphonic ones

Some NOS:
GE 12ax7 – Bright sounding but nice
RFT funkwerks 12ax7 – One of the best I’ve heard, real gainy tube and gives significant kick up in the bottom end of your amp but remains tight, really superb tube for rock/blues.

For me I use JJecc83s and Shuguang but be interested in trying some of the others like tesla etc

What those guys said. + this from DavidB on the Univalve forum.

[quote]The discussion on the 5751 thread prompted me to pull out a bunch of 12AX7s that don’t cost an arm and a leg, to see how they sound in comparison to one another. Here is a summary of how I heard it on initial impression, playing each set of preamp tubes relatively briefly. Your tastes may differ. All of these tubes are available for $10 to $15 each.

The listening set-up was two Univalves running matched RFT (“Siemensâ€

Has anyone tried the JJ ECC803 S? It is a long plate version of their 12ax7.

I find them to be harsher sounding and much higher gain. Not my favorite for classic tones, but probably a great tube for modern high gain stuff.

_________________
Richard Johnson
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Playing an insturment doesn't make you a musician, listening does

I recently bought a trio of Marshall 12ax7's from antique electronics, I dont know who makes them but they come in a nice little Marshall box, All of them are microphonic to some degree & one of them is just unusable.
I see someone said something good about those cheep chinese 12a's & I bought 3 of them but I havent tried them in anything because I hate looking at them - the innards of them just look cheep, like a toy or a harbor freight drill.
Usually im happy just to run across 3 pre-amp tubes that arnt microphonic . I do like the Ei Elite but like Daz said they usually ring like a bell. I have 4 of the new tung-sol's that I have yet to try, sometimes Im scared to try new tubes because Im pretty sure they arnt going to perform up to my standards, although I have yet to pull a tube out & throw it at the wall or stomp on it.
If there was 1 brand of tube that sounded good (not great) & worked right every time thats the one I would use, what is it about the tube manufacturing process that makes them so inconsistent, it cant be a cost cutting thing because even the expensive ones are a crap shoot.
JOE

I've got one in my Garmen Chia clone...in V1. I really have to pull it and swap it with a JJECC83s, since I've no point of comparison...but the 803S does have a brightness to it that I like...that I do know...

Sovtek WA, WB, WC - Very reliable tubes. Many manufacturers use them as their stock tubes because they have very low microphonics. Tone is average at best, falling a bit flat on my ears.

Sovtek LP, LPS - Better than the W series, good in higher gain applications where treble emphasis is desired. Pretty average sounding tube otherwise.

EH - Their 12AX7 is a very good utility tube. Used in concert with other tubes to enhance tone, it can be a good addition to any amp. Sort of in the RCA vein, but less exciting than RCA. Very quiet operation and very low microphonics.

Tung-Sol - A much better approximation of RCA tone. This is my current favorite in Fender style circuits. Warm, balanced, detailed, and clear. Also benefits from low microphonics and low noise.

JJ ECC83S - Has a British type voice, but a little harsh and brittle to me. I don't share the opinion of some other posters that this is one of the best new tubes. It is a good tube, but I find using them in moderation (mixed with other tubes) is the best approach. I liked the ECC83 better. About 10% of these are bad right out of the box.

JJ ECC803S - Very high gain. Similar in tone to the 83S, but harder.

12AX7M - I've found the opposite of Richard to be true. Early ones sucked big time. Even if you managed to get a good one, it would go bad within a week. Their good tone was betrayed by their poor reliability. Horrible tubes. Newer tubes seem to be much better as QA has improved at the factory. This is my current favorite for British style circuits, although it doesn't really compare with an actual Mullard.

Ei and Ei Elite - I love this tube. I hate this tube. I think at least 50% of these have been bad. Most of the good ones have gone bad. Some of the most microphonic tubes I've ever heard. So bad that my 7 year-old son stomping around upstairs can cause my amp to feed back when it is downstairs. It's really amazing. It is also really a shame because this is IMHO the best sounding new production tube out there! (Editor's note: The Ei EL84 is IMHO the best sounding EL84 out there, and it is pretty reliable. But they won't take the punishment that JJs or EHs will.)

Svetlana - Are we talking about the new Svetlana or the old Svetlana (Winged C SED)? The WC tubes sound great but are really bad about microphonics. These are similar in tone to the Ei, but suffer some the same problems. I haven't heard the new Svetlana yet.

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--s2
www.s2amps.com
www.category5amps.com

S2,

That's kind of funny about our two differing experiences with the 12ax7M. Maybe I did better on the old ones because I got them through Dave's Tubes and KCA, both of who screen all tubes they sell. I've just found the gain of the newer ones not to be as consistant as the older ones so I have to go thrugh a couple to get the kind of gain I want. I also agree they really aren't the same as a NOS Mullard BUT they are the closest new production tube to them, besides the Eis. If Ei could ever solve the microphonics issues they'd rule the world, because it is a great sounding tube. I really love the tone of their EL84s, but the JJ EL84s also sound pretty good too. The Sovteks are like everything else they make, reliable and uninspiring.

_________________
Richard Johnson
-------------------
Playing an insturment doesn't make you a musician, listening does

In an sIII or TMB:

Ei Elite 12AX7-E - Used these in my first 2 18 watts. Beautiful sounding tube. Creamy, mid gain but serious microphonic issues.

Chinese Shuguang 12AX7-A - Moved to these for all my 18 watts. Nice hi gain tube. Good bite to it. Some quality issues.

Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH - Robust, mid-gain, tube, pleasant sounding. Liked by all who heard it. Was my main tube until I had issues with certain date code in V2 position

JJ ECC83s - is about to be tested. Report will be forthcoming.

Rest of tubes used in builds were NOS types.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Have pretty well settled on the JJ ECC83-S / 12AX7
Use latest Chinese for more gain/bite.

For power tubes, Again, JJ but use Military EL84M under severe conditions, nice & meaty.

We would tweak tubes for a special sound under some condtions.

_________________
Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps