Off Topic. Wich tubes for ART Preamp?

[pcmusicpro]

Hello

I want to change the stock chinese tubes that come in my ART's MPA Gold tube preamp. Can any of you reccomend me a brand?

Mesa Boogie
Mullard
Electro Harmonix
Groove Tubes
Tung Sol
Ruby

Thanks

Ed.

[merdave]

For my Tube AMP Studio I got the 12AX7 which I can recommend;
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Some like the 12AU7 better;
http://www.amazon.com/Electro-Harmon...1767898&sr=1-3

these are both Electro Harmonix.

[pixeltarian]

original (non reissue) Genalex Gold Lion

[pcmusicpro]

Originally Posted by merdave

For my Tube AMP Studio I got the 12AX7 which I can recommend;
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Some like the 12AU7 better;
http://www.amazon.com/Electro-Harmon...1767898&sr=1-3

these are both Electro Harmonix.

I used electro harmonix in my Marshal JCM900 Combo wich I had to sell later. Nice tubes, certainly the amp sounded brigther than with the old Groove tubes it had.

What are the tubes that come inside the expensive tube gear?

Maybe with a pair of those my cheap preamp will sound a little better.

Thanks.

Ed.

[vassago]

Originally Posted by pcmusicpro

Hello

I want to change the stock chinese tubes that come in my ART's MPA Gold tube preamp. Can any of you reccomend me a brand?

Mesa Boogie
Mullard
Electro Harmonix
Groove Tubes
Tung Sol
Ruby

Thanks

Ed.

I use tung sol, the new production, no need for the gold, just the regular ones. They are more even than electro harmonix and with less high end bite which can be irritating when listening for long periods. Tung sol also have a little less projection than most 12ax7, which is good for a preamp since it gives you more clean headroom.

Groove tubes usually add high end and I personally don't like them at all. They are harder to work with and tend to distort too easily and not in a good way.

Ruby tubes are very good but will cost you an arm and a leg, they are very similar to Tung sol, so I can't say they are bad, far from it, but they are too expensive for what you get, you can get NOS Military Phillips for the price of Rubys.

Mullard, you can't really go wrong but they might lack definition on the low end. Depending on what you use it for, like a bass preamp, they may not be very good. Also, good Mullards are NOS so = $$$$ and they can be hard to find, especially matched pairs.

Mesa...nope...nada...no love there...not at all. They should stick to making amps and leave making tubes to others.

[soundprizm]

I have Sovteks type 7025/12AX7WA in mine. I don't know too much about tubes, but they seem to get the job done! Not sure how they compare to the Tung Sol's, but I heard that Tung Sol's are the way to go.

[vassago]

Originally Posted by soundprizm

I have Sovteks type 7025/12AX7WA in mine. I don't know too much about tubes, but they seem to get the job done! Not sure how they compare to the Tung Sol's, but I heard that Tung Sol's are the way to go.

I find that sovtek are cheap and get the job done as you said. They can be a bit harsh in a context with a lot of high end and they can be microphonic since production quality is uneven but when you get good ones they can be more than enough without breaking the bank. Sovteks are always better than Chinese tubes however, and most Electro Harmonix are made at the same plant that the sovteks, just in a different wing or the plant.

[merdave]

Ruby tube http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-ECC83-12A...pr_product_top

$12.99 + S&H

[xpander]

Sovtek, EH, Tung Sol (reissue), Mullard (reissue), Genalex Gold Lion (reissue) and Svetlana (not original) are made in Reflektor factory in Saratov, Russia. From these New Sensor tubes I like the Tung Sol reissues the most. Bright and loud but not too harsh. I've wanted to try Genalex RI too, but I can get some NOS tubes at those prices. For me the rest are nothing special, but that could be said about most of the current production anyway.

SED tubes (original Svetlana) made in St. Petersburg, Russia. Also known as Winged C. To me their 12AX7 have been just regular, but I depend on their EL34s, good stuff.

EI tubes from Nis, Serbia used to be a little bit of hit and miss, but the good ones were pretty sweet. I still have some old EI ECC83s along with the new production (also gold pin) and much prefer the older. The gold pin stuff seems to be more of a gimmick anyway.

JJ Electronic tubes from Cadca, Slovakia. Former Tesla, unfortunately at that. Reliability problems, like with many others. Their 12AX7 could be described as warm or even dark.

Liuzhou in China makes, or at least used to make Golden Dragon tubes...never tested any myself.

Shuguang tubes from Changsha, China. Sometimes called Sino. Their 12AX7 seem to be on the bright side, have good gain and are nowadays pretty reliable too. Many guitar amp manufacturers use these relabeled as their own. Also sold as Ruby, as well as GT 12AX7C etc. I'd go for the "real" Shuguangs without brand labels and higher price, although at the slight risk of not that good screening.

That's about it for regular audio tubes these days. Not too many plants around anymore and quality is not quite like the old production, often not meeting the given specs, not to even mention reliability. For example Telefunken gave their tubes a minimum lifespan of 10000 hours and even up to 100000 hours! But NOS pays big money these days.

Pcmusicpro, since you already have Chinese tubes, it seems you might wanna try some european or russian ones. Notice that for example Groove Tubes relabels (after their testing) the russian and chinese tubes...R and C suffix, respectively. There's no "trusting" the other brand names either. Mesa could be chinese, Marshall has some russian and at least used to have chinese etc. Funny market it is.

[vassago]

Originally Posted by merdave

Ruby tube http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-ECC83-12A...pr_product_top

$12.99 + S&H

:O That's what I call a price drop...last time I checked them they were 70$ a pop!

[pcmusicpro]

Thanks Vassago. I just ordered 2 pairs of Tung Sol tubes in Guitar Center.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Tungsol-...31-i1125622.gc

Hope they'll sound nice.

Thanks

Ed.