Metropoulos Forum

Dax-The-Ax · Post by **Dax-The-Ax** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:28 am

Is this worth a shit? GE 12AX7.

tonejones · Post by **tonejones** » Wed May 04, 2005 2:44 am

Some people swear by them...supposed to have a bit of a rough/gritty sound quality (so I'm told). If you ever run into sylvanias, they are the same thing (GE made sylvanias tubes).

On an interesting side note I found out that years ago when the old GE plant here in my hometown quit making tubes, Groove Tubes swept into town and bought all the manufacturing equipment.

If only I had known.....

TONEJONES TUBES
Has a ring to it.....

(first matched quad...lol)

Gonzo · Post by **Gonzo** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:37 am

GE 12AX7 are great sounding tubes.So are the Sylvanias.
If you can get some good healthy tubes for a reasonable price I would give them a try.

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Wed May 04, 2005 8:28 am

Frankly ANY vintage 12AX7 is worth jumping on at this point, to my ears they all still sound better than most of the new stuff I've got.
The best sounding Chinese 12AX7's I've had were pretty nice and smooth -- bright, but not obnoxiously so; I thought they were good sounding tubes. When I dug the 40-year-old Telefunkens I rely on now out of my dad's old tube stereo, the difference was amazing, the Telefunkens beefed up the lows and mids so noticeably that even trying to run a Chinese 12AX7 in the phase inverter won't fly, the tone just dropped like a rock. (I don't buy the "best tube in V1" theory, I've gotta have good stuff in all slots because now I've heard what a difference cheaping out in even one position will do to your sound.)
If I don't have enough vintage preamp tubes to go around I'll pop a JJ in the phase inverter, I guess Russian tubes get my call for losing the least fat tone; but I'll take a GE/Sylvania/RCA for a phase inverter in a Marshall or any other amp any day of the week.

myker · Post by **myker** » Wed May 04, 2005 11:30 am

the GE's and Sylvanias and RCA's are very good tubes, even used they smoke current production garbage..
mike

tonejones · Post by **tonejones** » Wed May 04, 2005 3:14 pm

Flames1950 wrote

When I dug the 40-year-old Telefunkens I rely on now out of my dad's old tube stereo, the difference was amazing, the Telefunkens beefed up the lows and mids so noticeably that even trying to run a Chinese 12AX7 in the phase inverter won't fly, the tone just dropped like a rock. (I don't buy the "best tube in V1" theory, I've gotta have good stuff in all slots because now I've heard what a difference cheaping out in even one position will do to your sound.)
If I don't have enough vintage preamp tubes to go around I'll pop a JJ in the phase inverter, I guess Russian tubes get my call for losing the least fat tone; but I'll take a GE/Sylvania/RCA for a phase inverter in a Marshall or any other amp any day of the week.

Man I always wondered about the V1 thing myself. Never been in a situation where I could experiment before.

I guarantee you I will now though!!!!

My plan so far is to get the beast up and running with some JJs. After I'm satisfied all is well and stable, I'm going to start experimenting with a few NOS tubes.

Can anybody describe how much of a difference do the NOS make in the power tube section???

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:42 pm

tonejones wrote:Can anybody describe how much of a difference do the NOS make in the power tube section???

You just started a loooong thread topic there.

tonejones · Post by **tonejones** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:51 am

Allllrighty then.....hint taken

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