Metropoulos Forum

In this thread list your favotite NOS 12ax7 or equivilent.
Where you use them (V1,V2,V3)

And a brief discription Of what they sound like in your amp

This will help all new to NOS reference these Great tubes .

Also what amp do you have ?(Metro 68, Marshall JMP etc)
Is it modded? If so What Mod

metro superbass...

v1 - with mullard 161 0r 163, sweet midrange, late compression, and general warm grind when pushed, handles being pushed by pedals well. 70's tungsrams are similar in all respects except not quite as strong in the mids, take a while to burn in too but also a great tube. i have a stash of others, rca, telefunken, amperex etc, they all sound great but if it ain't broke...


v2 - anything strong and neutral, I've got an rca short plate in thr right now, seems fine. haven't touched it in ages

v3 - tesla( not jj ) e83cc because they're bulletproof, i got lucky and bought a dozen of these real cheap last year. i got my amp guy to test them and they were all super strong, i ran one for a year and tested it again, it hadn't flinched after 3-4 gigs a week almost every week so that's why i use them. the difference i heard with changing tubes in v3 was like improving your hifi. the teslas have the biggest soundstage to my ears, like upgrading your OT, the tesla's helped the amp bloom.

My personal favourite for British sounds is the Tungsram, because no other tube does have this knocky, woody and nonetheless tight tone.

The Mullard's are similar, but I don't like it too much, because they are too fat soundwise IMO and slower in response, compared to the Tungsram's.

Another mullard-ish sounding tube I like sometimes is the Brimar. Again similar to a Mullard, but slender in its overall sound and not as boomy, as the Mullard.

Although, my 2-nd favourite is the orig. Tesla (not JJ!) with the factory code '32' and the gold pins and I like it due to its smooth, silky sound with the nice & mild presence. My favourite in fender-ish amps, but also for British sounds as i.e. tone amp tube, loop recovery stage, aso.

Another one of my 'out of the row' favourite is the Telefunken smooth plate, but never as V1 or as V2! I very much like it as the PI tube, because it makes IME the power stage work more stable than any other tube brand in this spot.

Larry

novosibir wrote:My personal favourite for British sounds ist the
Although, my 2-nd favourite is the orig. Tesla (not JJ!) with the factory code '32' and the gold pins

Larry

Hi Larry, i got one here with codes '37' and 'C5', bet mine are the duds I gotta check the rest of them but i've got a feeling they're all the same.

No, they aren't the duds, just a tad more raw sounding, compared to the 32's w/ the gold pins.

Even among the 'gold pins' still are slightly differences and the ones with the yellow printing are still a tad smoother sounding than their younger 'sisters' with the white printing on it.

Just about the thumb: Yellow prints are from the 60' to early 70' - white prints are 70' to early 80'

The 37's all are 80' and also have been produced in another plant in the former Czechoslovakia - the number was indicating the plant number

Larry

Not AX7's but tone, tone, and more tone.

Metro Amp JTM 45 2x12 combo
V1 - Mullard AT7
V2 - RCA black plate AT7
V3 - Tesla AX7
Power Tubes - a pair of Mullard EL34's

100 Watt Super Lead Stack
V1 - RCA black plate AU7
V2 - RCA black plate AY7
V3 - Tesla AX7
Power Tubes - quad of late 60's very early 70's RFT's.

These tube values allow the amps to be cranked to 5-6 which actually makes the power tubes do most of the work. Power tube overdrive is a very different animal than pre-amp overdrive. Both amps have balls and real vintage tone. I also use a special, hand made Nau Engineering Spoonfull Overdrive/Boost pedal. This pedal is the best $150 ever spent on any type of external tone enhancement.

my faves for '60s 100w super lead amps are:

V1 siemens&halske, tungsram, tesla e83cc "32", philips heerlen I63 or I65
V2 heerlen I63 (havn't tried much else except cheap garbage here...)
V3 TFK smooth plates, tesla e83cc, tungsram

Tungsram are Raznov right? Waht are the nuances??

5150loveeddie wrote:Tungsram are Raznov right? Waht are the nuances??

No! Tungsram are Budapest, Tesla 32 are Roznov.

Larry

5150loveeddie wrote:Tungsram are Raznov right? Waht are the nuances??

Tungsram has alot of gain and a very nice sparkle, quite close to mules but more sparkle on top and maby abit more gain. They seem to sound the best paired up in V1 and V3

Roznov has less gain and has a fantastic balance and (darker)mid focus. Some amps just love them in V1 and V3 together, JCM800 fex...

S&H of Munich mfg has the roznov focus in spades along with the tungsram gain, very woody and knocky. They rule my world for V1!

novosibir wrote:

5150loveeddie wrote:Tungsram are Raznov right? Waht are the nuances??

No! Tungsram are Budapest, Tesla 32 are Roznov.

Larry

AH ok thx.........

My only experience w/ NOS tubes are a Mullard, Amperex and 2 vintage Telsas I bought for my Mojave as well as a bunch of current production tubes. I tried a ton of different combos, but the amp was voiced dark enough, the mullard and Amperex sounded a bit muddy in V1, even though the nature of their breakup was IMHO way better than the current production stuff. I finally just got pissed and sent it to David Bray to get it modded. I'm gonna try them all again when I get it back. I noticed some guys commenting on the similarity of the Tungsram w/ the Mullard. Any recommendations for something in the Mullard vein but with a bit more top-end extension and grit. Based on what I've read, I was thinking maybe an RFT, Sylvania, Tungsram or a Mazda Grayplate for V1?

StuntDouble wrote:My only experience w/ NOS tubes are a Mullard, Amperex and 2 vintage Telsas I bought for my Mojave as well as a bunch of current production tubes. I tried a ton of different combos, but the amp was voiced dark enough, the mullard and Amperex sounded a bit muddy in V1, even though the nature of their breakup was IMHO way better than the current production stuff. I finally just got pissed and sent it to David Bray to get it modded. I'm gonna try them all again when I get it back. I noticed some guys commenting on the similarity of the Tungsram w/ the Mullard. Any recommendations for something in the Mullard vein but with a bit more top-end extension and grit. Based on what I've read, I was thinking maybe an RFT, Sylvania, Tungsram or a Mazda Grayplate for V1?

Sylvania or RCA

About how much do these NOS Tungsram go for?

Is there a particular Tungsram to look for?

joshwilson3 wrote:About how much do these NOS Tungsram go for?

Is there a particular Tungsram to look for?

Found em here for $55.00-$60.00 a pop; I'm gonna get one and a Sylvania

http://www.tubemonger.com/Tungsram_60s_ ... _p/703.htm
http://www.kcanostubes.com/products/33/ ... -12AX7.htm