Metropoulos Forum

Hi guys. I just won a few GE 12ax7 tubes on ebay. They are the long grey plate ones and says Honeywell on them. Anyone use these?

I have many GE, long and short plates.

Not as good as RCA's or Sylvanias, but better than modern production. A little dry sound, but useable.

GE made a great tube but what you may like yourself, someone else may not. The only way you will ever know is to try several brands in your amp to see what sounds best to you. You may like one brand in one amp but prefer a different brand for another amp. Rolling tubes, especially NOS, can get expensive and addictive but it is the only way you will ever find out what you prefer personally.

The 1959 and 1960 true NOS GE's that tubetramp were selling utterly kick arse at $30 each. Don't know whether the price remains the same nowadays though...

It should also be mentioned that GE made a great number of different types over the years but these early longplates rule.

They look like this and I'm wondering how to date them

They may be labeled GE but they are RCA tubes. The octagon around 12ax7 is the giveaway. I'm sure if you do a google search for RCA date codes you will find some info.

Hard to tell from the pics but the first one looks rather Sylvania like.

One would also suspect the 59-35 would probably mean 35th week of 1959 on that second tube, but given that these are rebranded it can sometimes be a tad confusing.

Thanks guys