# Which of these 12ax7 tubes should I use?



## ledfloyd (Apr 1, 2011)

I have an Egnater Tweaker head with 6L6s for Power tubes currently. Are any one of these 12ax7 tubes better than the others?


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

"Better" is pretty subjective. If it were me, I'd try them all and see which ones you like. I have had luck with JJ tubes though.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

TWRC said:


> "Better" is pretty subjective. If it were me, I'd try them all and see which ones you like. I have had luck with JJ tubes though.


That's good advice.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I've had really good luck with old Sylvanias. The Silvertone could be a Mullard or RCA, I'd for sure try it. Phillips can be hit or miss. The Mesa, JJ, & Ruby are rebranded modern production (Sovtek likely, though there are others). Could be higher gain, could be quieter or noisier...hard to tell without sticking them in there.


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## Astroman86 (May 6, 2010)

is there much of a difference in tube brands? i just replaced my Fender 6L6's with Mesa ones, and my EHX 12ax7s with Groove Tubes. My amp sounds the same. I can hardly notice a difference.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

i dont hear a diff either, astroman.

i swapped my ac15 tubes from the stock chinas to tung sol and JJs.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I find that there's a huge difference. For example when I used to own a Fender Tweed Deluxe, I used to run a Sovtek 12AX7WB in the tube socket furthest from the 6L6's. It gave the amp a grittier tone that I was after at the time (all biased of course). On my AC30, I've noticed that Russian tubes give a bit more gain and Chinese tubes add a touch more highs. I currently have a mixture between JJ and Ruby tubes in my amp and notice more headroom than the previous tubes mentioned. Again, this is all subjective but it's the conclusion that I have come up with playing around with various tubes over the years. 



Astroman86 said:


> is there much of a difference in tube brands? i just replaced my Fender 6L6's with Mesa ones, and my EHX 12ax7s with Groove Tubes. My amp sounds the same. I can hardly notice a difference.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

#1 Sino; #2 Indian, like it says, Mullard copy?; #3 Sino; #4 Philips; #5 Sino; #6 Sylvania; #7 Not sure here, possibly Tesla; #8 Sylvania; #9 Sylvania; #10 JJ. Use whichever you like the best.


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## ledfloyd (Apr 1, 2011)

Thanks for the info and Feedback


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

By the way - a 7025 is a lower gain higher fidelity version of a 12AX7 / ECC83. 'Mil-spec', if you will. Use it if you want a little less grit and background noise and a bit more clarity.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

As many have already said, which one will be better to your ears only you can tell.

One thing is for sure however - new production tubes are nowhere near the quality of NOS tubes. And NOS doesn't mean you _have_ to go out and purchase a Telefunken or an Amperex BugleBoy. You can find very, very good NOS preamp tubes for $20-30 that will perform very well as tone generator (V1 position).

As you're already on the on preamp tube tone quest, I'd strongly recommend that you also have a good look at the Phase Inverter of your amp for a NOS replacement as well. Very important tube as well in your amp's circuitry.

Is the Tweaker a solid state or Tube Rectifier amp?? If it's a Tube Rectifier, I'd also invest in a NOS rectifier. They can get a little expensive (especially the 5AR4's), but for reliability, they can't be beat.

There are really good tube dealers out there. In Canada, [email protected] TheTubeStore is a real top notch guy to deal with. In the US, I've both tubes from Brent @ Brent Jesse Audio Recordings @ www.audiotubes.com.

Good luck in your search.

Ben


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