# what tubes are you using



## silvertonebetty (Jan 4, 2015)

my mesa is hauling five 12ax7 usa groove tubes for the preamp two russian made solvteck 6l6 and two pm 6l6 to make four 6l6 power tubes. i will be buy four groove 6l6tube those pm power tubes have a rattle to them it annoys me

proud boogie owner


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

JJ El84 quad and Jj 12ax7 quartet in my new (used) Peavey classic 50, Electrohome EL84s and Mullard 12ax7 tubes stolen from an old stereo in my Blackheart.


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## Analogman (Oct 3, 2012)

I have a couple NOS Tungsram EL84's & Tungsol 12ax7's in my Reinhardt, the Tungsram's really brought the life back to the amp. I had JJ's in before but didn't care for them IMO.

In my Toneking Royalist I have whatever Mark stocks them with, I think TAD EL84's & Tungsol 12ax7's, they sound great so I haven't felt the need to experiment yet.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

I use a variety of new production tubes. Mostly JJ or one of the many Mike Matthews brands. The one exception is 5AR4 rectifiers. I only use old stock Mullard/Amperex/Telefunken. They are far superior to any of the new offerings on the market.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Whatever is recommended for the amp at the Tubestore, I'll upgrade to premium, if available.

Pretty well current run tubes, but the rectifiers are NOS as well.

I had some tube rattle in my Carmen Ghia and once I changed out the tubes,
one of the pre-amp tubes sounded like a broken light bulb when shaken.
The rectifier was fried too, as it was blowing fuses.
The extraneous noises were eliminated with the new tubes.


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## silvertonebetty (Jan 4, 2015)

sulphur said:


> Whatever is recommended for the amp at the Tubestore, I'll upgrade to premium, if available.
> 
> Pretty well current run tubes, but the rectifiers are NOS as well.
> 
> ...


lol two power tubes sound like that lol

proud boogie owner


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

I would avoid the Groove Tubes. These Chinese made tubes have had quality issues for some time. Groove Tubes does not manufacture, they buy what they can cheap, and re-label.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

The Ruby 6L6GCMSTR are consistently good, also a Sino tube. Groove Tubes are definitely not the shit, just shit.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

dtsaudio said:


> I would avoid the Groove Tubes. These Chinese made tubes have had quality issues for some time. Groove Tubes does not manufacture, they buy what they can cheap, and re-label.



Damn...I just changed my Peavey valveking 112 to Groove tubes. Ax7's and 6L6's. I should've done more current research I guess. Oh well.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Whatever the jcm800 2203 kit from the tube store is is what I have.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Groove tubes is merely a second party vendor. They do use JJ and Sovtek as well as Chinese. The problem is they're overpriced considering you're buying the same tubes with their label on it.



dtsaudio said:


> I would avoid the Groove Tubes. These Chinese made tubes have had quality issues for some time. Groove Tubes does not manufacture, they buy what they can cheap, and re-label.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

I have seen Groove Tubes, that were re-labelled Sovteks, but not recently. Everything I've seen in the last year or so has been of Chinese manufacture. Not that this is bad, there are some good Chinese tubes out there, but the pricing is out of line for what they are.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I bought a matched set of Mullard NOS tubes for my fender blues junior


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## dropdew (Nov 18, 2014)

JJ high gain ecc83s from Eurotubes are good. I have them in my amp now. I also have a sovtek 12ax7 LPS in v 3. These tubes work good.

Sent from my B1-730 using Tapatalk


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## Rski (Dec 28, 2013)

Most of the twin triodes I use are older 60's or 70's tubes, I had the privilege of scoring several 12AX7 Electrohome tubes, these tubes can last for a long time, rarely a filament craps out. Output tubes, a pair of mixed 6L6 RCA blackplates rest in my drawer, a bit of hum. I've had the best luck with two Sovtec 6L6 last for several years, biased hard, they are durable. Had some early failure with a pair of Electro Harmonix 6L6, found one at a good price, they are good. 

EL34 type work well with one Marshal build of mine, I purchased a pair of Ruby tubes (summer) for a good price, so far they been solid, in the same amp a pair or Sevetlana survived a studio and travelling musician for several gigs, they developed a mild hum, the bases discoloured over the years, pretty good tube. 

My goto amp Big Blue, is sporting a pair of Groove Tubes KT 66 tubes, they are simular to 6L6 signature, they draw a lot of filament power, slow at warming up but have a touch more bottom, the massive size sorta like a muscle show, I guess.


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

I'm using all JJ tubes in my Allen Old Flame currently. I experimented with other brands in the past (in this and other amps) and find the JJ as good as anything. I paid a premium for Winged "C" (SED) 6L6 tubes for instance and actually preferred the JJ.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Sylvania 6L6GC Tubes NOS Clear Top Copper Rods Side O-Gtr Matched Pair for the power tubes, 
RFT NOS matched for the preamp stage, and
Mullard NOS for all the other bits and pieces like tremolo and reverb etc... The amp is at the shop getting an external BIAS setup and the tubes will be installed. Can't wait to try it out in a few days. 93 Brownface vibroverb is the amp 

I had JJ's in my BJr, switched to Mullard and noticed a huge difference. Maybe the JJ's were dead? I have no idea how long the tubes were in their when I bought the amp.


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## Tony65x55 (Mar 7, 2012)

Pretty much standardized on Tung-Sols in the front end and JJs in the power section. Great sound and very few problems.


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## dropdew (Nov 18, 2014)

JJs in power section, JJ high gains I'm v 1 and 2 and a sovtek 12ax7 LPS in phase inverter

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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

I'm not a huge fan of JJ's. I use them sparingly and only in certain sockets. V1 is out as the 12AX7's have a tendency to be or become noisy. I like them for cathode follower and PI position. The Sovtek tubes don't like being used as cathode followers. The JJ power tubes are also a mixed bag, with the pin size debacle of a few years ago I had to stop using them. I still like the 6V6S's, really tough tubes. Overall, the QC just isn't there and the tone can be an issue as well. The JJ 7591 sounds incredibly bad, avoid at all costs. The weight of the 6L6's is an issue in Fender amps where they hang upside down. The 5AR4 is no better or worse than any of the others, mediocre.


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## TRIMIX (Oct 5, 2015)

iam using Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 36

http://hughes-and-kettner.com/products/tubemeister/tubemeister-36/tubemeister-36-head/


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## dropdew (Nov 18, 2014)

knight_yyz said:


> I bought a matched set of Mullard NOS tubes for my fender blues junior


What did that do for your sound? 

Sent from my B1-730 using Tapatalk


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Sorry, but the best I can say, is it sounded better to me than the old JJ's


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## Wileyone (Jul 23, 2011)

Not a big fan of jj's. There kind of silly compared to NOS.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Groove Tubes and or Ruby Tubes


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

GT 6V6's (med Russian glass) & NOS 12ax7's.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Aside from the set of Mesa Boogies I put in the YGM2, all the tubes I use are from the early 70's and older. RCA, Phillips, Marconi, Mullard, GE, etc. and aside from the Mullards say 'Made in Canada' on them. Some are NOS and some are just old tubes that still work. I still have the original tubes I took out of the Traynor.....they still work.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

A lot of those "made in Canada" tubes were made right here in Hamilton at the old Westinghouse plant. They were OEM for a lot of brands. Add Rogers (yes the same Rogers as today) to the ones already mentioned.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

dtsaudio said:


> A lot of those "made in Canada" tubes were made right here in Hamilton at the old Westinghouse plant. They were OEM for a lot of brands. Add Rogers (yes the same Rogers as today) to the ones already mentioned.


Possibly but the Westinghouse 1G3GT and the RCA 1G3GT tubes that I have are physically different. The Westinghouse Radio I have was made in Bramford.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Half way between Brampton and Brantford?


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## Wileyone (Jul 23, 2011)

dtsaudio said:


> A lot of those "made in Canada" tubes were made right here in Hamilton at the old Westinghouse plant. They were OEM for a lot of brands. Add Rogers (yes the same Rogers as today) to the ones already mentioned.


It may be the same Rogers in name. But I would imagine the old Rogers cared about their customers. Because the new Rogers doesn't give a Shyte.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

jb welder said:


> Half way between Brampton and Brantford?


Someplace in Ontario that starts with B.


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## Eric Plante (Mar 8, 2017)

Hi guys,
I play mostly hard rock with a blusy tone. I have a Valveking 112.
Here is my question. What would you consider are the best tubes for my purpose with this amp if you were on a budget?

Thanks.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Groove Tubes used to be good (they'd buy NOS American stuff, test/match, and relabel). Back before the tube resurgence (and before new Chinese production existed). It's a shame really, but I guess there's any number of small to large businesses doing that now (minus the relabeling, which is better; easier to tell what you got).

I have a quad of NOS military surplus (thicker glass) Tesla KT88s in my Sunn 1200s (just replaced the original GE 6550As); the preamp tubes are all the originals as far as I can tell; don't remember the brands. The dual rectifier tubes have been replaced by an octal plug in solid state module (diode bridge - only 1 required vs 2 tubes) - this was done at the factory and all later era 1200ses and 2000ses are like this (the second rectifier socket isn't even wired up; nice that they gave you the option in case sag is what you want and prepunched the chassis/loaded a socket for you).

My Bogen has vintage Sylvania 6L6s (so nice) - all the rest are original tubes including the rectifier - not sure what brands they all are except the rectifier which is RCA/Radiotron.

My Garnet Rebel has all new JJ preamp tubes (I still have the original Garnet-branded Mullards; still good, removed them to save), the reverb driver is NOS RCA (no longer in prod), which replaced the original Westinghouse. The power tubes used to be vintage/original Hit-Rays (when it came to me) but I had to change those out.... Think I put NOS Westinghouse in there, because it's what I had laying about.


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## Eric Plante (Mar 8, 2017)

I tought I was ready to try something new. I found a NOS GE 6L6 GC for 20$. I gave it a try in position V1 in my Valveking 112. It was hard to put it in p!ace. I turned ON and BOUM! The amp went dead! A Blown fuse. Try to remove the tube but the plastic center piece broke in the socket. The plastic was brittle and I had a hard time to get it out of the socket. I succeed but got several pieces...

I changed the fuse today. The amp works now. I wonder if the hum (60hz I think) I hear now was there before or if I am just paranoid after this buzz kiling experience.

I do not think I am going to play with nos anything anymore...


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Eric Plante said:


> Hi guys,
> I play mostly hard rock with a blusy tone. I have a Valveking 112.
> Here is my question. What would you consider are the best tubes for my purpose with this amp if you were on a budget?
> 
> Thanks.


Peavey Valve King 112 Amplifier - Tube Replacement Sets


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Can't tell if that is an epic dry joke or not.

You can't just go changing power tubes (V1 is a preamp tube by the way - a 6L6 won't even fit there) without rebiasing. ESPECIALLY in a push pull and you only change one of the pair. You probably blew a fuse because the bias was so off (for the new NOS tube you inserted - same thing can happen with a new production tube ) that it started drawing too much current. ... or it could have been bad and that's why you got it so cheap; there are scheisters out there.










A lot of people will say that NOS tubes sound better. Whatever, that is subjective anyway (plenty of new prod tubes sound great). The main advantage of NOS is that they are more robust (take higher plate voltages) and last longer (especially when it comes to preamp tubes; 12AX7s etc).


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

I have many NOS 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, and 5751 preamp tubes from the 60's... Tung-Sol, Mullard, Sylvania, GE, Raytheon, Bugle Boy, Telefunken. I also have a great assortment of current production tubes... TAD, Ruby, Mesa, JJ, Sovtek, Mullard, Tung-Sol, Northern Electric, Gold Lion, to name a few. I'm not a huge fan of Groove Tubes as they are not tested consistently like say Mesa or The Tube Store Select.
My honest opinion based on sound quality and frequency range is...

Power Amp Tubes

NOS 6L6 GE are incredible
NOS EL34 Mullard and some Sylvania are incredible
Current Production Shuguang EL34 are incredible
Current Production TAD 6V6 are incredible
Current Production JJ's EL34II are incredible
Current Production EH EL34 are great bang for the buck and sound great

Preamp Tubes

NOS Mullard 12AX7 are incredible
NOS Sylvania 12AX& are incredible
NOS GE 12AX7 are incredible
Current Production TAD 12AX7 Select are incredible
Current Production Shuguang Gen 4 are incredible
Current Production Ruby 12AX7 Select is Incredible
Current Production Mesa Chinese 12AX7 are good bang for buck and very reliable
Current Production Mullard CV4004 Very Good Tube
Current Production Northern Electric 12AX7 will blow anything out of the water!
Current Production Gold Lion Premium are incredible
Current Production TAD 12AX7 Select are incredible

I like NOS and Current Production equally as long as the testing method is great and they are matched properly. In fact I prefer Current Production over NOS as they are priced better and are more readily available plus I can consistently maintain good sound quality and operation of all my amps... new or vintage.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Lemmy Hangslong said:


> Current Production Northern Electric 12AX7 will blow anything out of the water!


For 4 times the price of anything else (new production) they bloody well better! (and that, is the only reason I have not tried them).


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Eric Plante said:


> I tought I was ready to try something new. I found a NOS GE 6L6 GC for 20$. I gave it a try in position V1 in my Valveking 112. It was hard to put it in p!ace. I turned ON and BOUM! The amp went dead! A Blown fuse. Try to remove the tube but the plastic center piece broke in the socket. The plastic was brittle and I had a hard time to get it out of the socket. I succeed but got several pieces...
> 
> I changed the fuse today. The amp works now. I wonder if the hum (60hz I think) I hear now was there before or if I am just paranoid after this buzz kiling experience.


I'll speculate a little here, may not be what happened in your case but I've seen it many times. That black plastic center piece has a tab or 'key' so it can only go in the socket one way. But sometimes you can get it the wrong way and it will be hard to push in. Now depending on where the pins end up it can blow the fuse and damage other parts causing hum. Sound possible so far? Now when you remove the tube the center piece is in there so tight it often breaks off and is left stuck in the socket.


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## Eric Plante (Mar 8, 2017)

_Thanks for the information. By the way I am sorry, I wrote a 6L6 in V1. V1 was clearly a noobie mistake. I have no idea its number. It would be the V# of the 6L6 on the right on the picture few posts above. Also excuse my poor english, you already noticed I speak french right?

Yes I was aware that the black plastic center piece has a tab or 'key' and plugged it accordingly.

For those who are curious, I played on my VK yesterday night and I am please to say I was just being paranoid about the hum and I can now laugh at myself. All good.


_


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

Granny Gremlin said:


> For 4 times the price of anything else (new production) they bloody well better! (and that, is the only reason I have not tried them).


That's true however there is also relative comparison.

Sure you can re-tube your amp with four $15 JJ 12AX7's for the cost of one Northern Electric but your getting a $15 tube. If that tube sounds great, is reliable and has a decent life span then everyone is likely happy.

When you start to compare the Northern Electric to other "better quality" current production tubes like TAD at $54, Gold Lion at $57, the pricing is still higher but they are definitely not the only ones with higher priced tubes and these tubes may be a more cost effective way to get into the higher end tube market without having to drop $375 on one NOS Telefunken 12AX7.

It still comes down to personal choice though and for me I don't care where the tube is made, I don't care how old the tube is, what I do care about is first sound quality then x factor... does that tube positively impact my tone and inspire me to play and is it a more satisfying experience and of course is it reasonable priced?

I have an assortment of harder to find and more expensive NOS tubes that quite frankly I use from time to time but I'm holding onto as they are getting much harder to acquire and I got them before the NOS market went crazy 10 -15 years ago. Problem is I want that audio quality all the time now ( once you hear it it becomes very hard to go back ) and for regular gigging nights and recording projects and I don't want to use the NOS as general purpose.

I'm glad I tried the Northern Electric. It's one of the best 12AX7's on the market today. Its the closest sounding to the Telefunken and it's a fraction of that price. It easily sounds as good as the NOS Mullards I own. Its also one of the few authentic designs with that Mullard flash at start up. That tells me someone cared enough to get it right and didn't skip any of the small details.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

I'm not knocking them (never tried) - just saying, the price is steep and I ain't gonna play for that much (for that price I don't _want_ to like them). You gotta understand: that's prohibitive (never mind their power tubes; a complete nonstarter for replacing my KT88s). I stay away from them for the same reasons I stay away from heroin or cocaine: I can't afford the habit. I am of the mind that the last 5% of performance is not worth 4x the price (or however that saying goes). 

Now I've owned my fair share of vintage 12AX7s - my Garnets came with vintage Mullards in them. In one I left them and in the other I took them out to save for later - swapped in JJs (sound great - didn't A/B but nothing like the mellodramatic things you expect people to say about sucking tone or every bit as detailed or whatever; litterally barely noticed.... but as I said I did not systematically compare). My Ampex tape machines came with Telefunkens and Amperex Bugle Boys. I sold the Teles and BBs cause they're worth too much too keep, and IMHO the JJ ECC8*0*3s (long plate 12AX7 variant, vs their basic ECC83 model which is all you find at most shops - they now have an ECC83MG which is a medium ribbed plate like an Amperex - haven't tried it yet) is every bit as good sounding as a real Telefunken; I have A/Bed them. They do not, however, last as long - that much is true (cue Spandau Ballet), but considering the price of a Telefunken or NE, you could get 4 JJs .... and 4 JJs would easily outlast a single Tele or NE, so it's STILL a better deal (because you don't have to buy all 4 JJs right away). It's the difference between having enough spares for all my amps vs just one.



Lemmy Hangslong said:


> I'm glad I tried the Northern Electric. It's one of the best 12AX7's on the market today. Its the closest sounding to the Telefunken and it's a fraction of that price. It easily sounds as good as the NOS Mullards I own. Its also one of the few authentic designs with that Mullard flash at start up. That tells me someone cared enough to get it right and didn't skip any of the small details.


Sorry, but logically speaking, all it tells you is that someone saw a market opportunity. That does not mean that what you said isn't true (how great and quality built they are); just that we do not have the evidence to support that conclusion. Even if it is an exact clone of a Tele made with love and fairy dust; and even though a real Tele is even more expensive, it does not cost that much to produce them (and I am including amoratized R&D) and you are being taken advantage of in that regard. Then again, that goes for a lot of other gear too.

Double blind testing or it's not valid (that applies to my A/B comparison as well - which is why I rarely ever mention it to anyone). In the information age it is just not acceptable to ignore known psychological fact (if you spent a lot of money on it, your brain will find a reason to support the conclusion that it is in fact better; you have to trick it to eliminate that via blind testing). It's the same reason some people swear they can hear the difference between a standard $5 6' molded IEC power cable and a custom [insert buzzword here] $500 one (despite the miles of Romex between the wall jack and your breaker panel and out to the local transformer station).

I am not saying NE suck, or that they aren't as good as you say. What I am saying is that you don't have the proof to support that claim (and convince me), and even if true, I'd argue they are still overpriced (the whole, comparative price analysis vs a real Telefunken and 'what the market will bear' is BS - I was a Biz major and studied economics; it's the argument people use to justify exorbitant pricing and therefore larger profit margins, though few people will actually tell you that).


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

I enjoyed reading that GG. A good common sense and fact based approach.



Granny Gremlin said:


> I am of the mind that the last 5% of performance is not worth 4x the price


The quote holds true. Also I should say here that I'm not trying to convince anyone to try anything. If through experimentation and actual listening combined with fact over snake oil and sensible economics anyone finds a tube that meets all their requirements and they are happy with it overall then that's the one to go with. It appears for me the tolerance for spending a few extras dollars is a bit different than yours and hey that's fine with me I'm not going to tell you how to spend your money.
One thing I did not mention is that I did blind test 10 12AX7's in the first position. I had a friend of mine who is a vintage Fender tube amp and NOS tube enthusiast and collector do it because he challenged me to tell the difference in a blind test. I was able to tell the difference between a 60's Mullard and a current production CV4004 and I also was able to identify a no name Chinese tube that came out of a current production Marshall and I was able to identify the TAD, the Northern Electric and JJ. Could not pick out the gold Lion, Shuguang 4th Gen, Tube Store Select, or Ruby.

Could I duplicate this or did I get lucky... probably a bit of both but I can tell you of all the ones I got right the two Mullards were the hardest to distinguish between and I was surprised I got it right. The rest to me were obvious


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

I'm intrigued. More details about your test procedure please.


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