Favorite Tubes

[DaveCan]

Hi all,
I'm looking for some tubes to try and wonder what peoples favorite resonable costing choices are. Looking for 5y3 rectifier, el84 power and 12ax7,12at7,12u7 input tube choices to try.
Thanks Dave

[SY]

Best 12AT7s I've tried (and I've tried 'em all) were JJ, by far. They're too cheap and easy to get for the fashion set, but for those of us who go for performance over cachet, they're great.

The only good 12AU7 is a dead 12AU7.

[anatech]

Hi SY,

The only good 12AU7 is a dead 12AU7.

I have some meters that beg to differ with you!

Hi Dave,
I like the Electroharmonix the best so far. I have yet to try JJ's. NOS tubes at high dollars are a complete waste of money.

-Chris

[Brian Beck]

I'll take a nasty old 12AU7 over a 2Nxxx or a 3Nxxx, or a 2SKxxx or a BCxxx anyday!

[rdf]

I recently measured JJ EL84s in that application. Really nice but it was necessary to test a few samples to find the pick of the litter. Good ones show a beautifully monotonic decay of distortion harmonics falling quickly into noise, 'decent' samples fall quickly but retain a very long trail of low-level higher harmonic components. The good tubes sound terrific.

At the risk SY's cachet camp one of the big suppliers recently had the 1940s RCA 9002 Navy-tested radar triodes on sale for little over $2 a pop and to my ear they sound fabulous as a CCS-loaded driver with a couple LEDs on the cathode. Measure terrifically in that app too.

[SY]

The curves on the 9002 look very interesting. A nice contender in the medium-mu races. What did the distortion spectra look like?

[rdf]

It's the 7-pin equivalent of the 955 acorn.

955 Acorn tubes

That spectra as I recall was with a couple green LEDs for cathode bias so feedback reduced the third a little. Very quiet tube for hiss and in my application tapping it is audible as a low, well damped "tank" sound over 98 dB efficient speakers. I've read these tubes can be made significantly less susceptible with reduced filament voltage. Nice little unit.

[JojoD818]

Originally posted by SY


The only good 12AU7 is a dead 12AU7.

I'll take a nasty old 12AU7 over a 2Nxxx or a 3Nxxx, or a 2SKxxx or a BCxxx anyday!

I really love this forum.

I got some nos 5y3gt and 5v4 (mostly sylvannia) for my preamps and several 5u4gb, 5R4wgb for my tube amp.

I use 6SN7 mostly for my preamps, some are nos and some are russian new production...

http://www.filehigh.com/serve/13381/219458.jpg

[jlsem]

Best 12AT7s I've tried (and I've tried 'em all) were JJ, by far. They're too cheap and easy to get for the fashion set, but for those of us who go for performance over cachet, they're great.

I personally prefer the RCA black plate and the French-made Amperex 12AT7s in my amp. A friend of mine has VTL 750s and we like the late-production Mullard M8162s in them. How do you use the 12AT7 and what were the sonic merits of the JJs?

John

[DaveCan]

Great info everyone,
I was thinking on trying a RCA 5y3 or a Bendix 6106 and for the el84's I'm not sure yet maybe JJ or some have said the new TAD el84's sound good. My input is a JJ ax7 and sounds pretty nice, I've only had my amp for 1.5 months now so this is all new to me. My amp came stock with a Sovtec 5y3, Sovtec el84's and a JJ ax7 and I love the sound but thought I'd see what some other good choices may be to try. Dave