Hi
I am new to tubes and wish to procure one of the following 12ax7 tubes:
1. Amperex Bugle Boy
2. Mazda Silver Plate Triple Mica or 2 Mica
3. Siemens Long Plate
Let me know the best way to get these tubes.
www.audiotubes.com is the recommended website for procuring these tubes.
What are the other options?
Thank you in anticipation.
Hi
I have sourced many tubes from Brent Jesse. Very reliable. Buy blindly.
Sound signatures of the tubes are described well by Brent on his site. Go by what he says.
Here's my two paisa. (I have had most of the models he carries in the 12au7 flavor which is a low gain 12ax7). All tubes take 50 to 100 hours to burn in. Don't judge it till then. Usually whatever you feel is lacking will fill in with burn in.
1. The best tube is the Telefunken smooth plate. Eventually you will come back to this tube. It extends fully, very clean. Like looking out of a thick pane of very clean glass. It isn't lean yet has no fat.
2. Amperex - be careful. They have a million models. From experience anything below 150 usd sounds too fuzzy. The 1950s d getters are superb. But amperex is too fuzzy overall. You will like the added harmonics but eventually you'll get bored of the fuzz.
3. Mazda - I haven't tried the chrome or nickel plates but the entry level one that I tried was like thermocol sounding. Buy the Telefunken instead.
4. Siemens - ive never had good luck with siemens. If you must buy them go with the 1960s or earlier. They are like the Telefunken but have a larger image. I find the image smearing everything else. But it may work if your equip extends to deliver a very thin sound.
5. Mullard - sounds like mush. Again I've only tried the lower end model. But it has no edge to it. It's like everything has no borders only mushiness.
6. Sylvania - the gold brand take forever to burn in. They are dry sounding and have a slight suck out and nasalness in the mids. However the dry sound can sound lovely if you want your system to sound like old school vinyl.
7. GE - very neutral tube but doesn't have any highs or lows. Probably has the most natural male vocal but the lack of highs kills any appeal. Again in the right system it can be superb especially if the setup has a tendency to deliver a V shaped sound. In my setup which already tends to the warm side it sounds too damped. In a faster system I can see it delivering though.