jonamojo
Active member
I have quite an assortment of NOS and newer 12AX7's , so I thought I'd post the results I found. I played through a 1957 custom shop heavy relic, and a 1952 tele reissue with a humbucker in the neck ala keith style. So mind you , my final choices may not work for you if you are using a les paul or something else with a humbucker in the bridge.
these are the tubes tested
sovtek 12AX7WA
JJ ECC83S
Tungsol 12ax7 reissue
Mesa boogie STR 12ax7-A smooth tall grey plates made in yugo look like telefunken's
Jan phillips 12ax7 NOS made in 1987
Mullard I63 NOS short plates
GE 12ax7 short plate used
GE 12ax7 long plate used
Sylvania long plate 1957 used halo getter
Sylvania short plate NOS 1950's D getter
Telefunken 12ax7/ECC83 tall smooth plates
Amperex 12ax7/ecc83 bugle boys I6?/delta 2I1 NOS small halo getter
Amperex12ax7/ecc83 I66/delta 4H3
EI grey plates, same tube as the old mesa's
sovtek 12ax7lps 3 from 1999
I stuck the sovtek lps's in the effects send and the reverb return for all tests.
My power amp is a mesa 50/50 with NOS mullard in V1 and telefunken NOS smooth plates in both PI positions.
Channel A drives a pair of Groove Tubes 6L6GE's
channel B drives a pair of Sylvania Str-415's NOS
So, here we go the sovtek 12ax7wa is a decent tube though rather plain,not much gain and a little treblely. pretty sturdy no microphonics and low noise.
The jj ecc83s was harsh to the bone. I have 7 of these so I tied different ones, but in every position they lacked character, remember I'm playing through a strat. On the bridge pickup they sound thin, with no body these were easily the worst in my opinion.
The tungsol reissue's performed quite well,nice bottom end, good mids, decent highs. They sounded similar to the jan phillips but not quite as well rounded.
The sylvania long plate sounded bold chime nice gain with buttery top end.
The sylvania short plates had a beautiful range with nothing accentuated smooth lows plump mids buttery top.
The telefunken smooth plate sounded great anywhere beautiful tone low noise more mids then the americans less top end.
The amperex have less gain then the rest of these tubes and since I'm running pickups with relatively low ohm's they didn't perform so well. Though I will say in V1 nothing sparkled like these.
The GE tall plate was used and had a slight hum other wise it was balanced with a full sound nice lows round mids smooth top
The GE short plate faired alot better low noise somewhat subdued lows strong mids subdued top real close to a real mullard.
The mullard I63's had a nice bottom plump mids and somewhat reserved top end very low noise with lots of gain, growling gain no fizz here
The Ei tall grey plates made in yugo are a copy of the tele's, they have more gain but are not as detailed or defined but were head and shoulders above the jj's and the sovteks, and the tungsols.
So, this is how it worked out
1 clean channel=sylvania short plate
2 dirty channel=mullard I63
3 Lead channel 1=telefunken smooth plate
4 lead channel 2 EI grey plate
anyways happy new year to all
these are the tubes tested
sovtek 12AX7WA
JJ ECC83S
Tungsol 12ax7 reissue
Mesa boogie STR 12ax7-A smooth tall grey plates made in yugo look like telefunken's
Jan phillips 12ax7 NOS made in 1987
Mullard I63 NOS short plates
GE 12ax7 short plate used
GE 12ax7 long plate used
Sylvania long plate 1957 used halo getter
Sylvania short plate NOS 1950's D getter
Telefunken 12ax7/ECC83 tall smooth plates
Amperex 12ax7/ecc83 bugle boys I6?/delta 2I1 NOS small halo getter
Amperex12ax7/ecc83 I66/delta 4H3
EI grey plates, same tube as the old mesa's
sovtek 12ax7lps 3 from 1999
I stuck the sovtek lps's in the effects send and the reverb return for all tests.
My power amp is a mesa 50/50 with NOS mullard in V1 and telefunken NOS smooth plates in both PI positions.
Channel A drives a pair of Groove Tubes 6L6GE's
channel B drives a pair of Sylvania Str-415's NOS
So, here we go the sovtek 12ax7wa is a decent tube though rather plain,not much gain and a little treblely. pretty sturdy no microphonics and low noise.
The jj ecc83s was harsh to the bone. I have 7 of these so I tied different ones, but in every position they lacked character, remember I'm playing through a strat. On the bridge pickup they sound thin, with no body these were easily the worst in my opinion.
The tungsol reissue's performed quite well,nice bottom end, good mids, decent highs. They sounded similar to the jan phillips but not quite as well rounded.
The sylvania long plate sounded bold chime nice gain with buttery top end.
The sylvania short plates had a beautiful range with nothing accentuated smooth lows plump mids buttery top.
The telefunken smooth plate sounded great anywhere beautiful tone low noise more mids then the americans less top end.
The amperex have less gain then the rest of these tubes and since I'm running pickups with relatively low ohm's they didn't perform so well. Though I will say in V1 nothing sparkled like these.
The GE tall plate was used and had a slight hum other wise it was balanced with a full sound nice lows round mids smooth top
The GE short plate faired alot better low noise somewhat subdued lows strong mids subdued top real close to a real mullard.
The mullard I63's had a nice bottom plump mids and somewhat reserved top end very low noise with lots of gain, growling gain no fizz here
The Ei tall grey plates made in yugo are a copy of the tele's, they have more gain but are not as detailed or defined but were head and shoulders above the jj's and the sovteks, and the tungsols.
So, this is how it worked out
1 clean channel=sylvania short plate
2 dirty channel=mullard I63
3 Lead channel 1=telefunken smooth plate
4 lead channel 2 EI grey plate
anyways happy new year to all
