Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7

I've never been impressed by gold-plated pins in tubes. All of the Gold Lion 12AX7's come with them. I've heard that these are good tubes so I bought a high gain one and tried it out.

The clean sounds still aren't as good as a good NOS 12AX7, but the clean sounds are certainly respectable - as good if not better than any new production tube I have tried to include JJ's, Tung-Sols, Groove Tubes, etc.

The distorted tones absolutely ripped! I dimed my gain and was very impressed. Threw my SD-1 in front of the amp for a bit more sustain and just loved it. I cannot recall any new issue high gain 12AX7s that I was able to dime and be satisfied with the tone and lack of noise.

I realize that most Boogie players don't need high gain tubes in their amps. :lol: But for those of us with "lower gain" Boogies, you may wanna check these out. I paid $46.95 for mine, but I did get free shipping because I ordered over $100 worth of tubes at Tube Depot.

I paid $32 plus shipping for mine. Have not tested it yet! Will report after I have recapped the Quad. Guess I will tell a "tad" difference after new caps and tubes.. 8)

From the Vintage Modern guys, apparently the KT66 isn't that much of an upgrade, as that Marshall was designed very specifically around the Shuguang's, but i've heard alot of people love the KT77's for their EL34 amps.

I'd like to hear some more opinions on the 12AX7's. I've heard some people describe them as anywhere from "hi-fi" and "better than the Tung-Sol reissues" to "fearful that it's just another New Sensor 12AX7 rebranded with a higher price". If they designed them as audiophile grade tubes like some of these new modern chinese tubes, then they may or may not sound so awesome in high gain setups like our Mesa's...but from what i've heard they are all pretty much non-microphonic.