Stiletto and NOS tubes

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Riff Blister

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I've been wanting try this for a long time. Last weekend I ordered a NOS RFT 12AX7 preamp tube that I'm going to stick it in V1 of my Deuce.
Who else is using NOS tubes in their Stiletto amps? What have you tried and what do you like? This is the first time I've experimented with NOS tubes but from what I've read, the RFT sounded like a good fit for a Stiletto.
 
Hey Riff...very interesting post.
When I first got my Ace, I tried an OLD Telefunken in V1 just foolin' around one day. It sounded awesome!!! It only lasted a few days and then it went microphonic :cry: it did however convince me to find more "musical" tubes to plug into the first 2 slots. I've also tried an old RCA that sounded pretty good too. That one started getting noisy after about 30 minutes of jammin', that's when I got hooked up with the TungSol reissues, and I've been very happy since then. I do want to try some other NOS tubes though...might be missing somethin' good!! :mrgreen:
 
The tube just showed up now at my office. I had it sent here so it wouldn't get swiped out of my mailbox at home by some d.bag roamin' the streets.
I opened the box and man, I sure don't like the way it was packed. The tube was in its little white box and stuck in a halfway wadded up piece of newspaper. That's it. No bubble wrap or anything. Not a good way to pack a $60.00 tube :( Hopefully the delivery guy wasn't like the Jim Carey UPS character in The Pet Detective. :shock:

rocksalt7, I do understand that there is some risk in buying NOS. I can only hope I got a good one. I have been using the TungSol RIs in V1 of both my Stiletto and Budda for a few years too. Great tube. Last summer I had one of those go belly up on me though. It happens I guess.

I can't wait to get home and do a little experimenting this weekend. :)
 
I probably should have said somewhere, that I had those 2 tubes (and others), stashed away for a good 15+ years. They came out of some old TVs that I took apart as part of some long forgotten science project or something like that. A few of the tubes I got worked pretty good, some...not so much. But it was all good knowledge gained in the search for tone from my amps.

Good luck with your tubes this weekend, Riff. Let us know how you make out. 8)
 
OK, so I've had the RFT in V1 for a couple of weeks now and I think it sounds pretty **** good. It was money well spent as far as I'm concerned. It's a dark sounding tube just like I was hoping it would be. Crunch and Tight Gain modes sound great. Nice and thick. I don't spend much time on the Clean modes but I always preferred Fat over Tight. I'm referring to the modes of course, not my taste in women which is the other way around. Sorry...anyway, it does takes a little away from the Fat Clean and brings the Tight Clean a little closer to the Fat in terms of rounding off the notes. Still, everything sounds good.
It kind of makes me want to try some other NOS tubes.
 
I had some tungsols RI in V1 and V2 but switched them for a couple Ruby HG+'s .
Got a pair of RFT's in the mail today, trying them tomorrow.
 
Elbowselbows said:
I had some tungsols RI in V1 and V2 but switched them for a couple Ruby HG+'s .
Got a pair of RFT's in the mail today, trying them tomorrow.

I hope you have good luck with those RFT's. They sounded kick *** in V1 of my Stiletto. The problem I had with them is that after a short time the glass would crack and they would be done for. I went through three of them in a matter of weeks before I gave up on them. It's like there was too much tension on the pins from the socket.
If there was a way to fix that problem I would try one again in a heartbeat. Is there a way to do something to the socket to loosen it up a bit? I don't know.

Elbowselbows, let me know how it goes for you.
 
rad,
yeah, I put them in V1 and V2, hmmm, I have heard of the glass cracking in them from around the internet. I was sure not to put too much pressure trying to get them sitting tight.

They sounded pretty good right of the bat and it was fun to watch them light up as I hit the power. I have practice tonight , we'll see how it goes.

The tone seems very close to the tone with the ruby HG's i had in there. They do seem to drive the amp harder though, at high volumes the power tubes and speakers are freaking out!! haha, sounds killer.

We'll see after practice tonight.
 
I had the RTF 's in the for a couple of jams and and put about 10 hours at high volume on them. Sounded full, and the gain was a lot thicker on low volumes even though I don't use it on low volumes.

I would have loved to keep them in there but I got paranoid that the glass would crack and they cost a bunch. I put the tung-sols back in v1 and v2 and the high gain ruby's in v3 and v4 .

I wanted to save the RFT's to record and I'll leave them in there after that.

Also getting two pars of mesa str-450's the Relabeled NOS siemans el34. I heard they are good.
 
Elbowselbows

Sounds like you had the same sonic results as I did with those RFT's. Full and thick as you stated. I will try them again!
I bet you will be OK with them if they lasted the 10 hours test.

When I had the bias adj. mod done to my Stiletto the tech told me he went through my amp and cleaned and tightened all of the tube sockets.
That was shortly before I tried the RTF's. if I remember correctly.
My thoughts are that he got V1 just a little too tight for that NOS glass.

Mark
 
Elbowselbows said:
I had the RTF 's in the for a couple of jams and and put about 10 hours at high volume on them. Sounded full, and the gain was a lot thicker on low volumes even though I don't use it on low volumes.

I would have loved to keep them in there but I got paranoid that the glass would crack and they cost a bunch. I put the tung-sols back in v1 and v2 and the high gain ruby's in v3 and v4 .

I wanted to save the RFT's to record and I'll leave them in there after that.

Also getting two pars of mesa str-450's the Relabeled NOS siemans el34. I heard they are good.

!!! That's a bummer, I wonder if you could get it loosened back again, or maybe V2 isn't as tight ? V2 is the first gain stage for Fluid drive and the second stage for Tight gain .
Where were you getting your RFT'S from? Mine came from korey in Poland I think.

I wish I could find a new production pre tube I like cus the NOS is pricey and I don't wanna be a snob about tubes.
 
Got the jj ecc83 's and the ecc803 for the PI, it sounds soooo think! Alot darker, in tube rec, spongy I like the presence and treble at noon on ch2, I might even like the Jj's more then the NOS RFT'S ..... Jj sound good to me in this stiletto.
 
I like the JJ's in my Stiletto as well. I tried them in my Recto and they were a disaster but really made the Stiletto and even more solid sounding amp. I used Eurotubes high gain option and find myself running the gain no further past 11-12:00.
 
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