Tung-Sol in V1

I've read that a lot of people are putting a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V1 of various amps and loving it. I just put one in both my MR and my Dyne, and they seem to have a lot less gain and high frequencies. I've had to compensate by turning up the gain and adjusting the tone controls.

I'm not thrilled.

People put Tung Sols in V1 of high gainers to get more usable range out of the gain. The ED doesn't have so much gain, I would rather be looking to put a hotter tube in there.

The Tungsol has been my favorite 12ax7 for a few years now, I have at least 10 of them. They were hyped as being high gain by some sellers. I have always found them to be a bit lower in gain than the JJs and to be bright sounding with a noticable increase in the high end.

The only amps I don't use them in are my RA-100 and JCM800. Neither of those amps needs any more brightness :lol:

some are defective imho. i like the tone but i also get my tubes w/some extra testing (high gain, low noise).

elvis said:

I've read that a lot of people are putting a Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V1 of various amps and loving it. I just put one in both my MR and my Dyne, and they seem to have a lot less gain and high frequencies. I've had to compensate by turning up the gain and adjusting the tone controls.

I'm not thrilled.

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I actually do like the Tung-Sol in my MR, but it was a disaster in my Dyne. I went back to the Mesa 12AX7 and it's fine. Interestingly, I have tried a few different tubes in the Dyne, but so far preferred the Mesa tubes. I even paid the $$ for Winged C 6L6s and hated them. Felt really anemic to me.

For me, anything that steals gain from the Dyne has been a problem, as that amp has JUST enough gain. I have to crank the gain when I use my tele.

Tubes have some variability and then tone is subjective.

If you can afford it, buying a few 12ax7 tubes and then just rolling them they the amp may work best. I don't think anyone can predict what you will like best. I just bought a half dozen NOS tubes to do the same thing with.

I did have a MKV and Rectifier, now have a MKIIC, and the V dug the rung sols, but the Rec was hotter with Chinese glass.

I'm gonna roll the bunch of recent tubes thru my amps and see what happens. Probably will be a few surprises.