Soldano labeled 12ax7a tubes

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Cap217

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Just curious about what these tubes really are.

Soldano 12ax7a made in prc. Do these have any value? I swapped them in my soldano but now curious if they are anything special?
 
nah
Soldano never made tubes. Just rebrand like everybody else.
 
I suspect they’re Sovtek’s. Mike recommends the Sovtek 5881’s for the SLO, so it’s reasonable to assume that when he placed bulk orders to Sovtek for 5881’s, he also order preamp tubes from them. This is just what I suspect. I’m not certain.
 
Are we talking preamp or power tubes ?
Yes Mike was famous for Sovtek 5881 power tubes in his amps.
 
My first SLO came with the stock tubes according to the seller. Sovtek wafer bottom 5881s and Chinese 8th gen pre. It was a 2001.
 
I’m pretty sure these are Chinese 8th. But the A 12ax7a is throwing me off.
 
If they're 8th gen (square getter) tubes, they're fairly highly regarded. Personally not my favorite. They can lack clarity but have a lot of drive.

Nesstone sells NOS 8th gens for $20 each.
 
Quick question: How do the 8th gen compare to the 9th gen AX7's? I'm a big fan of the 9G's. Are these better? How?
 
The story I heard around the campfire was that a big pile of high-gain/low-noise Chinese tubes were about to be marketed to tube amp manufacturers. Mike caught wind of it early and bought the pile. The motive behind the purchase was either to point a professional middle finger at Hartley Peavey for previously scooping up a stockpile of Philips tubes that Mike wanted in on, or at Randall Smith for the SLO-Recto thing. Who knows? Rumors were so juicy back then.
 
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