Vintage 12ax7/5751 tubes that amaze

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thickwood

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Most colorful sounding tube first !

RCA long black plate 12ax7a tube - put in socket pushed into breakup and smooth wonderful and so colorful it blooms No. 1 must have

Sylvania long black plate 12ax7- Gained up it Deep Purple and awesome colorful rock tones you must have on hand !

Tungsram 12ax7 has a marvelous midrange and sweet as velvet highs in a bright British Marshall JMP 800-900 amp which makes this tube breakup perfectly instead of crunching metal tearing the tone up ! Never a bad note with this tube is the truth of it.

Vintage Mullard 12ax7 tube has awesome midrange and bell tones on the highs then it has 3D over drive to die for and V1 clean it sets your tone up if as this is a good idea !

Phillips 12ax7 long gray plate tube breaks up with authentic rock or blues and its a big sound and blooms nicely when you drive it hard .
Ei Yugoslavia 12ax7 for heads only as microphonic it is , largest gain except the telefunken ridged plate has the edge however bottom end is big and driving it thickens the sound and the gain is ridiculous so watch your gain setting and listen !

GE bought out Ken Rad - 12ax7 long gray plate horseshoe getter only- overdriven hard is best as the bass is under control but great tones and uppermids chime sing and sustains well without harsh tones of new production 12ax7 tubes great for boxy or bass heavy amps . I think of Tom Petty Vox tones when I hear this tube pushed a bit !

Telefunken 12ax7 Ridged plate tube - so surprising with higher gain its the loudest tube ive ever come across and bottom end matches the high end with little adjustment on the mids and treble but it breaks up into the most authentic Rock & Roll there is and it makes you play better as you hear everything in the chorded notes even breaking up big time ! the bass is under nice control just perfect !

Raytheon 12ax7 not a bright 12ax7 and breakup well good in guitar amps not hifi amps !

All is subjective how you hear it and set the amp controls but find the sweet spot and add a OD pedal is sweet also.
Every amp I have is different circuits and react with 12ax7 tubes differently so use an trust your ears !

New production 12ax7 are good for functions like effects loop send and return- hint not a bright sounding high gain tube here !
Vi should be vintage tube tones.
The best phase inverters hands down for overdriven tones is SOVTEK 12ax7LPS long plate tube with matched triodes .
The OD will come thru and not be distorted further by the PI tube being hit with high gain tones ! mush happens here I found out with other tube rolling in the PI socket !

If I had no vintage tubes like above the NewSensor Tungsol ax7 tube overdrives nice enough and the Sovtek wc wa ax7 tube have the natural tube tone that's not bright and it has warmth and thump in the bottom notes !

The JJ ax7 is either a great function tube that will not smear highs and is great for tube amp EQ setting but its said to sound steril in V1 and I agree theres much better tubes for that socket Mullard ax7 for my money !

Sylvania long gray plate ax7 tube has very high gain but not for the OD socket , round notes are there and good highs not blaring !

Sorry I was doing a simple Top 5 - 12ax7 tube post !
Got a little carried away , but some players might like to know about what I discovered !
 
I left off the vintage 5751 tubes.
Your overdriven tube may need a lower gain tube before it in the gain stack to push it just right in V1 socket usually.
Then GE 5751 is the outcast because its tone is so fat only a bright as heck amp needs this warm bottom end champion tube !
But Sylvania black plate 5751 is sweet an gray plate also. gain is good on this one.
Any vintage black plate 5751 on auction get it and try it in V1 , when the master volume goes up a great tone with lower gain can let you find your sweet spot !
These tube amps can get fat bottom and boomy at high master volume setting so these 5751 tube tighten up that big bottom .

GE is different and no tight bottom here, shes fat !
 
RCA long black plate 12ax7a tube. I've considered these before....hmmmm....
 
I bought 2 new RCA grey plate cheap like $25 a piece, put them in the PI of both my amps and the noise level dropped alot as they were balanced tubes.
 
Its hard to know which tube works for your amp.
If you have a idea after tube rolling every position like I did it would help big time !
But I know that RCA long gray plate tube gets the quickest breakup of any 12ax7 tubes. its a good sound but at lower gain .
The PI tube acts different but I stick with sovtek 12ax7 LPS with balanced triodes its the best PI tube ive found !

I put a 5751 Sylvania black plate in the Rebel 20 OD socket and a Mazda 12ax7 silver plate tube in V1 to push breakup until a tearing sound comes from my pick and back off the gain a bit and then when you bear down and it breaks up in hurry but not over done for Blues Rock.
It sings and groans with a glass slide but every non perfect note is heard so I have to concentrate ah better !
 
-AMPEREX-ECC83-LONG PLATE-
-NOS LONG PLATES-(the usual suspects-i no longer care about plate color, I look for ribbed, or thick, or anything that makes the plate's more structurally sound, spiral heaters, big halo's & large, thick glass envelope's-(one of the things I wish I could test would be the vaccum, it makes a big difference in tone & longevity)-
 
I have several Amperex 12ax7 tubes but I have never seen a long plate.
The EQ is very bright and good for HiFi amps with great details in the highs ,very extended highs have not been used in my guitar amps.
Quality of guitar tones is what counts , not a pure vacume but some tubes are just better, big difference and EQ in the RCA gray and black plate tubes is a description not to mean good or bad but different !
 
thickwood":hq5r1br9 said:
I have several Amperex 12ax7 tubes but I have never seen a long plate.
The EQ is very bright and good for HiFi amps with great details in the highs ,very extended highs have not been used in my guitar amps.
Quality of guitar tones is what counts , not a pure vacume but some tubes are just better, big difference and EQ in the RCA gray and black plate tubes is a description not to mean good or bad but different !

-AMPEREX LONG PLATES are "special"-
-VACUUM-is the only significant difference between 2 or more from the same run, yet, we all know, that they can & often do, sound completely different, it makes getting attached to a brand, model & run of any tube a grab bag, i like RAYTHEON over RCA, then i'll break it done by many thing's, but it will never be a sure thing they will sound like each other,
-I love NOS/ANOS or even USED, LONG PLATE/S-(that test good- to- strong- But the VENDER/Seller claims them to be -MICROPHONIC-
 
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