shuguang 12ax7a or 12ax7b? chinese tubes or tungsol

hopkinWFG

Well-known member
may I know whats the diff between a chinese 12ax7a to a 12ax7b? read that the 12ax7b has gotta better advantage against noise floor and its more gainy than the 7a...but whats comparison for tungsol over shuguang preamp ? I often come to see many has got tungsol at v1 and rest are chinese... ? why so ?
 
Lots of guys use a Tung-Sol in V1 of their amps for a little more clarity, then go with Shuguang 12AX7-B in the rest of the positions to ramp up the gain and retain clarity if you play hard rock/metal.

The 12AX7-B does in fact have more gain and lower noise than it's counterpart, and the Tung-Sol is a well rounded, bright and gainy tube, just don't use more than 1 in your amp, it can really thin out the low end (except if that's what your going for.

Hope this helps. :)
 
JCDenton6":3it0fq2k said:
Lots of guys use a Tung-Sol in V1 of their amps for a little more clarity, then go with Shuguang 12AX7-B in the rest of the positions to ramp up the gain and retain clarity if you play hard rock/metal.

The 12AX7-B does in fact have more g ain and lower noise than it's counterpart, and the Tung-Sol is a well rounded, bright and gainy tube, just don't use more than 1 in your amp, it can really thin out the low end (except if that's what your going for.

Hope this helps. :)

thanks alot there been good help for your kind input.. but does that mean the v1 will have greater significance of what your amp is going to sounds like ?
 
It's the input tube for the preamp, and the mold for your sound more or less. You can brighten or darken the amp with your choice of tube in there, or fatten things up.

So many combinations to play around with, you'd just have to find which combo of tubes work best for your style and needs :yes:
 
I use to have stock sovtek wb .. and recently it broke down due to long laid off.. now I putted in tungsol and it sounded ok.. but recently I replace just one chinese a to b and I realised it flavoured out abit towards what I want.. the nice depth and picking sensitive.. I dont know what other better v1 replacements would be for sweeter mids and clearer fatter darken tone ..
 
it reaaaally depends on the amp itself.. just plain saying that a Tung Sol and Shugang in other spots will cure all and make every amp sing is false.. in some amps these may sound really brittle/harsh..
 
i dont know other exact position of the preamp except for the V1. i may wanna getta layout and pinpoint my change of preference,, this sounds fun thou as it my first time messing with preamps ;)... but may i know whats the one called Phase inverter out of the four i have? what does it do?
 
hopkinWFG":3hokqfzn said:
may I know whats the diff between a chinese 12ax7a to a 12ax7b? read that the 12ax7b has gotta better advantage against noise floor and If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same. It folk lore to pick and choose with vector slot to populateits more gainy than the 7a...but whats comparison for tungsol over shuguang preamp ? I often come to see many has got tungsol at v1 and rest are chinese... ? why so ?
If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same type and brand. It’s phony folk lore to pick and choose which vector slot to populate with what - that includes the PI and reverb slots.

Forget the 12AX7B, (my advice) go with the 12AX7A - in general.

The designations are as follows: "12" - the filament voltage, "AX" - an arbitrary model number, "7" - the number of internal elements, including the filament.

I don’t like the Tungsol 12AX7 – it mimics the JJ/Tesla ECC83 which is dark in tone and cuts off the high end too much for my taste in tone.

12AX7C (Chinese 9th generation) are my favorite all around. Try not to get involved in the illusion that the 12AX7C5/C7 HG/HG+ are any better for more $$$ (~$18) - IMO it’s all BS hype.

If you must follow the BS hype, then get the 12AX7C4 HG for ~$8 – they are great preamp tubes and very reliable.
 
Arent they screened for noise, match, and gain?

The old Groove Tube pres i have are so strong compared to plain box variants.
 
King Crimson":2i9hv673 said:
hopkinWFG":2i9hv673 said:
may I know whats the diff between a chinese 12ax7a to a 12ax7b? read that the 12ax7b has gotta better advantage against noise floor and If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same. It folk lore to pick and choose with vector slot to populateits more gainy than the 7a...but whats comparison for tungsol over shuguang preamp ? I often come to see many has got tungsol at v1 and rest are chinese... ? why so ?
If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same type and brand. It’s phony folk lore to pick and choose which vector slot to populate with what - that includes the PI and reverb slots.

Forget the 12AX7B, (my advice) go with the 12AX7A - in general.

The designations are as follows: "12" - the filament voltage, "AX" - an arbitrary model number, "7" - the number of internal elements, including the filament.

I don’t like the Tungsol 12AX7 – it mimics the JJ/Tesla ECC83 which is dark in tone and cuts off the high end too much for my taste in tone.

12AX7C (Chinese 9th generation) are my favorite all around. Try not to get involved in the illusion that the 12AX7C5/C7 HG/HG+ are any better for more $$$ (~$18) - IMO it’s all BS hype.

If you must follow the BS hype, then get the 12AX7C4 HG for ~$8 – they are great preamp tubes and very reliable.

Tube can sound different in different amps, so that a great sounding tube in a Marshall may not sound so good in a Fender.
I find TungSol 12ax7's to be a great sounding tube, especially in high gain amps.
To me they sound nothing like JJ's in a lot of amps I've compared them in.
Tung's are superior to JJ's, imo.

Another example of different amps responding differently to tubes, I recently had a new Fender Hot Rod DLX3 that has 6L6 power tubes. I wanted to try my favorite 6L6 in that amp, SED Winged C's. I've used the C's in a lot of amps and all of them sounded better to stock tubes, and in a few amps the difference was amazing.
So I expected the C's to sound better or great in the Fender HR, but that didn't happen.
The tone was ok but not as good as the stock power tubes.
Sovtek 5881's actually sounded the best in that amp.

Chinese tubes do tend to test with highest gain. That's great if high gain is what one wants.
Tung's are also a higher gain tube by it's design. They don't lack gain at all, and the tone is smooth.
A very toneful and harmonically rich pre tube is the Jan Phillips 5751. There are 2 to 3 different ones out there.
There is one that has nearly the same gain as a 12ax7.
I LOVE the tone from the Jan Phillips 5751, even the lower gain versions.
Clean tones are awesome and work great with pedals too.
 
King Crimson":2u7xyl5u said:
hopkinWFG":2u7xyl5u said:
If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same type and brand. It’s phony folk lore to pick and choose which vector slot to populate with what - that includes the PI and reverb slots.

I call BS on that , a 5751 or AT7 will completely change how the preamp section drives compared to a AX7 . :yes:
A 5751 has the same tone specs as a AX7 but just not as hot in output.
Put a 5751 in the PI and now you can drive the amp harder since it's only 70% output compared to a AX7 .
Put that same 5751 in the V1 or V2 while keeping a AX7 in the PI slot and now you can cool down and tighten up a hot oversaturated preamp signal without changing the basic tone.
If you have not tried that , do it and you can easily hear a major difference as to how you amp reacts to those simple changes.
5751's are a hidden secret to getting great tone if you get them in the right spot , even SRV loved them in his amps.
 
If you're going to change out preamp tubes, make sure you make them all the same type and brand. It’s phony folk lore to pick and choose which vector slot to populate with what - that includes the PI and reverb slots.

Disagree with this. You can deffinately sculpt the overall response with different makes.
 
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