12ax7 comparison

In many cases, these tubes are interchangeable and can easily be swapped. We will take a look at why you might, or might not want to swap out the different types of tubes. The 12AX7 is by far the best known preamp tube among guitar players. It has a Gain output of , making it perfect for the preamp stage of an amplifier, allowing it to drive the power section harder, and enabling it to reach high levels of distortion.

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Content:

• Billy Penn's 300Guitars
• 7025 Tubes vs. 12ax7 Tubes
• Welcome to TubeDepot
• TAD JJ ECC83S/12AX7 Tube
• 12AX7 COMPARISONS ~ Best and Worst
• 12ax7 Comparison
• The 12ax7 / ecc83
• 12AX7 Tube Guide with Reviews | Best Options 2021
• Special edition reviews
• Mullard ECC83 (12AX7) Reissue vs Original – An Electrical Comparison

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: 12AX7 Current Production Vacuum Tube Comparison

Billy Penn's 300Guitars

User Name Stay logged in? Hi, I am a newbie to the tube stuff and I have already loved it. With the "free" supply from a friend who sells tubes, I have lately conducted some tests on some of the popular brands of 12AX7. The circuit was from a kit and uses 2 common cathode stages for a guitar amp and was modified to be used in HiFi by applying loads of negative feedback.

Anyway, this was the amp used in the tests. The following is part of the "email" I sent to my friend. Please note that what is good sound or bad sound is completely subjective. The result of my observation may be different from those that can be read on the Internet. These tubes sound quite different. Ei Elite Gold - It has a reasonable resolution.

On high and mid frequencies the sound is clear. The bass is not powerful but still reasonably clear. On first listen this tube sounded good but further listening revealed its weakness. This tube is very different from the others in that it gives quite a warm, coloured tone, possibly due to the rich even order harmonics some audiophiles love. I personally dislike this type of artificial warmth. On a very analytical system like mine it sounds lacking of naturalness, openness and life.

On cold sounding systems the warmth of this tube may cover the coldness and I am not surprised some people may prefer this tube to others. Personally, I put the lowest score on this tube for my system. I think it is the least HiFi tube among the group I tested. However, for guitar amps, where accuracy is immaterial while rich harmonics are desirable, this tube may well be a good candidate, despite various reports on its microphonic problem.

It is more neutral sounding and more open than the Ei Elite Gold. It does not provide the best resolution though. The sound is not harsh or offensive. However, I found a problem with it - the high frequency is obviously lacking though the bass is powerful.

It sounded like a shelving low pass filter was applied to the sound. It appears that this would be a good tube for a system that sounds harsh or has a rising response. It does not sound bad, just not brilliant. Sovtek - This tube, from everywhere I read over the net, is the most ordinarily sounding tube, i. However, it actually sounds quite good on my system. It is not brilliant, but very good. I think the reason was because when I was tuning both my passive and active XOs I was using this tube!

So every capacitor value, every resistor and inductor in the XO was tuned for this tube. If the sound of the tube was too lay-back I would have brought the sound forward, and if the sound was too forward I would have pushed it back. Therefore, the Sovtek sounded very well balanced on my system and comparing with the Ei Elite Gold and the JJ, a lot more "life" in the sound and was much better.

It is an overall good performer in all areas and I have not found any serious problems with it. Indeed, without comparing with better tubes, I simply didn't know how to improve the sound. It sounded very good. Svetlana - Until I tried this tube, the Sovtek was unbeatable because I tuned my system based on it. While the Sovtek, the JJ and the Ei Elite Gold are probably in the same league despite their individual characters, the Svetlana is ahead and is the next level up in sound quality.

It has the highest resolution among the group I tested. Human voices are now with finer textures, so as everything else. The sound is clean and effortless, although slightly on the dark side.

The bass department is substantially cleaner than any other tubes in the group. The bass is strong, the high is reasonably extended, and the mid is clear - despite sounding a bit lay back comparing with other tubes in the group - lay back but without losing details.

I may be contradicting myself to say that the sound has the openness and neutralness while being reasonably warm and very smooth. However, I had to do some adjustments on my active XO to trim the bass down a bit to make the system sound more balanced.

Now Svetlana is the tube running on my preamp. For HiFi sound, this is my pick. For a guitar amp, I am not sure if it is the best because it has a very smooth but slightly lay-back sound. Regards, Bill. Re: 12AX7 Compared! Re: Re: 12AX7 Compared! It's not hard to set up a test jig to get you distortion spectra, noise, and microphonics- all it takes is a decent soundcard, some free software, and an hour or two making a jig.

You can adapt the jigs to the particular operating point for the 12AX7 in your circuit. With this set up, you can buy a pile of cheaper 12AX7s of various makes and origins and cherry-pick them. You'll spend a lot less per tube and probably end up with something better than the unreliable stuff that the tube rollers peddle to the unwary. Find More Posts by SY. SY is right again I don't think I've spent that much on any single valve - not even the power ones!

Hi, Thank you all for your valuable input. I have been away for a few days and have just come back to this. If the 12AX7 sounds boring in a preamp, can you suggest a schematic with an alternative? I am a newbie and I am unable to design my own tube stuff at the moment. I know that there are thousands of schematics available on the internet.

But for a newbie, there is no way I can know which sounds good or bad. I went through a very long process of selecting a SS power amp. However, after 6 months searching I auditioned 3 extremely popular DIY amps that had a large following and found they hardly sound good. Fortunately, I eventually built a less popular one and it happened to sound fantastic. I then built the second one and in the process of building a third one - a pair of W mono block.

Choosing an amp without first auditioning it is a kind of gamble. My system is very good now but its preamp. I thought this would be the best amp in the group and am thinking about building one, hence my questions of best sounding 12AX7 and 12AT7.

If you guys know a better preamp and have the schematic, please point me to the right direction. Jason, Yes, that is the Jaycar valve preamp. It does not sound bad, but not good either. I am actually thinking about trying its first version documented in the note that comes with the kit which uses a cathode follower in the 2nd stage without negative feedback. What do you think? An externally hosted image should be here but it no longer works.

Please upload images instead of linking to them to prevent this. Find More Posts by Sch3mat1c. Attached Images brettsb4a-lineamp. Stay home. Respect the 2m bubble. Find More Posts by planet BB code is On. Smilies are On. Forum Rules. All times are GMT. The time now is AM. Resources saved on this page: MySQL User Name. Stay logged in? Mark Forums Read. Please consider donating to help us continue to serve you. Page 1 of 5. Last ». Thread Tools. View Public Profile. Send a private message to jeff mai.

7025 Tubes vs. 12ax7 Tubes

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Welcome to TubeDepot

The 12AX7 will give off an immaculate sound output when used. To start our list, we have the Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 Tube, which is one of the most famous 12AX7 tubes since this exact tube is on forums, discussions and reviews. They are well known as a highly versatile tube for guitar amps and Hi-Fi amps. Making this tube takes time, and the makers have paid attention to each tube. The tubes made of high-quality electrical components and these tubes also have gold pins to ensure the best conductivity with the amp. The best part is that the manufacturer tested every tube, and upon getting the tubes, you can see the test readings written on the box. If your amp has a natural drive and sounds extremely quiet, then you can say goodbye to those.

TAD JJ ECC83S/12AX7 Tube

Well maybe not. Join me on my odyssey on what might be the biggest like-for-like comparison made ever with actual data. Get a bunch of tubes , do some sound tests and capture selected electrical data with the fond, but probably unrealistic, hope that the sounds can be correlated with the measurements and that we can all be enlightened by the experience. The reason for this choice is that I wanted to have information that would actually be useful to a wide population and the tubes they are likely to have access to.

12AX7 COMPARISONS ~ Best and Worst

This page lists all of the 12AX7 tubes I currently have in stock, including all industrial and European versions. It is a long page, use your scroll button and scroll down the page to see it all. This list is organized now by each vintage tube manufacturer. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see every brand we have. These are extremely high demand vintage tubes, so I have these listed on their own page, as my stock changes rapidly. If you need a quantity of these tubes, or have specific needs such as matching, special construction, etc.

12ax7 Comparison

I've always wanted to do a review of 12AX7 tubes but felt that there were too many variables. I also didn't trust my ears to be objective for long enough to really test all the different models available on different amps etc. The opportunity finally arrived when we Andrews Amp Lab celebrated our 10 anniversary at our current location in Dunwoody Atlanta , GA. With a total of around 15 people in attendance for the shootout, we set up a double-blind test with a Fender Deluxe Reverb for clean tones and a Marshall JCM TSL for the overdrive test. On the Fender, we installed the tubes in the V2 position and played through the second channel of the amp. V2 is the first gain stage for that channel. On the Marshall, we also used the V2 socket. That position is the overdrive stage for the crunch and lead channels.

The 12ax7 / ecc83

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12AX7 Tube Guide with Reviews | Best Options 2021

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Special edition reviews

Ideally, every 12AX7 should yield the same gain when placed in the same circuit. However, in reality there are comparative gain differences amoung 12AX7s. Today, it is by far the most common preamp tube used for electric guitar amplification and there is an almost overwhelming supply of current production options to choose from. The purpose of this comparison is simply to provide guitar players with a frame of reference to help in finding the best current production 12AX7 for their needs. The 12AX7 is a 9-pin miniature, high-mu, twin triode. What does that mean? The 9-pin miniature part tells us what kind of socket the tube plugs into.

Mullard ECC83 (12AX7) Reissue vs Original – An Electrical Comparison

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