I'm up to two pair of RCA and a pair of old used Mullards for my Quickie... And am looking for something different. I've read the various threads commenting on sounds of tubes. I run a SS amp, and am enjoying the RCA currently. It's far from great, but not bad. All retailers seem to have the typical RCA, GE or Sylvania tubes only.
Anyone got a super secret tube stash? What's still out there?
- Thread starter mortron
- Start date
Hey Mort - What I did was just buy as many different kinds of cheap tubes I could, and do some rolling. Get those $2 a pop tubes out there, even if you dont know what you are getting. You might get a GE, or an Aladdin. All good. Sometimes a particular tube sounds the best with say, classical, or rock, etc. You never know what is going to blend with your system. Of course the Telefunkins are the hot item, hard to find. I have them in, and will leave them in.... Until I get the yen to do some rolling...
galyons
New member
The old RCA's are really quite nice- warm, open with great imaging and soundstage. I like them better than Sylvanias., GE and Tungsol for jazz, female voice and small ensemble classical music. I have some Mullards that I have to try, but I am just not currently compelled to pull the RCA's. Generally I usually prefer the Mullard sonic signature.
I am currently running the Q into Paramour 2A3's and econowave type speakers. Be interested in your feedback after trying other "flavors"!!
Cheers,
Geary
I am currently running the Q into Paramour 2A3's and econowave type speakers. Be interested in your feedback after trying other "flavors"!!
Cheers,
Geary
matthewmckay
New member
the NOS seimens are quite nice as well... a little more lively than the teles... awesome for listening to electronica.
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4krow
Guest
If I had a switching device to go from one tube to another(maybe a max of three different tubes to choose from), THEN I would be happier.
Grainger49
New member
I have a number of 12AX7 Orange globe Amperex tubes. They were the tube of choice at ARC when they made the SP3- etc.
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4krow
Guest
Pardon my ignorance here, but why would there be so many 12ax7 tubes?
Grainger49
New member
The 12AX7 was a tube of choice in many "classic" preamps. The McIntosh tubed preamps and the Audio Research Corp's SP3-a-1 to name two.
Paul Joppa
Moderator
Years ago, someone built a P-P amp with multiple parallel 12AX7s as the power stage.
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4krow
Guest
So, Chris you say that there are 20! 12ax7 tubes in your amp, or did I misread your post?
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4krow
Guest
Raytheon "glows" So far I have only used the stock tubes and some original Tesla tubes. I'm afraid that I would quite mad, daring to use more.
earwaxxer said:
I'm quite pleased with sylvania from us navy, very little microphonic, but stay away from mullard JAN...very microphonic and with lots of flaws.
Recently I bought 8 pieces of the french tubes Q was sold with as a spare parts... ;D
My experience is based on JAN Sylvania, RCA, JAN Mullard... I'd love to have a pair of Telefunken
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4krow
Guest
For some reason, it seems that is more variance in these tubes than other types. Whatever you decide, I would try to get original stock. Actually, that's probably all that is out there.
Grainger49
New member
Bonzo said:
I am another fan of the JAN (Joint Army Navy) Sylvania. They have additional bracing for military duty. They have never disappointed me. Now I need some JAN Sylvania 45s.
