I do not belong to the Church of the NOS Mind in my experience two of the least satisfactory of my 6L6s and 5881s are ‘Holy Grail’ US-made NOS tube from the 1960s. Each and every tube I review below–including the relatively unheralded inexpensive ones–is eminently listenable, a testament to the high-quality production levels of today’s Russian and Chinese E元4 manufacturers. Consider this a slowly marinated review.įrankly I’m glad it has taken so long, since I fear that had I rushed in I might have fallen victim to what scientists call ‘experimenter bias’, which occurs when expectations regarding results bias the outcome. The silver lining is that a drawn out review process made me work more carefully than I might have otherwise.
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Alas, between the receipt of the tubes last fall and the publication of this review, work and family life got busier than anticipated.
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As a diehard E元4/6L6 tube addict, I could not imagine living like Hans Gruber, “on the beach, earning 20%,” without a little Musical Paradise MP-301 amp by my side decked out with E元4s or 6L6s. We agreed that I’d throw a few of my own tubes, including the Tung-Sol E元4B and Shuguang 6CA7-Zs I purchased from over the years, into the mix. When Jon Esau of offered a set of five E元4-type tubes for review (JJ KT77 JJ E元4 II Svetlana E元4 Genalex Gold Lion KT77 and Mullard E元4) I jumped at the opportunity. There are various amps with built-in solidstate filters, boosters and other tricks (such as the Marshall JCM900 and JCM2000 series), in which case the tubes won't affect the sound as much.A re-post from Wall of Sound (review by Tim Smith) I have a very 'pure' amp (Marshall 6101), which relies exclusively on 4 12AX7s to get its massive distortion. Then again, depending on what amp you use, your mileage may vary. Boosting the treble in your guitar signal is also a great way to get a tighter sound with more gain. Perhaps it even works to have all 7025 tubes in a high gain channel.īut in general, for high gain, the less bass and more high-end a tube has, the better. It can tighten up your sound with its compression, reduced midrange and very open high-end. You can also use it as the V1 in a high gain channel, I tried that aswell. I use it in my clean channel, because it has a very warm bass, rather scooped mid-end and a very 'breathy' high-end. The thing with this tube is that it's very low-noise, has very high gain, and has a typical mega compressed 'tinny' Fender sound to it. The 7025 was originally a military grade 12AX7 tube that Fender used in their amps back in the 50s and 60s.īack then regular 12AX7s weren't as consistent as they are today, so the 7025 gave them less noise and more gain. So those are the ones I'd recommend.Īnother cool thing you can get from TubeTown is the Chinese 7025 tube. They are also very low-noise and don't seem to suffer from any microphonic issues at all. Later I changed to Chinese 12AX7 tubes (mine were from They have a bit less bass than the EHX ones, making them sound even more transparent, and being able to handle insane amounts of gain and boost without losing definition. I replaced my ECC83S with a bunch of EHX 12AX7s which have a lot more high-end, giving a far richer distorted tone with way more harmonics and clarity, allowing you to drive them harder without getting muddy or losing definition. Also, they are some of the lowest-gain types of 12AX7 variations. They are mostly bass, with little high-end, giving a very non-transparent sound as you drive them hard. I found ECC83S to be very dull and muddy sounding for high gain applications. I think what matters most is what the frequency response is like. Don't expect major improvements in gain going from one brand to the next.
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In general, any 12AX7/ECC83 tube will have roughly the same amount of gain. I'm just looking to get that earlier break-up and an added 5% in gain to my amp so I can roll the gain back a little to get the same amount but with better definition. * Disclaimer : I am aware that "high gain" tubes won't turn a low gain amp into a gain monster and that the difference will be subtle. (FWIW, I didn't ask about the gold pins or the cryo-treated ones just because that's not what I want). Or the TAD (Tube Amp Doctor) 12AX7 (this one was named twice). I asked each retailer about the Tung-Sol, JJ's, TAD or any of their own suggestions.Īnd the funny thing is nobody gave me the same answer.įor others, it's the JJ ECC83. Because you know, some break earlier than others.
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Just to name a few) about what would be the pre-amp tube with the highest gain. I've contacted some of the most popular tube sellers on the net (Watford Valves, The Tube Store, Tube Depot.