12Ax7 Tube Recommendation

[git45]

Originally Posted by lxm

Hey guys.

I got one hell of a deal on 3 Art Pro MPA 2's and would like some tube advice. A buddy of mine had one set up with Sovteks and I thought it sounded amazing! AB'd it with a much more expensive preamp and it held its own.

1) Sovteck. Which one would you recommend? WA, WC? Im thinking of using these for some bit on the Kick and Snare.

2) JJ's for the OH's. More clean round sound. Should I get the gold version? Are they much better?

3) I have no idea. I like quarky sounds. Something that give me some unique stuff for vocals/guitars etc.

As far as drum recordings I love Intepol's Turn on the Bright Lights. Also a sucker for Zeppelin sounds. Duhhhh. Thanks.

If you're going clean and round, might I recommend the 12at7's?? They have much more headroom and provide a much smoother breakup. Also KT88 power tubes really help in that dept.

[Rob Coates]

Forget about modern tubes. I've got NOS Mullards (from the Blackburn factory) in mine. I've tried pretty much every modern and many NOS tubes in mine and the Mullards blow away all others!

[Rob Coates]

Originally Posted by git45

If you're going clean and round, might I recommend the 12at7's?? They have much more headroom and provide a much smoother breakup. Also KT88 power tubes really help in that dept.

You'll lose gain and increase noise if you use 12at7s. You don't want to push an MPA II into distortion. The solid state circuitry will break up before the tubes will and it just sounds unpleasant.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by Rob Coates

Forget about modern tubes. I've got NOS Mullards (from the Blackburn factory) in mine. I've tried pretty much every modern and many NOS tubes in mine and the Mullards blow away all others!

Did you also try the JJ ECC803 Selected GOLD? I don't want to doubt your statement, just curious, because I'm quite satisfied with my MPA II and the JJ golds - would be good to know if there's just more in it with some NOS mullards.

[campers]

The best is Mullard or Amperex.
Telefunken smooth plate is also an excellent tube.

[Old Goat]

PM member BOWIE. He pimped my Gold with NOS tubes for vocals in one channel and guitar in the other.

[Reptil]

Bowie's cool in my book.
I've found some nice tubes in old army surplus gear. (I went tube mad a year ago - abstaining now )
they weren't cheap. everyone knows what's good. well mostly anyone
though... you can try. also check out rebadged tubes, AEG, some consumer audio brands
I'm using these in an SPL Kultube (tube amp output stage) and SPL Charisma (tube effects amp, not the best design ever but I like it a lot)
the differences between characters of different tubes are inmediate and very noticable in both these designs.

RCA (blackplate) not a bad tube, not a bad price
Philips (Miniwatt, Eindhoven prod, or Mullard) rock n roll these. less defined, less beautiful than Tele's
Some Tesla early production (be careful there are fakes around)
Telefunken already mentioned (look for the diamond in the glass bottom (Raute)
Mullard (Blackburn) already mentioned
RFT - east german made. have a good pair - rock n roll but no Telefunken
JAN if you want clean modern and sterile compared to the older stuff (but good quality - double mica Philips made often)
Siemens - not as euphoric as the Tele's but there's some good ones
Sovtek - they were stock in my SPL gear, and break up in a muffled rock n roll way, they do have character, just not as open and strong sounding as the tele's or Philips
JJ - chinese made. got no experience.
hope this helps.

[Rob Coates]

Originally Posted by chk23

Did you also try the JJ ECC803 Selected GOLD? I don't want to doubt your statement, just curious, because I'm quite satisfied with my MPA II and the JJ golds - would be good to know if there's just more in it with some NOS mullards.

I did try the JJs and they sounded really good. To me they were the best sounding current production tubes. They would be my second or third choice after the Mullards. Sylvania tubes also sound really good in an MPA II. They are a little more beefy in the mids than Mullards and usually cheaper than Mullards.

[chk23]

Originally Posted by Rob Coates

I did try the JJs and they sounded really good. To me they were the best sounding current production tubes. They would be my second or third choice after the Mullards. Sylvania tubes also sound really good in an MPA II. They are a little more beefy in the mids than Mullards and usually cheaper than Mullards.

OK, thanks for the tipp - so no need to rush out and get the next best overpriced NOS mullards, but it might be worth to patiently lurk on eBay for some turning up at a decent price in the near future.

[PhilDW]

Originally Posted by chk23

Did you also try the JJ ECC803 Selected GOLD? I don't want to doubt your statement, just curious, because I'm quite satisfied with my MPA II and the JJ golds - would be good to know if there's just more in it with some NOS mullards.

My anecdotal experience is that long plates work well in that kind of application. If those Sovteks were the LPS or similar then that might confirm my experience, and the 803s are long plate too, as opposed to the 83s. Rather a broad generalization, but at least a starting point for experimentation.

[ripgtr]

Originally Posted by Old Goat

PM member BOWIE. He pimped my Gold with NOS tubes for vocals in one channel and guitar in the other.

+1 on Bowie, he has helped me out on a couple things. Knows his stuff and prices are very competitive.

Can't say in this piece, but in guitar amps, I find JJs to be gainy and a little crunchy sounding. Can be cool in a guitar amp ( or not, depending on what you are going for), not sure if that is what you are looking for. But one tube is cheap, try it. I like the new tung-sols too, for modern tubes. That and the JJs are all I really like in modern tubes these days. NOS is better, though, if you can spring for it.

By the way, Bowie helped me replace one of the JJs in my LA-610 with a NOS RCA and it really improved the sound. And that was just replacing ONE of the tubes.

[lxm]

thanks for the replys guys... i got:

sovtek lps

tung sol

mullard.

cant wait to try them out!