Preamp Tubes? - Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?

[solarburn]

13 bidders and a day left to go. The seller is a jerk out of Perth, Australia.

That dude is sniff'n glue. I could buy an amp, nice 412 cab or even a nice guitar for the price he wants for 2 tubes. I mean I'll admit I've spent some coin on NOS but I have alot of tubes to show for it that will last along time to come. I don't have to buy new ones when its time to replace old ones.

Yeah I would never. I don't know who's worse, the guy sell'n for that much or the bidders who are buying them. And just cause someone may have money to burn doesn't change the fact they are idiots for do'n it.

Wish I had a box of them. Lots of people out there to take advantage of...:eek2:

 

[MartyStrat54]

Well, I'm getting low on Raytheon Black Plates. I tried to buy some today and they jumped up in the last five minutes. Four of them went for $174 and the other four for $158. These tubes are now going for as much, or more, than the finer European tubes. I don't know what caused this, but it's been going on for a long time and it looks like a trend that's here to stay.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Can some one please identify this tube? These are the pre-amp tubes that came originally with my amp.

View attachment 1532

I just found out I have a RCA 12AX7A.

Is there something special about this tube?

No, it's just an old original equipment (OE) tube. With that red print and the funky plates, it almost looks Chinese. Ratt or Solar...any comments?

 

[solarburn]

Well, I'm getting low on Raytheon Black Plates. I tried to buy some today and they jumped up in the last five minutes. Four of them went for $174 and the other four for $158. These tubes are now going for as much, or more, than the finer European tubes. I don't know what caused this, but it's been going on for a long time and it looks like a trend that's here to stay.

Bad news for us guyz who know and use these tubes.

 

[solarburn]

No, it's just an old original equipment (OE) tube. With that red print and the funky plates, it almost looks Chinese. Ratt or Solar...any comments?

I thought Chinese right away.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Well, I did some tube buying over the weekend.

16 Electrohome (Canadian Philips-Sounds like a Bugle Boy Amperex.) 12AX7

12 Mullards (Relabeled Mullards) 12AX7

5 Matsushita 12AX7 tubes (Hey Ratt, I got a hold of some of these.)

2 RCA by Sylvania Fat Boy 6CA7's (Single O getter stovepipe style.)

6 Telefunken Ribbed Plate 12AX7

I think that covers it all. It takes a lot of time trying to pick up some tubes. I just wish I could win some black plates.

 

[MartyStrat54]

SUPER FLASHBACK***1991***

We actually had a van with two roadies and we would drive up to the club in my blue and white 1958 Chevy Belair.

This was when we were just a two guitar, bass and drums outfit. My favorite type of rock band. Bass player and I shared the lead vocals. Rock on!

Gino-Drums, Marty-Guitar/Vocals, Michael-Bass/Vocals, Vince-Guitars

 

[el zilcho]

Anybody hear of EAT? They've been making a KT88 for a while but it's a wee bit expensive (like, more than my amp expensive). The good part is that they actually list ratings and specs for their tubes (800v plate for the KT88).

I noticed that they started making an ECC803S, but...it's got a big ol' heatsink glued around it??? I have no idea how much it costs.

 

[solarburn]

SUPER FLASHBACK***1991***

We actually had a van with two roadies and we would drive up to the club in my blue and white 1958 Chevy Belair.

This was when we were just a two guitar, bass and drums outfit. My favorite type of rock band. Bass player and I shared the lead vocals. Rock on!

Gino-Drums, Marty-Guitar/Vocals, Michael-Bass/Vocals, Vince-Guitars

That's a great pic Marty! Dat's some shit there!

You guyz looked the part man. R&R style all the way to da club.

Hairdoos kicked ass!

I want to be in that band...

 

[wegman]

Can some one please identify this tube? These are the pre-amp tubes that came originally with my amp.

View attachment 1532

I just found out I have a RCA 12AX7A.

Is there something special about this tube?

Chines tubes eh?

Thanks guys.

 

[ken361]

http://marty tell me about this RCA traded one of tele's for it 1950's rca test at 1600/1250
http://
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These RCA's sound pretty smooth! I like it!

 

[RiverRatt]

SUPER FLASHBACK***1991***

We actually had a van with two roadies and we would drive up to the club in my blue and white 1958 Chevy Belair.

This was when we were just a two guitar, bass and drums outfit. My favorite type of rock band. Bass player and I shared the lead vocals. Rock on!


Gino-Drums, Marty-Guitar/Vocals, Michael-Bass/Vocals, Vince-Guitars

Great photo! Your drummer is seriously channeling Bonzo.

 

[ken361]

Great photo! Your drummer is seriously channeling Bonzo.

Marty kinds looks like the guitar player for Anthrax! back in the 80's

 

[RiverRatt]

I thought Chinese right away.

Yup. You can get them from online stores for $8.95. I remember back in the early '90s getting new tube amps in at the store where I worked. Sometimes the Chinese tubes would go off like a flashbulb when you turned the power on the first time.

 

[RiverRatt]

5 Matsushita 12AX7 tubes (Hey Ratt, I got a hold of some of these.)

Actually, I was looking at the EL34s. How are the 12AX7s? I'll bet they sound pretty good.

I probably won't be buying any tubes until after Christmas. Gotta pay for those laptops and XBOX 360s and games and clothes and who knows what.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Wasn't it you that I was talking to about these tubes? They are made on Philips/Mullard equipment and they have the slant O getter with pinched top. They are supposed to be incredible tubes. I know they tested very well on a TV-7 tester.

Yeah, I know we talked about the 6CA7's. They are supposed to be knock out tubes as well.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Thanks for the kind words regarding "CONDOR." We actually did pretty good in the Phoenix market. We also played the main stage three years in a row at the AZ State Fair. It didn't pay anything, but man, talk about publicity!

I trained a friend and his buddy on how to set up our various PA systems. Our largest system was custom built by me. Everything looked store built. This was a system with two, 18-inch subs going from 35Hz to 100Hz and then to two, horn loaded cabs with a JBL D130's in it handling 100Hz to 5KHz and then to two, upper mid cabs containing two JBL D110's in each cabinet handling 5KHz to 10Khz. Topping it off was a JBL two-inch driver and horn going from 10KHz to 20KHz. We ran this system four-way mono with JBL electronic crossover. It fucking screamed. I also made all of the stage monitors. Fifteen-inch JBL D130 with a JBL Bullet horn. Those would shave you if you cranked them.

At this time, we had our own recording studio. Due to personnel changes, a lot of the tapes "walked off." Yeah, we were still using a TEAC 3340 at 15IPS and a TEAC two track mastering deck. Old school shit all the way.

I gave up playing in a band in late 1992. I got married. She didn't want me in the bars with other women around. That's when I fucked up. The band broke up and a lot of people were angry. A lot of my stuff was removed by other band members. Their thinking was it had become community property. Like a fool, I sold two modded pre-CBS Fender Bassman's. Man, I would like to have them now. Cha-ching!

There is so much more to the story, but I will close for now.

 

[RiverRatt]

I had asked about the EL34s over on the power tube thread. We've probably covered the 12AX7s here, too. The Matsushita EL34s look to be around the same price as RFTs and I've read reviews that said they are about as close to Mullards as you can get. Being a Philips company, I'm sure they are good. I was just asking if anyone had any hands-on experience with them. Looking forward to your review of the 12AX7s.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Anybody hear of EAT? They've been making a KT88 for a while but it's a wee bit expensive (like, more than my amp expensive). The good part is that they actually list ratings and specs for their tubes (800v plate for the KT88).

I noticed that they started making an ECC803S, but...it's got a big ol' heatsink glued around it??? I have no idea how much it costs.

European Audio Team-EAT-Made their rep on 300B tubes and then the KT88's. They are more geared for the high end Hi FI crowd.

The heatsink slips on. It can be removed. Everything they make is high dollar, because their batch runs are kept low for quality control.

Here is a page that shows prices. It looks as if the ECC803S is around $210 each as the heatsink is $40.

Too much for me to handle.

https://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=166

 

[MartyStrat54]

I had asked about the EL34s over on the power tube thread. We've probably covered the 12AX7s here, too. The Matsushita EL34s look to be around the same price as RFTs and I've read reviews that said they are about as close to Mullards as you can get. Being a Philips company, I'm sure they are good. I was just asking if anyone had any hands-on experience with them. Looking forward to your review of the 12AX7s.

I'm going to closely inspect them against the "Valvo" Raytheon and see if they are the same. The way Philips worked was (as I've said before) they had all of the designers. The prototypes were farmed out to one of the many companies they owned. (You can even find Amperex branded Mullards.) This is why Valvo may have been selected to make the slant top getter, although I have also seen some Miniwatt slant tops as well. All of these were Philips design. Now, Philips also had control over the Matsushita plant as well. They may have liked the performance of the slant top 12AX7 and decided that is what they would have Matsushita make.

I'm hoping one will be as stout as my Valvo Raytheon, as I would like to A/B it in my amp. When I get them, I will test them on my tester and then I will run them in an amp. I got five for $58. Smoking deal. Most people on EBAY that buy tubes are like sheep. They follow the leader. If you know tubes, you can find neat little deals, because no one cares about Japanese tubes. The Japanese made some of the best 12AX7 style tubes. One is the 12DM7. It may have only been made by NEC. If you find one, grab it. I only have two in my inventory...both NEC.

Got our first snow today. I'm glad I got that trip to Oklahoma out of the way.