PS Vane tubes ?

[saxon68]

Dave Friedman said on one of the Tone Talk Episodes that he had to buy the more expensive EHX 7025 for V1 spots in his amps because the PSVanes 12AX7 were too bad for V1.
They test hundreds of them every month.

I’d heard Dave saying he uses JJ in V1 and Chinese in the rest of the slots, he prefers the Chinese for tone but puts in JJ where he needs low microphonics.

The Jet City custom 5LO amp I’d ordered has a mix of JJ and PSVane, with the JJ in V1 and another I can’t recall offhand, other preamp slots have PSVane, and PSVane powertubes.

Also the Legendary Tones Mr. Scary came with PSVanes. It goes in V2 so apparently that’s fine.

 

[yladrd61]

There are several grades of Psvane tubes with the higher grade being more directed at the high end hi fi amplifier market.

 

[Moony]

I’d heard Dave saying he uses JJ in V1 and Chinese in the rest of the slots, he prefers the Chinese for tone but puts in JJ where he needs low microphonics.

Dave used ARS labeled 12AX7 a long time, those were rebranded JJ ECC83S.
But JJs are more expensive than the cheapest Chinese ones and were more and more scarce so they switched.

here are several grades of Psvane tubes with the higher grade being more directed at the high end hi fi amplifier market.

Yes, they are available since a few years here in Germany.
The more expensive PSVane Art Series with the gold pins are not bad.
The cheap "Classic" series was basically the most disregarded 12AX7 before all other brands were sold out.
People who bought them were not all that happy, but I guess that depends on the batch.

Some of the old Shuguang members went to PSVane and also a few machines.
Though they are not on par with the Shuguangs. I hope that Shuguang will have a comeback this year.
I personally really liked a mix of selected JJs and Shuguang in most of my amps.
Here and there a selected Tung Sol 12AX7 RI in V1 if it wasn't a really bright one.

 

[Moony]

The Jet City custom 5LO amp I’d ordered

Hopefully yours is a better built than the one Lyle got on his bench.
I really like Jet City and bought a lot of these amps and also modded them.
To see that these Jet City Custom amps are made much worse than the Chinese low budget ones makes me really sad.

 

[saxon68]

Hopefully yours is a better built than the one Lyle got on his bench.
I really like Jet City and bought a lot of these amps and also modded them.
To see that these Jet City Custom amps are made much worse than the Chinese low budget ones makes me really sad.

Was dated as 10/10/22 and I received it on 10/24/22.

It’s got a loud hum, with all the knobs turned totally to zero. Same tolex job and drywall screws. Same wiring. Same ground.

I’ve talked to about half a dozen guys with this same model and they’ve all got the hum. Some aren’t bothered by it, but I’m a gigging band guy and I can’t have that on stage between songs.

I’ve been pretty busy with work, travel, holidays, all the nonsense from mom passing and me being the one handling everything involved with that, and just hadn’t had time to play it with full band till the last week.

 

[Moony]

Mine is pretty much the same. I am going to ask for a refund.

That is absolutely understandable.
I also don't know why someone apparently soldered the components who obviously oesn't even know how to do it properly.

all the nonsense from mom passing and me being the one handling everything involved with that

My sincere condolences.

 

[ken361]

My PRS HDRX20 came with gold lion's in the preamp and tungsols in the power amp. I was kinda surprised

 

[saxon68]

That is absolutely understandable.
I also don't know why someone apparently soldered the components who obviously doesn't even know how to do it properly.


My sincere condolences.

Thank you for the kind words about mother.

 

[Moony]

Now some of my solder work looks excellent, and some not so much.

Hard to tell without higher resolution or macro pics.
The solder job on the amp that Lyle had on his bench wasn't nice.
And not acceptable within a small limited run of amps where you think someone kept an eye on it and made sure that everything is fine.

 

[Moony]

My PRS HDRX20 came with gold lion's in the preamp

May I ask which ones?
There are 3 different versions.
Do they have gold pins - or silver pins?

 

[Sledge Johnson]

Dave Friedman said on one of the Tone Talk Episodes that he had to buy the more expensive EHX 7025 for V1 spots in his amps because the PSVanes 12AX7 were too bad for V1.
They test hundreds of them every month.

Can only speak to the Blackheart 5W that we tested so far.

If you would like to send us a Friedman amp we would be happy to test it !!

The EHX is usually my go to 12ax7, also like the jj ecc803 (long plate)

 

[saxon68]

Hard to tell without higher resolution or macro pics.
The solder job on the amp that Lyle had on his bench wasn't nice.
And not acceptable within a small limited run of amps where you think someone kept an eye on it and made sure that everything is fine.

Is Lyle on these forums BTW?

 

[Sledge Johnson]

Ca

There are several grades of Psvane tubes with the higher grade being more directed at the high end hi fi amplifier market.

Can you expound and explain the different models ?

 

[ken361]

May I ask which ones?
There are 3 different versions.
Do they have gold pins - or silver pins?

Silver

 

[Moony]

If you would like to send us a Friedman amp we would be happy to test it !!

I'm not Dave Friedman so I can't send you one of his amps.

The EHX is usually my go to 12ax7, also like the jj ecc803 (long plate)

I'd recommend giving the JJ ECC83MG a try too - it's a nice tube, plates are a bit shorter than the ones of the ECC803S but longer than the ECC83S.

Is Lyle on these forums BTW?

I guess no, since he was insulted a lot here.

Silver

Thanks!
That's a Chinese 12AX7 - the same that was sold as the Ruby 12AX7AC7HG or the Tubestore Preferred Series.
The Russian Reflector company bought a big bulk of these from China when another customer rejected them.

 

[ken361]

I'm not Dave Friedman so I can't send you one of his amps.



I'd recommend giving the JJ ECC83MG a try too - it's a nice tube, plates are a bit shorter than the ones of the ECC803S but longer than the ECC83S.



I guess no, since he was insulted a lot here.



Thanks!
That's a Chinese 12AX7 - the same that was sold as the Ruby 12AX7AC7HG or the Tubestore Preferred Series.
The Russian Reflector company bought a big bulk of these from China when another customer rejected them.

Not Chinese like the ruby I have those it's like a old mullard plates

 

[Warsaw]

On the 18W TMB (Tube Town) for the first time with PSvane 12AX7 and EL84 tubes, 5 months and no complaints since, they sound good, really creamy overdriven sound, even pushing the power tubes the sound of the amp remains well defined. They are silver pins.

 

[saxon68]

…

 

[Rokinroller]

I been running a pair of PSVANE EL34 in my DSL40C . I have pushed them hard more than a few times . Sound superb . Great rugged , well built tubes , no problems . The price has gone up since I got the pair from China a couple months ago . I would buy them again , a quad at a time for next time .

 

[Moony]

Not Chinese like the ruby I have those it's like a old mullard plates

The Genalex Silver are Chinese tubes like I've described.
It's kind of a Mullard design yes. Just like the Ruby 12AX7AC7HG and the Tubestore Preferred I mentioned.

Ruby is just a vendor. They put their label on different Chinese, Russian and Slovakian tubes.
The more popular Ruby 12AX7 are probably the JJ ECC83S and Shuguang 12AX7B ones. The latter was labeled as Ruby 12AX7AC5HG (and HG+ for the V1 selected ones).