12AU7 tubes for a Rouge Audio Sphinx V3 Integrated

Brent Jessee has 1960's Amperex/Heerlen and Mullard/Blackburn short plate 12au7's starting @ $150-$160/matched pair (damaged printing/relabels).

These are what I ended up with in the preamp that I have been using for 20 years now.

I prefer a harmonically rich, liquid 3D sound.

For around $100/MP he also has RCA 1950's RCA black plates.

I used GE 5814's that I also liked, but I can't get to them now to see what type of construction/plates they have  (they were smooth but lacked the mid-bass bloom of the others mentioned above).

RCA clear top/side getter are not warm sounding tubes (you would want the 50's version with black plates and top flashing if you go that route).

I've never purchased tubes from him (Brent Jessee), but he has a good rep (plus he has the goods and testing equipment).

I purchased my various tube stock 20 years ago.

I have not tried any of the new production 12au7's.

.

DeKay

decooney"

I was noting the less expensive short plate 60's production @ Blackburn and Heerlen.

I actually prefer them to my older (now super expensive) long plate versions.

A modern 12au7 that interested me (reading between the lines of the reviews) was the JJ ECC802S, but having had problems with the undersized tube pins on their (JJ) 300B/2A3 tubes I never tried them (don't know if it's even a thing with their small signal tubes).

DeKay