Name your NEW Re-Issue 12au7, 12at7, 12ax7 tubes (your favorites, and why?)


NOT about our old vintage or NOS tube stash, please.

  • That's covered 100x over for decades, on other threads. This is not about re-justifying our old stash, this is about current new tubes only, and listening again to what some of the recent re-issue tubes offer.   

.........

Name your New Re-issue FAVORITE  (12au7, 12ax7, 12at7), & why?

  • Genelex?
  • PSVANE?
  • Apos Ray?
  • Mullard?
  • Tung Sol?
  • Northern Electric?
  • others...

Thanks in advance, and before posting this, yes, I did look through old threads, this topic is scattered about. Trying here in a single thread, if interested... 

 

 

 

 

decooney
Post removed 

Comparing new vs old NOS Mullards, first time played tonight. Decided to break out the mothballed set and try them to compare.  Sure, there is a difference. Choose your taste.  Both tests were paired with equal dated driver tubes too. 

New Re-issue:

2019 Mullard 12au7 -

More body, weight, nice heavy midrange, top end rolled off some,

yet detail is still there if you listen closely. Limited grain or etch.  

Sound stage can be a bit recessed on some tracks, but still there. 

Vintage, NOS:

1966 Mullard 12au7 Blackburn plant issue

More upper detail, neutral body, neutral midrange, more forward. 

Mild grain comes with added texture, Sound stage a little more open, 

 

Next:

I would not mind trying a set of thew new PSVANE Horizon to compare next for the 12au7s to see how far they are off from either of these. Maybe in a few months. 

 

@decooney , Thank you for this thread. I have next to zero experience with new production small tubes. I have a pre and a pair of monos that run 12AU7’s they came with new JJ ECC82’s and 801’s , I just don’t care for their sound. They look great and are very quiet but I went nos , hence I’m looking forward to the upcoming posts. I just had my first experience with 12AX7’s in my mono blocs and replaced the provided new production Tung Sol 5751 gold pins with a matched set of nos Telefunken 12AX7’s from Brent Jesse at a cost of $318. To my amazement it was a huge step backwards which came as a total shock to this Tekefunken fanboy. The Tung Sol’s are dynamic , airy and produce a large soundstage. But in this application the Tekefunken’s are sharp, edgy and overall unpleasant. FWIT my Rogue Hera pre has 5 gain stages that are set independently of the volume control allowing me to set the gain down on the 12AX7’s to be more comparable to the lower mu 5751’s. So for me these Tung Sol’s are a winner. Since I’m now needing a phone stage due to the Hera I’ll keep the Telefunkens since I’m considering a tube pre. Thanks again, I’m eager to learn about new production Vs buying 6-8 pairs. Mike B. 

To @buellrider97 - how long have you run-in the vintage Tele's from Brent, how many hours?  Are they used or truly new-old-stock, if you know?

Apparently the gain is the same on the older Tele's compared to your new issue JJ 12ax7s, yet reading up some times each of these tubes can behave in different ways in different circuits.  My amps originally came with new JJ 12au7, 12at7 tubes. Any vintage Mullard, Brimar, GE, Tungsram, RCA, all sound different from the new JJs. And, new PSVANE or new re-issue Mullard also sound different from the new JJs in my amps.  I wonder if your stock JJ tubes are well burned in, as another reason you might hear a different result. 

 

Yes, 100 hours of burn-in is recommended, I would talk to Brent if the sound remained the same after it. He closes his business on March 5th, by the way.