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6SN7 Tung Sol Reissue Mullard 12AX7 any comments?

Does anybody have any experience with re-issue Tung SOl 6SN7's??
How about re issued Mullards 12AX7's.
They're being copied to the smallest details (they say) or the opriginals in original Reflektor Plant in russia.
Just wantd to now If I should stop looking to spend small fortunes on NOS.
Are these guys a solution??
KT-88 GEC being copied also Golden Lions, any thoughts.
I headrd the guys at Sophia ELEctrric (famous for their 300B tube) are bringing form Shuguang a copy of teh GEC that kiks butt . .. .
I'm using their awesome KT-88-98 and like it very much so. . . the promise of something even better is very appealing to me, especially when looking at original GEC tubes beaten to a pulp by MacIntosh amplifiers for sale for many hundreds of buck sometimes even K$ . . .
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Wanted to give you a heads up on the new generation of chinese amplifiers tubed they are a fantastic value at their current prices, just make sure use them with a variac adn to 110 VOLts otherwise tube plate voltage is too high and destroys tubes in months.
my grid here is 119 to 124 volts and that is too much for these amps.

Thanks for the help;
God Bless!

Gonzalo
128x128gonzalo
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i have the mullard 12ax7 reissues. they don't sound like mullards at all. edgy and lean is what i heard when i used them in a cd player. these tubes are not my cup of tea.
cyclonicman
693 posts
 
Has anyone compared the sound of the new reissues to original vintage tubes mentioned? Isn't that what we are all aftger? Who cares if it only looks like the original! I think Mcfarland hit the nail on the head, salesmanship and marketing.
mchd1
93 posts
 
I have tried the Mullard 12AX7 reissue tubes in a Conrad Johnson phono stage and they do not look or sound like the NOS Mullard 12AX7 tubes that I was using. The reissue tubes may sound a little better than the Sovtek or EH labeled tubes but they are not Mullards. I went back to the NOS Mullards.
geraldm121
63 posts
 
It always amazes me when people comment on products they do not own or have not heard. I have the Mullard 12AX7 reissues and while do look like the Sovteks the sure don't sound like them. They have a much smoother more extended sound and are not strident like the Sovteks. I use them in a Cayin A70T and Cayin MT12A (an EL84 amp that I have not seen in the USA). The A70T came with EH 12AX&'s and MT12A with Cayin branded Shuguang 12ax7's. In both cases the Mullard re-issues were an improvement.
I also have a set of the Tung Sol 12AX7 re-issues and the pair I have are very low gain,the sound seems very recessed and they are a short plate design as compared to the long plate Mullards.
As to output tubes I have not had a chance to listen to the GEC Gold Lion re-issues but I do have two sets of the Tung Sol 6550 re-issues one in an Audio Research CA50 and a pair used in my Antique Soundlabs MG SI 15 DT single ended amp. In both cases (they replaced SED6550's in the AR and Valve Art KT88's in the ASL) they were a significant improvement. To my ear they are very similar to the original GE6550's as I still have one Quad I use a reference. I hope this gives you some help in making your choice.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i have mullard 12ax7 reissue, mullard 12ax7 long plate and sovtek 7025/12ax7wa. i have tried them in my cd player, a vincent cd s6. the reissue mullard is unbalanced, with an emphasis upon the highs. i do not like this tube. the mullard long plate is balanced but has no bloom. the sovtek is the osftest sounding of the three. i know, it is hard to believe.
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