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12ax7's to roll

Happy Holidays A'goners. I have a Rogue Cronus Magnum that I bought from Agon. I love it and I'm curious about tube rolling. A very reputable tube source that most tube fans in the U.S. would be familiar with, recommended replacing my 12ax7's with Telefunken 12ax7's. They're really expensive as far as I'm concerned. I'm not wealthy and have kids in college. I could certainly swing it but is there other alternatives that cost less than $230 for a matched pair that will give me a good tube rolling experience? I currently have Sylvanias and I love the sound. I'm just curious as I've never tube rolled in my life.
donjr
donjr OP
1,335 posts
 
Great info and thank you all for the replies. I'm going to take my time and talk to some of the dealers as recommended.

Do 12ax7 / 12au7's last 10,000 hours? I thought I read that somewhere. I have this fear of having a tube go on a Friday night resulting in no music. I purchased a new matched quad of Electro Harmonix KT90's from Rogue just in case.
superwolf
15 posts
 
The Rogue tamed those speakers, correct? I hope you can enjoy the music now. I had good luck with Gold Lion KT-77s if you want different tubes down the road.
somec59
245 posts
 
I was very surprised with the performance of new Electro Harmonic 12ax7 Gold Pins (not NOS): dynamic and accurate. They were $35.00 for the pair. I like Siemens 12ax7s, very accurate and quiet and I liked them more than Telefunkens
toetapfactor
77 posts
 
1950s RCA Black plates....Raytheon long plates..Sylvania long plates..all great tubes.Much cheaper and out perform the overhyped Tele tubes IMO
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Some Telefunekin wantabe's - EI 12AX7E (long grey plate). No longer manufactured as EI is out of business but they can be found. An excellent and balanced sound. The only reservation I have is that they could be microphonic in a sensitive (i.e. a phono stage)location. I use them a lot. I bought from a dealer in England and the last time I was on the their site they still had them listed.
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