2. misc-audio
  3. 1433808028

Tubes, old and new

I sat down next to Tim Pavaracini in a room at T.H.E. Show in Irvine weekend before last, and listened to him talk about tubes. He told me that in the 50's and 60's the various tube companies would swap tubes amongst themselves when they ran low of a certain model, putting their own logo on the glass of a competitors tube. It would therefore behoove tube enthusiasts to learn the internal physical characteristics specific to each make, especially when spending big money on them. Tim's personal favorites are Mullards. He had nothing good to say about ANY tubes being manufactured today, feeling the guys and gals on the tube assembly lines have not apprenticed long enough to learn the skills necessary to build a quality tube, that they are not career professionals, but merely temporary employees. Buy your tubes from an honest, knowledgeable tube vendor!
128x128bdp24
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,788 posts
 
A guitarist, ay? What amp are those tubes in? The best players I've worked with favor amps like the blackface Deluxe Reverb and Vox AC30. Heard of Evan Johns? Great player, a Tele straight into a Deluxe on 10. Awesome tone! Drinking problem, though. Petty's guitarist Mike Campbell is buying every AC30 he can get his hands on, the glutton. I just sold my blackface Single Showman, a great bass amp.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,788 posts
 
Wolf, I'll have to try some Gold Lion 12Ax7's in my new phono amp---Keith put Sovtek's in it, but told me sure, try some others. I use GL KT88's in my power amp, they're good enough for me. Where'd you get the 12At7's? They're the other tube in my phono. I'm pretty close to Kevin Deal, I gotta make a trip to his place and see what he has.
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
I bought a pair of gold pin Mullard 6201s simply because I liked the 4024s so much…not a noticeable tone difference but I like gold pins for anti-corrosion purposes. The 4024s are safe in the backup role. My current fave guitar amps (after owning many, many amps) are a Reverend Goblin 15 watt 1X10 (Jenson Neo…great sounding little 100 watt 10" speaker with another one in a small box) with reverb small combo (they made 300 of these) with 6V6s in the output stage, and a really sweet monster Burriss Royal Bluesman class A single ended 18 watt amp with EL84s. Mesa 12 cab with that one. Lower wattage amps do the job for me as they bloom earlier without peeling the paint off of everything, but still can be loud if need be.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Wolf, how about those Tung Sol 5881 tubes for one of those geetar amps of yours, a favorite of mine in my preamp as a regulator, man are they musical!
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,842 posts
 
If you go to Brent Jessee's site he usually has a bit of history behind the tubes and their provenance: who originally built them, for who, and if machinery was left that the newer ones use. It can be quite informative.

Also, I read somewhere (or was told by Jesse himself) that some of the metals used back in the day are no longer available due to their potential and illicit uses in weapons manufactoring. Newer tubes can be made to very exacting standards but they'll never quite sound the same as NOS. That's not to say they'll sound inferior, just different.

All the best,
Nonoise
More to discover