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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!
bdp24
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
10,277 posts
 
Keith Herron, another good one, is with you on the subject, putting current Sovtek tubes in his products, which sound mighty good, and advising against substituting "better sounding" vintage tubes. Modjeski himself says a tube doesn't have an inherent sound, that what a circuit sounds like with any particular set of tubes in it is a function of those tubes performance curves (conductance, voltage, noise, etc.), not an inherent sound per se. I always listen to a products designer when using his product.
wolf_garcia
6,795 posts
 
In my hifi I use NOS Mullard 12at7s (6201 gold pins) because they flame up on start and sound great (the flame up is important…not sure why), new Gold Lion 12Ax7s because they are built beautifully and sound great, and KT150s because they sound great and are unique. Old KT150s are hard to find as they never existed. In guitar amps I use a weird assortment of El84s, 6V6s, and 12ax7s…new Mullards, JJs…a potpourri as it were.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
10,277 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
10,277 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
6,795 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.
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