2. amps-preamps
  3. 1217421104

Genuine Telefunken?

The last few years I have really enjoyed the exceptional sound of my tube audio equipment. After reading as much as possible on the net about " NOS " tubes, have narrowed it down to Telefunken 12AX7 and 12AU7 for my Jadis DPL preamp, but now I am really confused and can't believe all the fake ones being passed on for the authentic tubes. I have three questions! 1.) What exactly should I look for on genuine Telefunkens of these #'s, should they all have gold pins? 2.)Is it possible to stumble upon a genuine NOS Telefunken 12AX7? and 3.) Is it just a matter of preference of smooth plate verses ribbed plate? Or is one better than the other? I am new to experimenting with tubes and would love any opinions or comments. Maybe I should just consider a used tube being they have such a long long life. Thanks, Deb
noguerol
sirspeedy
738 posts
 
Jafox,I am happy for your "always interesting" response,except this time around you may have cost me some money. -:)

Worth replacing my CCa's with the PW's?
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racamuti's avatar
racamuti
362 posts
 
I suggest if you are going to buy tubes, that you use a tube dealer that has a good track record, and not just some guy selling a few tubes. Research some of the web based tube vendors and pick one that you feel comfortable with. You might pay a little more but I just consider it like insurance. The tubes that you put in your pre-amp should not be noisy and most of the good vendors will rate them phono, line or driver stage with phono being the least noisy. I personally like- Vintage Tube Services and have never gotten a noisy tube from him. I have also bought tubes on E-Bay that were so noisy that in my pre-amp they were useless,even though they were new old stock. Just my 2 cents
hotsauce
108 posts
 
Tele used to relabel their tubes as 'The Fisher' You will find 12ax7 smoothplates so marked. Quite a bit cheaper than those marked tele too.

John C.
jafox
1,463 posts
 
Sirspeedy - I was hoping to cost you some money last time with a new Hyperphono cable. 8-)~ A pair of PW's is small fry to that. As for CCAs, I have a pair of Valvo PW CCAs. I did not compare these to the Amperex 6922 PW in the Aria line stage as the 7062 here made this a moot point. And the CCAs I have are too noisy for the Aria phono stage so they landed in the CAT amps where they are very nice. I guess I could compare the Amperex to the CCAs in the amps. If I get motivated to do try this, I'll let you know. But I got a special D-getter pair of 7062's today from a friend so I'm a happy camper to play.
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