2. amps-preamps
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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
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
4,790 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.
larryi
4,156 posts
 
For warmer sounding 12AX7s, I like Amperex Bugle Boys. It could be just a synergy issue, but, Mullards do not sound that good in my Viva Fono phonostage, and they sounded oddly phasey in a friends Tron phonostage.

Telefunkens and the one set of RCA tubes I have are on the leaner, clearer and more dynamic side. The most dynamic and exciting sounding 12AX7, to me, is the ECC803S. This tube is, however, insanely expensive and it could be too lean sounding for many applications. This is the tube I use in my phonostage (I am counting on its reputation for being extremely durable).

I really like the 5751s I've tried, though they may not be suitable drop in replacements for 12AX7 (they deliver lower gain than a 12AX7).
samhar
1,048 posts
 
I agree with Andr 5751's would be the closest to the tele's clean detailed sound at reasonable $'s. The 5751 is a very low noise tube,less gain than 12AX7, but if your preamp has plenty of gain you will be OK.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
5751s are a great experiments, and make serious committments once done. As mentioned not too much $$.
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