What are your flavorite tubes

[RicharD]

I'm looking for an open ended discussion about different types, brands, flavors, etc.  Please tell why you like what you like.  It can be anything from, "I love the BugleBoy logo" to "these 7027's sound the best to my ears". 

My current favs:

6DZ7 - 2 6BQ5's in a single octal base envelope.  I really like 6BQ5's but I am enamored with the 6DZ7 because it is a thing of beauty.
ISOTone gave me a quad set for my birthday.   :)


6EU7 - Works like a 12AX7 but the pinout (plates adjacent) really lend themselves well for point to point work.

[Platefire]

Well Latest thing with me is I just discovered the 5751. I've known for some time that was SRV's favorite preamp tube but didn't think much about it! My Son gave me a JAN 5751 last year for a gift and I had never tried it. I've been a big fan of the 12AY7 for a less gain tube. I finally decided to try the JAN 5751 in place of the Y7 in one of my amps and was really blown away with the sound. Just won three
GE NOS gray plate 5751's last night on e-bay---reviews say they are not the best but OK---the black plates being a lot better. I'll be exploring the 5751's for a while!

I've been a fan of the 6SC7 metal---got that in a couble of my DIY amps.

6L6's and 6V6 PP & SE power sections have been my favorite in all different brands. Got quite a few vintage of these kind but new JJ's are sounding good to me. I've been enjoying EL84 power sections more and more also.

IMHO the staples for Good Old USA Rock n roll is 12AX7 pres and 6L6 power section--RCA Blackplates is hard to beat! Plate  

[andrew_k]

For looks, this pair of 805 that live in my loungeroom:

I marvel at their construction almost daily, hoping one day I'll have suitable iron to hear them sing

For intoxicating "mmmmmm shiny!" factor, this pair of SED Winged C 6550C glowing in my 100W AX84 October with 669V on the plates


For Fenders, 5751 and RCA 6V6 inspire me. The Australian Radiotron 6V6 are also a lovely tube and much cheaper than the RCA ( :-X ;) )
 
For Rockin' preamp crunch, the Mullard 12AX7s I found in my shed :o or new production TungSol 12AX7. The new TungSol really sing, in my limited experience.

[tubenit]

EH or TungSol 12AX7,  older not new 5751's, 5879 pentodes, JJ 6V6 followed by Tung Sol 6V6 followed by EH 6V6 , Tung Sol 5881 and old 5Y3.

With respect, Tubenit

[DummyLoad]

RCA and GE 6l6gc, tung-sol 5881/6l6gb, RCA 6v6 smokey glass - hands down, the smoothest sounding tube. 

[jhadhar65]

I'm pretty partial to JJ power tubes - 6L6GC, 6V6, E34L, EL84.  They're my standards.

As for NOS (or at least OS, even if the N is iffy), I like anything that's old American or British manufacture.

I'm all over the place on miniature tubes, but I lean toward EH and JJ there, too.

I plan to try some of these new production tubes soon:
    *  Tung-Sol 6SL7GT and 6SN7GTB
    *  Mullard ECC83, EL84, and EL34
    *  Sino 807 (been around a long time, but I haven't tried them)

I never plan to try these:
    *  EAT KT88 (list price = $1800 a quad)

[Ritchie200]

I never plan to try these:
    *  EAT KT88 (list price = $1800 a quad)

DARN!  Think we can talk Doug into buying a few quads and letting us evaluate them for free?  Hey, I'd be willing to sacrifice my time and electric for the good of the website.  It would be a burden, but one that I would take for the team! ??? ;D
Sooooo, how about it Doug?

Mine has not changed for a long time due to lots of $$$ down the drain wasted on other brands - KT88 =C=
Have not had the courage to try the "new" Gold Lions.  I have a lot of history with the =C= and they can take tons of abuse and sound VERY close to the "real" Gold Lions.

Jim

[supro66]

6L6's and 6V6 PP & SE power sections have been my favorite in all different brands. Got quite a few vintage of these kind but new JJ's are sounding good to me. I've been enjoying EL84 power sections more and more also.

IMHO the staples for Good Old USA Rock n roll is 12AX7 pres and 6L6 power section--RCA Blackplates is hard to beat! Plate  

That is what is in my first build Supro 6420Thunderbolt

HERE IS MY SITE WITH ALL OF THE INFOMATION

http://www.geocities.com/insp/SUPRO6420.html

[thermion]

preamp tubes: vintage = 6sl7 and 12au7 variants; modern = sov 12ax7lps
power tubes: vintage = 6l6g/gb variants, modern = sov el84, wing C 6550
rectos: vintage = 5y3, 81, modern = sov gz34

[mackie2]

Telefunken, Siemens, Amperex and RCA 12AX7's

Old and Ugly black plate RCA  6L6's, They really sound good in almost any amp.

JJ 6V6 (spiral), RCA 6v6 cloudy's, Tung Sol. I have some really old FMC's that sound good not as much output-old,old.

Old GE 7581's

Phillips' Small 19 watt 5881's

A german tube  C3M old, old, old--don't know if  they are made anymore.  We had them in Siemens Microwave  Equipment Mfg. in Germany.

811A RCA  transmitter tube,  mu 160, triode--Altec  theatre  amps used them--the amps still go for hi-dollar.

Most NOS rectifiers depending on voltage drop  needed.  I don't  have a lot  of  experience  with Eastern Bloc rectifiers yet.

Mackie2

 

[panhead]

I've used the Svetlana EL34 in a few SE amps, and I really like the tone.

[FYL]

A german tube  C3M old, old, old--don't know if  they are made anymore.

The C3M (as well as their C3G and C3O relatives) were some of the best small signal pentodes ever manufactured. Long out of production but NOS stocks still exist in Europe.

http://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/009/c/C3m.pdf

[jjasilli]

Am particulalry fond of KT-88's & 6550's.  For looks I'm attracted to the coke bottle shape.  Am intrigued by tubes with the anode connection on top, but don't have any.

I like vintage tubes, not new production.  NOS is fine but not necessary to me.  Any brand of used vintage tube is great, so long as it tests strong, and is guaranteed by a reputable seller.  Strong, used vintage tubes are usually cheap.  You can often buy a quantity of 3 - 5 of them for the price of one new production tube.  So: if one fails you have backups; you can do tube rolling if they're different brands or versions of the same tube.

[bnwitt]

EH 6V6GTs, Winged C EL34s and 6L6GCs, Chinese 12AX7Bs, Phillips JAN 12AT7s, GE JAN 12AY7s

[Megachunk]

I like JJ EL34's, TAD 6L6's and EH 12AX7's. And I've used Sovtek EL84s and liked them too.

[ajeffcote]

   In the pre-amp I like EH or Tung-Sol 12AX7's for new tubes.Old 5751's,especially the RCA blackplate.Old 12AX7's RCA,Amperex,Tungsram,Brimar,MULLARD.The Mullard 4024,very nice.Old power tubes RCA,Brimar,Marconi 6V6's,RCA,Sylvania 6L6's,Tung-Sol5881.New power tubes JJ,Tung-Sol 6V6's,6L6's.I'm getting ready to order a new Mullard re-issue 12AX7,have read good reviews on them,Winged C 6L6 and Tung-Sol re-issue 5881's.Anyone here tried the new TS 5881?

[catnine]

 I stick with a few old RCA 6V6's and JJ 6v6's and JJ ECC83 's and if i got for 6L6's JJ's or EH . I havr onl a few use RCA 12ax7's and a sovtek 12ay7 for V-1 in my 6G2/5E3 adj/fixed bias. i tried 5751 in the past in a pro jr and crate VC20 but they sort of removed the open , that what we call  pick sensitvity sound to my ears . They were sovtek . I have a pair of ruby 6v6gtbc and EH 6v6gt but so far have not tried them the JJ's seem to do the job fine , so these are just in case tubes . I should try the ruby 6V6's but so far the JJ's just have the sound so why bother. I will try anything that does not crap out or sound brittle . I have a pair of EH 6L6's and they sounded fine to me . The JJ 12ax7/ecc83 tubes have a dark tone I like in my two amps . I have  new sovtek 12ax7WA that was said to be good but it's still in the box . I guess I am not a tube tester sort of guy , I get a tone and leave well enough alone. I kind of depends on the amp your ears and the speaker and guitar . I try not to drive myself nuts these days . I say speakers have more of an affect over all .

[supro66]

MY AMP SITE
http://www.geocities.com/insp/SUPRO6420.html

[billcreller]

Since I'm an octal guy, the 6SC7 and 6SJ7s are my favorite pre and PI tubes. I've been using the EH6V6s from Doug in most of my stuff. I really can't tell the difference between those and the old RCA 6V6s I have.

Also have some old Delco 6V6s which are likely from old car radios, which sound very good for being so old and laying around for years.

Haven't tried any JJ 6V6s yet.

[mackie2]

Billcreller--

The ' Little Walter' amp uses all octal base  tubes--The NY  Amp  Show had a Youtube Demo of their amps--See if you can find it on google.  I like the old octals. I've built a couple using 6SQ7's--single stage 100 mu.  Some of the 50's Giibson  Amps used them.  Also, I made a tube amp in the  Mic using 6SQ7.  One of my amps has a 6SJ7. 

Mackie2

[GuitarPilot65]

JJ 5AR4 (replaced rattling stock Chinese rect.), EH 6V6GT (matched pair; replaced unmatched stock Chinese pair), Chinese 12AT7's, & 12AX7A's & B's (very quiet).

[billcreller]

Thanks mackie, I'll check that out.  One of my amps had a 6SL7, for the PI, which I had hum problems with.  Tried all sorts of fixes, but wound up with a metal 6SC7, which being shielded, fixed the problem.

[nastyoldtech]

In a clean amp (is there such a thing, and do you want one? ) the JAN 12AX7WA. I don't like their breakup so much, not really bad just others I like better. For cleans they are one sweet sounding tube. I would like to find a 12AX7 that does what they do with the cleans and has a sweet breakup to boot. 

[billcreller]

Clean is pretty much what I want and use for steel guitar, but sometimes a little OD sounds nice.

[nastyoldtech]

Clean is pretty much what I want and use for steel guitar, but sometimes a little OD sounds nice.

Bill I play steel too. If you were planning on building a Standel clone these would be a good choice for the V1 12XA7's. 

[navdave]

I love your pimp screw driver!!!
I really like the new Tung Sol 12ax7's and the Chinese made EL34-B and 6550's branded Ruby tubes.

[Cork]

I have tried several preamp tubes in a Fender Delux Reverb amp and found that various brands of old 7025's (RCA, Tung-Sol etc. taken from other amps when replacements were done), sound better to me than the 12ax7's I've tried.
What, in your opinion, type of 12ax7's sound the most similar to old 7025's?
And what do you think of the JJ long plate spiral 12ax7's?
About to start an EL34 / AB763 project and the opinions of those of you on this site are very respected by me.
Cork

[Shrapnel]

Tubes that glow a nice color and do their job the way they were designed to, and create that utopian tube tone.  :laughing7: :laughing1:

Seriously though, I haven't developed a full enough palette yet to know what I like the best.

[Jim_S]

In my 5150 I have a combination of 5751's and AX7's (and the AT7 for the reverb). The amp has so much gain to begin with, the 5751's really smoothed it out. Of those, may favorites are Sylvania box plates (AWSOME tube), GE box plates, RCA JRC 3 mica's, and GE gray plates. I seem to prefer US manufactured tubes over the European ones. Tubes from the other side of the pond always seem mushy, for lack of a better term. For outputs, I really like the GE 6550A's the best. The RCA 6L6GC blackplates sound really good, but you have to crank 'em up to really hear their true tone. GE pentodes seem to have a crisper sound and better compression at lower volumes.

But as was said in an earlier post, "sound" is really subjective. What may sound good in my setup, to my ears, may not be what another player may want. I am fortunate enough to have a very large stash of old stock tubes. So I have been able to try many different types. Each amp has its own personality and tubes should be taylored to that specific amp and player. The most effective way I've found to please someone who is looking to retube, is to have them come over and try different tubes until we find the combination that works best for them.

[HotBluePlates]

The tone of various tubes is an angle I've wanted to tackle for a long time in some form of experiment. In general, I've always noticed more of a tonal change from preamp tubes than from output tubes. I wonder about whether the amps I've tried them in allow the character of the output tubes to shine.

I can't say I have a favorite tube brand. I know the number has dwindled some, but I had 1,000+ tubes on hand at one time. I honestly haven't had a chance to try out all the different types in a batch that large.

The intended use and desired result plays a big factor. Telefunken ECC83's have the smoothest, most balanced sound to my ear. I was in luck when I got my first tube amp (67 Princeton Reverb) in that all the preamp tubes were Telefunkens. When people say that certain frequencies are jumping out at them, or they are having trouble tweaking their amp's sound, I wonder if it's the circuit, their tubes or their expectations...

But "flat and neutral" isn't the best thing for everyone or in every amp. Sometimes you want edgy, gritty, in-your-face. Sometimes you want high end so smooth as to be almost muted. Other brands/types might do better at getting those sounds.

I have heard distinct differences in tone with swapping preamp tubes of differing brands, but I wonder how much was due to the tube construction and how much might be due to worn out tubes with different Gm, rp and overall gain. I figure the only fair way to evaluate any true difference in brand/type is to use swap tubes with nearly he same characteristics, so that there are fewer variables.

I also would like to get a chance to build a nice amp or 2 for some of my rare output tubes (not terribly rare in the big scheme of things): namely the small handful of Genalex KT66's (real ones) and Mullard EL37's. I've got the start of a design for the EL37's using a generic step-up/step-down transformer.