best new production 12ax7?

I like the Tungsol a lot...smooth and round to my ear as rolled in my pair of Grommes LJ4s. Haven't tried LPS in an audio amp, but I like them in guitar amps. The EH may be too unruly for audio....another good guitar amp tube. The JJ were pretty forgettable for me. I agree with what's been said, though. Trust your own ears and your system. I still find good vintage tubes cheap enough that I have a bunch of RCA long plate around...never go wrong there. Also, some vintage Japanese are nice...Matsushita with the angled getter. Roll them all...have fun...:banana::D:banana::D:banana:
 
Logging another vote for the Sovtel LPS for use in my phono preamp (so far anyway). Thanks to Jaymanna and others. A brief history- (all tubes were given hundreds of hours of use before giving up).
1) Pro-ject Tube Box DS stock tubes (Tung Sol)
Learned these were Tung Sol when I bent a pin and de-gassed the tube and the vibration ring came off. Great magic. Sounded awesome. clear, clean, extended on both ends- forward but sweet midrange. brought the tube magic for horn, guitar and vocal realism.
2) Telefunken ribbed plate NOS. Couldn't leave well enough alone. Thought these were the holy grail at first- dynamic, clean, punchy deep bass. But they transformed over time and sounded hard, veiled and low-fi. Bummer.
3) Psvane. Much cult hype on these. Great powerful bass and midrange but wound up with too much distortion / hashy ness sounding in the treble. Did not last long in my system.
4) Amperex Bugle Boy NOS. Thought these would be the sweet spot between the Telefunkens and the Mullard (which would not work in my already warm system). The Bugles were weak in the bass, nice warm midrange but again hashy and distorted in the treble. No more NOS for me.
5) Tung Sol. Bought new ones to replace the damaged one during all the tube swapping. The new set unfortunately never sounded as good as the stock set of Tung Sols. Puzzling. These started OK, not as good but OK, but turned veiled and low-fi after they broke in.
6) Sovtek LPS. So far- PERFECT! Neutral, extended on each end, clear, open, clean, dynamic. Best tube by far. I hope they stay that way! Really, they are so cheap I can accumulate a reserve supply if needed.

? I thought about trying Genalex Gold Lion gold pins because of the positives but read that they are identical to the Sovtek LPS. Anyone confirm or deny?
 
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avanti1960 said:
I thought about trying Genalex Gold Lion gold pins because of the positives but read that they are identical to the Sovtek LPS. Anyone confirm or deny?
Click to expand...

As you can see in my photo in post 38 above, the Gold Lion 12AX7 / ECC83 / B759 gold-pin and the Sovtek 12AX7LPS (the tubes on each end) appear to the naked eye to have identical construction, except for the gold pins. (However I'm not an expert on tube construction, and I've never dissected the tubes.) Nonetheless, in my listening tests (in AF or phase inverter stage, not phono) they sound different. I prefer the Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 / ECC83 / B759 gold-pin to the Sovtek 12AX7LPS, but as I said above the Sovteks sound good and are relatively inexpensive.

FWIW, I always buy tubes that have been tested, balanced, and matched by the distributor. Otherwise, I'm concerned that I'd be getting the dregs.
 
In new stock, I tried Mullards (too warm and rolled off), Tungsol (good extension but so so mids), and Sovtek LPS (the most balanced of the lot).

The Sovteks are the ones I landed on with my 2a3 amp.

With my Marshall however, the Mullards and Tungsols are great.
 
In my Yaqin ms-23b, i run a matched pair of siemens/philips SQ ecc83 from the 50's.
They sound just too perfect in my system and to my ears...

and i try those new tubes and swap them from time to time:

-jj's ecc803's
-sovtek 12ax7wa

Im new to tubes so my experience is very limited to these three pairs...

but im happy with the sound they give me:music:
 
I still prefer the RAM tubes.

You can purchase the level you choose as far as testing goes. And they are not out of line price wise. Those 90% are really something....they are better than vintage Amperex Hollands/pre-war EI/vintage Telefunkens on my audio research amp. So the sound is there and nobody test tubes as thoroughly as Ram.
 
Sovtek lps and Tung-Sols if you have to go new. Though they don't even compare to mid-60's Telefunkens or Siemens in my equipment.
 
avanti1960 said:
I thought about trying Genalex Gold Lion gold pins because of the positives but read that they are identical to the Sovtek LPS. Anyone confirm or deny?
Click to expand...
While these tubes look the same and definitely sound similar, they are not identical. Yes these two tubes have a very similar overall tonal balance. But the GLs have noticably sweeter, and less-grainy mids and highs to my ears.

I'm not sure if these tubes are indentical internally and if they just select the best ones at the factory for the GL label, leaving the inferior stock as Sovtek, or if they do something slightly differnet internally such as gold plating the grid. Either way, it doesn't really matter because these tubes definitely sound better to my ear. To me the difference is totally worthwhile. But in different gear, you may well prefer the less-magical sounding LPS.

The other Modern production tube which I am very fond of is the Tungsol 12AX7. It is brighter, and a little less magical in the mids than is the GL. But if you have a cascased preamp which spits the 12AX7 tube halves between the two channels (such as an SP8 or an SP6) you can get the best of both words by putting one of each in, and the result is pure magic IMO.
 
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Please try! (EI) Niš (Electronic Industry Niš, Serbia) they still exist and manufacture fine
tubes, however they were under bankruptcy for many years until their debt finances
were settled.

(They were still manufacturing tubes and other Items during the Kosovo War)

Stories about their tube factory having been bombed and destroyed were erroneous.
 
darcyl said:
I know this will open up a giant can of worms, but what do you guys think the best new production 12ax7 is? Sovtek 12ax7lps looks good, what about the Gold Lion reissues? worth $40 a piece?
Click to expand...

LPS is the best I've found, but really, NOS is the way to fly IMHO.
 
zandru said:
Please try! (EI) Niš (Electronic Industry Niš, Serbia) they still exist and manufacture fine
tubes, however they were under bankruptcy for many years until their debt finances
were settled.

(They were still manufacturing tubes and other Items during the Kosovo War)

Stories about their tube factory having been bombed and destroyed were erroneous.
Click to expand...
Really? EI has come back from the dead? If so, that's great news! They used to make my favorite New stock 12AX7. And their KT-90s were reported to sound amazing.
 
goldear said:
While these tubes look the same and definitely sound similar, they are not identical. Yes these two tubes have a very similar overall tonal balance. But the GLs have noticably sweeter, and less-grainy mids and highs to my ears.

I'm not sure if these tubes are indentical internally and if they just select the best ones at the factory for the GL label, leaving the inferior stock as Sovtek, or if they do something slightly differnet internally such as gold plating the grid. Either way, it doesn't really matter because these tubes definitely sound better to my ear. To me the difference is totally worthwhile. But in different gear, you may well prefer the less-magical sounding LPS.

The other Modern production tube which I am very fond of is the Tungsol 12AX7. It is brighter, and a little less magical in the mids than is the GL. But if you have a cascased preamp which spits the 12AX7 tube halves between the two channels (such as an SP8 or an SP6) you can get the best of both words by putting one of each in, and the result is pure magic IMO.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. i will have to give the GL gold pins a try.
 
zandru said:
Please try! (EI) Niš (Electronic Industry Niš, Serbia) they still exist and manufacture fine
tubes, however they were under bankruptcy for many years until their debt finances
were settled.

(They were still manufacturing tubes and other Items during the Kosovo War)

Stories about their tube factory having been bombed and destroyed were erroneous.
Click to expand...

I can't find these for sale anywhere. Do you have any info about where to buy?
 
avanti1960 said:
I can't find these for sale anywhere. Do you have any info about where to buy?
Click to expand...

Some of EI’s new stock is being packaged in older YUGOSLAVIA marked boxes.
Including boxes marked EI Elites.

EI hasn’t exactly jumped back into the marketplace since their release from bankruptcy.
I believe they are trying to avoid new high tax burdens by selling their new stock
off as older stock piled Items (NOS). I’ve seen and purchased red And gold labeled pairs
for $50 recently. They may be also be branding other manufacturers on their new stock,
after all, that’s where the money’s at.

Serbia has had a tough going for many years.

There are many sites where EI's are being sold.

http://www.ebay.tv/sch/i.html?_sop=3&_nkw=ei+ecc83&_frs=1
 
goldear said:
Really? EI has come back from the dead? If so, that's great news! They used to make my favorite New stock 12AX7. And their KT-90s were reported to sound amazing.
Click to expand...

If they're the real deal, the 90s are amazing, and will kill these new 88s and 120s. IMHO of course.
 
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