Feb 17, 2009 01:12 pm I use the Electro-Harmonix tubes in the MPA Gold. They sound really good and the price is right too:
www.zzounds.com...tem--ELH12AX7EH
Pre tubes....
Posted on Feb 17, 2009 12:54 pm
Kain
Member Since: Sep 03, 2008
I need to replace the stock tubes in my ART MPA Gold,anyone have any suggestions other than expensive vintage tubes. I heard groovetubes and ruby reds were nice,thanks
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Feb 17, 2009 01:12 pm I use the Electro-Harmonix tubes in the MPA Gold. They sound really good and the price is right too:
www.zzounds.com...tem--ELH12AX7EH
Feb 17, 2009 01:16 pm Groovetubes... No.
And what Nightcap said, they are pretty good.
Feb 17, 2009 01:39 pm You can also try this company out of NY. It's called New Sensor. www.newsensor.com/
They carry a lager verity of tubes. The ones that I have started to put in all of the gear here where I work, are the Tung Sol brand. Dam thing are nearly bulletproof.
Feb 17, 2009 01:47 pm Good ol' JJ Tubes from Eurotubes would be my suggestion. Great tubes for the price. Plus you can spark up an email or telephone conversation with Bob at Eurotubes and hone in on the right tube for you.
Groove Tubes, like a lot of tube brands, are just rebranded Sovtek tubes. They've been hand-selected and tested for matching/pairing, so at least they're Sovteks with some sort of desirable trait. But they probably aren't much of an upgrade over what came stock in the MPA Gold.
If you really want to go high-fallutin', try some New Old Stock (NOS) tubes from makers like GE or RCA, or go with a brand like Telefunken or Mullard. Those get the best reviews in situations like yours, for use in tube preamps.
Feb 17, 2009 02:07 pm I concur with what's been said.
Groovetubes, no.
JJ, yes.
You can still get NOS GE and Phillips. Mike at KCA is a good place to research as well. Good guy, Mike.
www.kcanostubes.com/content/
Bob at Euro is too.
Feb 17, 2009 06:32 pm I"ll agree with Rob. Tung Sol rock in the Valve Jr. Probably not the same in the pre though. But then again maybe.
I tried about 6 different tubes and the Tung Sol were the hottest sounding of them all. Also the most expensive.
Feb 26, 2009 12:57 pm I got in contact with KCAnostubes and they recommended the Tung sol reissue 12AX7,s , said the jj's were cheaply made and brittle.I told him i was replacing tubes in an ART mpa gold to use on Bass and Vocals and said they would work in this pre and have a nice warm sound.
I also looked at the Mullard 12AX7's but cant find a lot a reviews, only $16 each.
Feb 26, 2009 03:45 pm I dont think that you'll go wrong with the Mullard 12AX7's. They get great reviews from everybody I've ever heard mention them. I think they're one of the more saught-after tubes around.
And I totally disagree with the dude about JJ tubes being brittle and cheaply made. I've had 3 ECC83 preamp tubes in my amp for over 3 years now and they're still cooking. Granted my amp doesn't get much movement but that's the first I've ever heard about JJ tubes being cheaply made. I think they're great tubes.
Feb 26, 2009 08:07 pm I have to agree with Tadpui. I never had an issue with JJ's.
I have been using the Tung Sol's for their sound, and road durability. They have made some of the pickiest artist happy.
The only thing I would say, is to stay away form any Chinese tubes. Ruby is the absolute worst.
Feb 26, 2009 09:41 pm While I agree the Tung Sol is a killer tube I have to say I don't agree on the JJ tubes being crap either. They are a hot tube as well.
But I will also say they did not give me the sound that the Tung Sol did.
Feb 28, 2009 06:13 pm The Mullards and tung sols were either made in China or russia,i know the high end Mullards are made in Blackburn,uk but are usually over $100 a pair. So is there much difference in the China vs Russian made tubes?
Mar 13, 2009 07:27 pm Yeah put some Tung Sol EL34's in my Mesa Lonestar. Not only do the tubes sound freaking sexy, they sound halfway between an EL34 and a 6L6. Very smooth but with plenty of bark. Maybe thats why theyre call EL34B's. Oh and Tung Sols are made in russia. Im considering getting some Tung Sols for my preamps in my amps sounds like its well worth it after hearing what the power tubes are like.
Mar 14, 2009 08:09 pm Tung Sol is not in Russia for Pete's sake.
Here is the intro from the Wiki page. They are also famous for several other things I bet no one knows about save for a few of us here.
Quote:
Tung-Sol was a manufacturer of lamps and vacuum tubes in Newark, New Jersey.[1] Tung-Sol developed the first successful car headlight in 1907 and the first two filament high and low beam headlight in a single bulb in 1913. Tung-Sol was also responsible for the first flashing turn signal. In the 1920's they entered the electronics field. They were leaders along with RCA in the development of sophisticated, statistical quality control systems. Tung-Sol created the 6550 vacuum tube, conceived and developed for Hi-Fi in 1955. Tung-Sol was a privately held company and was run like a laboratory. This gave Tung Sol vacuum tubes a reputation of having some of the best metallurgy and chemistry that has ever been pulled off in actual production.[2]The Tung Sol brand name is now owned by the New Sensor Corporation, which is the same parent company as Sovtek and the old Electro-Harmonix
Glad yer liking the Tung Sols though. I love mine and won't be going back to anything else any time soon.
Mar 17, 2009 05:48 am Hmmmmm everyone was telling me 'MADE IN RUSSIA" for some reason. Nice bit of info there noize
Mar 17, 2009 03:26 pm Ya, most folks think either Russia or China the minute they see that name.
There are a few others as well that have odd names that are not make were we think they might be.
I honestly was surprised myself, although it was long ago that I found the info. I knew they did the headlight thing and their tubes were in some pretty cool old audio gear I used to tinker with.
Mar 17, 2009 03:36 pm I guess since they're owned by the same parent as Sovtek, they probably get lumped in with the Russian brands. I didn't think that there were still any factories in the US making vaccum tubes. I thought only the Chechs, Russians, and Chinese were still manufacturing them. Or are Tung-Sol just available as NOS like RCA?
Looking around, looks like the new Tung Sol reissues are manufactured in Russia. The originals that were made in USA are only available as NOS.
Here's a little blurb about them from an online tube retailer:
Quote:
Now in 2006 the Tung-Sol name and trademark have been acquired by the New Sensor Corporation. These brand new Tung-Sol tubes are manufactured at their Xpo-Pul factory (also known as Reflektor) in Saratov, Russia, along with their other brands, Svetlana,Electro-Harmonix, Sovtek, and their addition last year of the Mullard brand. New Sensor since taking ownership of this legendary tube factory has been steadily improving production methods insuring the quality of current production tubes will meet or exceed currently available NOS tubes.
Mar 17, 2009 07:53 pm Yep, I read somewhere as well that they were still making a couple in new Jersey. Like their 12ax7 and another. But not sure on that as it was a bit ago. I can see them doing it all in Russia for sure since that factory is the state of the art for tube making the old way. If that makes sense.
But ya, I'm using NOS right now. Although I am looking at trying one of the new power tubes from Tung Sol in the Jr.
I did run an NOS Tung Sol against the brand new 12AX7 and the new one is pretty close. It doesn't break as smoothly as the NOS but its still better then even the Sovtek which is my next favorite in that pre. For the power tube its running the EL84 Sovtek 6BQ5 and that is the one that I have one each NOS and brand new of the Tung Sol coming. The NOS is rare for the 6BQ5 but was still only about $75 so not bad. But the new one was a bit under $30.
Mar 18, 2009 10:32 am With the explosion in small tube amps and the ever-increasing number of budding guitarists, I can see why it would pay off to make their tube production facilities as nice as possible. They've obviously got a good following.
Man, I think we need to open up a tube factory if they can charge $75 a pop for them! I'm in the wrong business! I'll invent the first "New New Stock" tubes hehehe.
Mar 18, 2009 09:26 pm Ya, lucky I don't have a collection of bigger amps. If this little 5 watt thing can cost me that much for a simple power tube!
But ya, I have heard and I guess I'll find out when the 2 Tung Sol's get here and I can compare them. I've said it before, I really like the way their 12AX7 works in the pre amp section. I liked the Sovtek as well but this is just a much smoother tube. The Mullard caused it to go into overdriven state way to fast with not much transition before breaking up. The Tung Sol is such a smoother slide into the crunchy tone.
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