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RCA 12au7 Long Gray Plates
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Rolling with McIntosh 275
Tube rolling with MC could be a lot of fun and could lead to a sound that you will not only like, but love. The flexibility is just incredible. This post will focus only on preamp tubes. Power tubes are out-of-scope 🙂
There are 7 preamp tubes in reissue MC 275, V1 (12ax7) – phase-splitter, V2, V5 (12ax7) – input amplifiers. V3, V6 (12at7) – output tube drivers, V4, V7 (12at7) – Cathode followers.
Continue readingWestinghouse 12au7 Carbon Plates
Ken-Rad 12ax7 Black Plates
GE purchased Ken-Rad (Kentucky Radio Corporation) in 1945, although tubes under Ken-Rad brand have been produced until 1951, so a lot of references are for GE not Ken-Rad
” The GE Black plate 12AX7 (and 5751) have an enchanting and beautiful sound. Articulation is excellent, though not as detailed as the TungSol. Sound stage is expansive and inclusive.” Read
Continue readingSylvania JHS 6189 Black Plates
Sylvania JHS 5814 Black Plates Triple Mica
Mazda 12au7 Gray Plates
“… having a wonderful 3D sense of space and it does!! The stage seems larger than
life. The only flaw it might have would be on bright systems it tends
to have a happy high end, but I can live with it.” Read
“Beautiful punch/dynamics, with the leading edge of the Telefunken’s without the “etch”. The body of the harmonic is not quite as full as the long plate Mullard’s/Amperex’s but more body then the Telefunken’s. “ Read
Continue readingTelefunken 12ax7 smooth plates
The tube is the king of the tubes if used with care. This is superbly detailed tube with huge sound stage. Could be an overkill for a bright system, because it will make the system sound clinically bright and lifeless, but if mixed with warm sounding tubes (anything with black plates), it can produce and incredible sound that other tubes will be envious off 🙂
“Watch for the rare Telefunken smoothplates with a cloth label on the glass marked “selected tube”. Often these have red painted tips. . . These were all screened for critical use in medical equipment, with the “selected tube” or L&N versions being the best. Both red and blue tips are incredibly quiet and very three dimensional in sound.” Read
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