Brent is the most honest trustworthy man in this "Corrupt" "NOS" tube business. He is completely sincere and does all this with an absolute passion for tone! Thanks Brent, You are a good man!!!

@audiotubes

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks, your comments and support are greatly appreciated. We guarantee what we sell and have probably the most liberal return policy in the business.

@l_shaun_bunds_l

6 жыл бұрын

no way hat title goes to the oldguyradiola gang and the awesome ability to keep a perfect ebay score while everyone that interacts with customers acts like artie or ed or... check out the overlord tubes ad on yourube and then look up the ebay history on google... people fell for that bejwelled 90s mess.

@fatwillie7854

5 жыл бұрын

@@l_shaun_bunds_l Old Guy Radiola (who were nice enough folks, but not very knowledgeable) sold their inventory to a completely clueless snob recording studio outfit called BangyBang. Check 'em out, you'll see...

@l_shaun_bunds_l

5 жыл бұрын

Fat Willie Merlin moon... I know

Thanks so much for the time and effort you put into the video. Those of us who are here to learn something actually did! Keep up the good work. Repairing the old tube radios is a dying art. I am so glad someone cares enough to try and educate those who are interested in carrying on the craft.

@zacharycaspian7225

2 жыл бұрын

InstaBlaster.

Wow, had no idea all this information existed for vintage tubes. Fascinating. Thanks for doing this video and your other videos.

I agree! In my system the Telefunken smooth plate 12AX7 is fabulous. Still have the original six in my 1964 Marantz 7c preamp that to this day drops the jaws of some of my fellow musicians when they come over and listen. I have a dozen tested spares waiting to go into service when needed. Thanks for the video, Bruce in South Carolina

I love it when I get equipment that has Telefunken, Amperex or Mullard tubes in them---if they test good, they go on ebay, and the audiophools will pay me a small fortune for them. In their place, I use quality American tubes, and they sound great.

I bought a very old TV at a yard sale. Had about 12 tubes of various sorts. I'm now looking into a DIY headphone tube amp project for a tube labeled 12AU7A made in germany. Interesting stuff.

I remember the red tipped telefunken tubes used in American Optical ECG monitors in the early 70's. Even though they were tested to very high standards, there were some that would not yield a good common mode rejection ratio in the low level stages of the monitor. That was the problem with tubes, and after a few weeks of operation, the CMRR sometimes needed to be readjusted because of aging of the dual triodes.

Finally ! i got my answer! I have some NOS Philips EL84's and ECC83's all with a blue tip. I asked allot of people, nobody could tell me why they had a blue tip. I've gotten them from my grandpa who passed away, I'm now 24 and yeah well i got the tube virus thanks to him

@nunyabizness199

5 жыл бұрын

@@jordan390a Thanks, I wondered that myself...

Wish you would do a video on 12ax7 tube codes. I see mostly mC1, F91 F92,I61, I63 in the Mullards.

Thanks for posting this, very informative for us tube geeks. :)

Thanks By post this video! I love old electronics experiments with electron tubes.

Very informative and I forgot about Tekefunkens other than the smooth plate versions. Surprised you didn't mention Tungsol 12AX7's or point out the different era Bugle Boys with different cartoon character on the tube. Glad to discover you're around!

Used to have boxes of old tubes, lots of 12AX7 and 12AU7 now I have just some old radio tubes. Not sure if I had any really choice ones

Thanks, I may try running curve plots on NOS versus new tubes on the curve tracer and see how they match up at full rated power. It may prove interesting. NOS tubes can be prone to early failure and sonic problems due to gas, either caused by outgassing of internal parts or a compromise of the vacuum from slow leaks around the pins due to long storage. New tubes rarely have these issues. We have a satisfaction guarantee on our NOS tubes that covers these problems.

Well that got me excited. I have a whole box of fisher, telefunken, amperex, and other brands of just 12ax7,12au7,12at7.

@southboundsuarez9832

2 жыл бұрын

Well aren't you the lucky one.... Really they are all just old klunky tubes. Did ya see what he said about those old tubes gassing and losing vacuum? You should really try and take them somewhere to trade for new JJ tubes. As a matter of fact I will make ya a great deal and trade ya 1 JJ for your old tubes. Just because I really think ya need new tubes... Yeah those Fisher/Telefunken are the worst! Like I said, let me do y the favor of getting rid of them to me!

How are the Philips Miniwatt tubes compared to these. I have about 20 ECC82, 83 and 85's mostly smoothplates. I guess they're pretty common.

I've just ran across boxes of old tubes. I know there are a lot of 12ax7 and 12au7 is there a place I can find out more about old tubes I could use in audio applications?

Slightly off topic with analog tester. I have so many of these preamp and vacuum tubes and got a Heathkit VTVM given to me. I’ve read about testing continuity /filament but what else should I be testing/looking at for a good tube with volts and ohms.

I think I've got some Amperex/RCA miniatures in a dead HP oscilloscope... I'll be checking it out!

Which EF86 / EL84 tubes do you recommend in the original Mullard 3-3 amplifier design?

i seem to remember seeing a lot of 82's and was it el84?'s as a kid in the 70's. i was thinking of a 1 tube mono audio amp x6 for a 5.1 setup off the pc....

I have a pile of assorted tubes including some made by Westinghouse, still in the box, made here in the city I live in,.... Hamilton Ontario Canada

Tell me something , is it true that the CK5755 (Raytheon) can be used as a 12AX7 and ECC83 with a different socket ?

HELLO. Of the 12 current AX7, wich is THE BEST. J/J, Mullard, Tung Sol, Electro Harmonix??? THANK YOU

very clean sound for preamp

Great Video!!!

How many of those would you like? In less than 10 minutes I found 5 of those in my very old collection of '50s tubes. I also have 12AT7s, 12AU7s and 12AY7s. Mine are a mixture of RCA and GE. How about some Nuvisters or a 3DR3 lead covered high-voltage regulator tube?

Thank you for your presentation. Please post some others like 7591,GZ34, 12AU7, or 12AT7 if you can as these are quite popular tubes also.

hi i got a question.i have 5 mullards ecc83 valves with code i63 and b7f4 on all of them.can anyone tell what year they were made.the plate is the short one..

what is the difference between a tube having a long plate compared to a non-long plate tube? I don't understand what the long plate does to the tube any advantage of using tubes with long plates?

Do you know anything about Bogen Sound Sytems? I think around ‘53 or ‘54 or something like that

Back 4 or 5 years ago i went to a flea market and i spotted a RCA repair box. I opened it up and there were well over 100 tubes in boxes. Some were marked as used and were for testing, but the majority were NOS RCA, GE and other brands. I bought the whole box of tubes for $40. I got home and tested the tubes and I also tried them in my amps and in the end i had 36 12ax7 tubes (New in box) RCA and GE tubes. 5 Amprex 12AX7s. 12 RCA 6L6 tubes, 11 12AU7 GE and Amprex tubes, 17 6V6 RCA. And there were almost 20 used tubes ranging from 12ax7, el84 (6bq5), 6L6 and a few that no guitar amps use. Was an awesome find. Im curious what just the red and black wood RCA repair box was worth. But I still have a majority of those tubes in my stockpile of tubes. About 7 years ago i bought 25-30 JJ 12ax7 tubes for $9.99 a peice and i have not used them they are still in boxes. JJ 6L6s, JJ EL84s. Now ive been using 6p14p in all my EL84 amps and ive been using 6n2p preamp tubes in everyone of my amps instead of 12ax7 tubes (either ive rewired my amps or im using the 6n2 adaptor to 12ax7. The 6n2p and 6p14p are dirt cheap for military grade NOS. Im also experimenting with 6p3s power tubes in some of my 6L6 based amps, ive just had to cool the bias down. But i can redo all the tubes for example in my Blues Jr for around $14. If i was using say JJ 12ax7 and JJ EL84 new production tubes itd be $125-150 to retube the amp ! Crazy. You can get 32 packs of 6n2p preamp tubes for around $65 shipped ! I keep telling people about how good these tubes are but some people until they hear my amps are trapped in this world of theres no way anything can be better than a 12ax7 tube ! All the companies use them !! lol Military Spec tubes last a hell of a lot longer than new production tubes. Ive been selling Recap/Conversion kits for Blues Jrs. In the kit are F&T caps, 27k resistor to cool the bias down and 3 6n2 to 12ax7 adaptors. 3 x 6n2p preamp tubes and 2 6p14p power tubes. Ive sold about 30 of these so far. The 6n2p preamp tubes im buying rival my 60's RCA tubes in tone. Just a heads up folks, you heard it here first. Also look up Train Wreck amps they are one of the few companies using 6p14p and 6n2p preamp tubes and some other European tubes. You can wire your amp up to use these 6n2p preamp tubes very easily, but i found it was easier to just get the adaptors for people.

@ctcards2636

2 жыл бұрын

For 12ax7 tubes my personal favs (not counting 6n2p tubes) are RCA short or long and GE short or long plates from the 60's. In my Twin style amps these are the bomb and I never found out what type of tubes Jerry Garcia used, but i swear they were what im talking about here RCA or GE's ;-) . I know some people swear that they dont hear a difference between tubes and that may be true you dont hear it, but i do and if im playing thru the amp i want it to sound the way i like it to. See we agree to disagree haha 🙂 For example I like JJs but they are not always the best sounding tubes. But they last a long time in my amps (as long as the bias is set correctly on the amps). Mullards i do not like, ive had more dead current production Mullards in the past 7-8 year than any other brand. Sovtek are very hit or miss for me, some of their tubes sound great but ive ordered some matched pairs from a few reputable places and ive had issues with them in multiple amps with getting the bias right. Im speaking of their EL84 tubes tho, not their 12AX7 which i like. RCA i think are the perfect 12ax7 for what i do, same with GEs i love these two brands. But these are my picks for 12AX7 preamp tubes.

I recently met a retired FAA engineer that sold me many tubes and there were two red tipped Bell & Howell 12AX7A and only marked Made In Japan.

@audiotubes

8 ай бұрын

Bell & Howell used Mtsushita of Japan for most of their tubes in the early 1970s. The red tips indicate they were likely tested and passed for critical applications in certain test equipment or hospital equipment.

I bought a 12ax7 tube that's supposed to be a Mullard brand but marked RCA. When I posted a pic on my guitar forum two members IDed the tube as an RFT because of the "throwing star" mica design. I have it in my Vox VT40+ amp though and it sounds fantastic, much better than the Sovtek it came with. My guess is that I bought a remarked tube?

Hi I have a a number of Osram B339/12AXZ7. Are they rare? I believe they may be worth alot? Thanks for any help

I mentioned your comments to Eric Barbour of The Tube Collector Association, who also was a USA consultant for years to Svetlana and Vacuum Tube Valley, and he said "Didn't you read Vacuum Tube Valley magazine? For ten years, we performed tests comparing NOS tubes to current production, and had no trouble proving, again and again, that NOS audio tubes tended to have lower signal distortion and better construction quality than the audio types currently being manufactured. With few exceptions."

I love the smooth plate...they always seem to be a step above the others....BUT...having any of these is better than what is out there for sale to the public!!

from a newbie looking to acquire his first Headamp (little dot III), what's the life spam of these tubes, do they "break" from usage just like light bulbs and need to be replaced or do they last pretty much a lifetime? And I'm not talking about physical damage, only day to day listening...

@herauthon

9 жыл бұрын

arncj18 life spam: if you keep it in the fridge.. for two weeks.. if you bake it.. it takes a few seconds ;) Radio tubes can go up to 30 years of good operation - depends on usage and environment - ofcourse if they run within specs.

is Emitron Kt66's rare and worth money? I got 2 of these. matching pair.

what you think i should do with some webcor and sylvanina 7025s,and 12ax7s and one 5814 tube? worth holding on to all from about early to mid 60s

Preamp tubes do not require any bias adjustments to your amp. Obviously, consult your operations manual, dealer, or the manufacturer if in doubt about changing tubes, or any special precautions or additional steps that need to be taken when changing any tubes in your amp.

What tube advise (recommendation) for Presonus Tubepre v2 and Microphone Rode NT1A ?

I have a tube that says Bestest stamped on it is that rare?

Telefunkens are great tubes, I have them in some of my equipment.

@Stereolist Thanks! I will try to get a sequel to this video up soon!

I found a 12Ax7 that the only thing on it that icon just barely make out is towards the top I can see U.S.A. & underneath that I think it says 12AX7A1. Can you please tell me anything about it? The writing or really what I can make out is so faint & almost has like a gold tint maybe?

@audiotubes

2 жыл бұрын

Usually if the tube has "USA" above the number it is made by Sylvania. If there are small grey dots below the 12AX7 on the label, it is likely Westinghouse.

ahh, story of my life lol. Thanks Nickolas!

cleaning out my storage unit, came across a box with 11 Telefunken 12AX7 tubes, authentic to every detail, smooth plate with white letters 'Made in Western Germany'. I don't even recall exactly how i acquired them at least 7 years prior, I think they were going to be thrown away and i rescued them, not knowing at the time exactly what they were, other than vacuum tubes and my instinct said 'keep those, they are probably still useful' 11 in very good condition, one broken, and two more that are RCA and GE 12AX7 also. Looking up how to test them

There are some capacitive differences in the plate, grid, and cathodes of some tubes vs. the same type made by another manufacturer. And that ALONE determines how one tube can sound different from another of the same type but a different brand. Even then it's not the tube, but how that altered capacitance interacts with the amplifier's circuit. Between that and microphonic sensitivity, that pretty much defines all that ACTUALLY makes a difference in tubes of the same nominal type.

I have Yaqin MS-12B Vacuum Tube Line stage / MM Phono stage Pre-emplifier with low impedance output 12AX7 + 12AU7 vacuum tubes for amplification for my Turntable, and my question is: 1- Can I upgrade the original tubes to better one. 2- There will be any difference in the sond quality If I upgrade the original tube to better one. 3- What kind of tubes 12AX7 & 12AU7 vacuum tubes you recommend me to purchase for my Yaqin MS-12B Vacuum Tube. Thanks.

@orange70383 Rare tubes are still out there! Research the sales of various types, some tubes are in extremely high demand, and can be found cheap at yard sales!

do you know who made Webcor 12AX7s ? and which mic do you use?

One of the valves you showed was a 12AU7 (ECC82).

I like the 2N3904, since it doesn't need a heater voltage.

My uncle had a telefunken stereo man That thing sounded great he took the tubes out the 12ax7 or ec83 pre amp tube but it didn't say "Telafunken" on the tube it had another name? Did they rebrand tubes for others? Because the tube was factory. Thx

Very informative

I believe I found a dynaco labeled pair of possible telefunkens made in w Germany.. they have the diamond on the bottom… I would like to send you a picture to see what I have.. pending testing that is

I got was emtied a house where i old schop keeper and a bit of a horder of things and i got a huge box of new old stock tubes,Philips miniwatt rca etc etc 6l6 many siemens and a bunch of black metall cappet tubes(minlitary grade?,Also got lots of old tube radios for different use.I does some repair on amps and electronics for 40 years, fun to get hold/save them from going in the trash continer.

i have some ERA tubes (ECC803 If I'm not mistaken...) I found them with an amplifier in an old warehouse 30-35 years old is definitely the amplifier. I used one of these in my Presonus studio channel (channel strip)

I sell JJ, SED, and Groove Tubes for those who want them. They are all fairly good tubes. To my ears, Sylvania does indeed sound very similar to these brands. The difference I and many of my clients hear are with the premium brands like Telefunken, Mullard, Amperex, and Siemens. To a listener, it is simply Duke Ellington: "if it sounds good then it is good!"

Is there any way to visually determine the amount of wear or use that a 12AX7 has had? Is the carbon deposit at the bottom of the tube an indicator? Thanks for the great videos!!

@missmygamergirl445

Жыл бұрын

yes it is usually mean its run hot maybe worst case in a shield. Don't get to hung up on telefunkens capacitors are more important and there are plenty lesser known ax7s that can still be had nos.

A very interesting & informative video. I will be looking through my valve collection now to see if I have any rare ones :)

I work at an electronic recycling plant, I was able to get a few hundred tubes out of there...but the world needs to know that electronic recycling we break working antiques all day long

@jochemjonker3362

2 жыл бұрын

Look out for a Willie Studer F 36/G 36 taperecorder,when you still work there.There is a beautiful build preamp/poweramp inside.I found one years ago,and inside there were 3 Telefunken ECC 803S inside.

Yep, and the 7027A is VERY hard to find at all in NOS which is why the price is way up. The JJ are a good alternative. The small preamp tubes contribute more to the tone than do the 7027A tubes anyway. You can find good deals on NOS 12AX7 tubes, but some people want NOS tubes with "designer labels" and don't care about the price. That kind of sucks since it means my wholesale price keeps going up. The tube quality does not improve. And they get harder to find.

@Prozoot if you can't see through the silver halo it may be a good sign also darkening glass a sign of wear loose micas inside glass silver halo disappears is a gassy tube low testing tubes is a bad sign of replace.

What is the price of the tube,ECH 81 & EL41.( 8 pin) Philips Holland..

@audiotubes

Жыл бұрын

Hello, please contact us for tube pricing at: brentjes@audiotubes.com thank you! Brent Jessee

My vintage heathkit has mullard made in England 12at7 tubes and Hitachi Japan tubes and 50C5 usa tubes

The 12ax7 is probably the most common tone tube in the indudtry, if its an audio application, it's got a 12ax7...

Nice video, Can you do one of sovtek tubes?

Are Westinghouse 12AX7 Tubes worth anything

We obtain tubes from all over the world. Some in this video came from The Netherlands, and others came from Pennsylvania! We buy bulk lots of new old stock tubes all the time from many different sources.

Wouldn't the *best* Telefunken be the frame grid ECC803S? (Then again, try finding one-- the smooth plate is the best anyone is likely to come across.)

thanks! do you have to bias the amp at all if you change the preamp tubes?

@Earlvis

Жыл бұрын

You do not as preamp tubes are cathode biased with a fixed resistor. Just pop them in and let your ears decide if they’re a sonic improvement!

Glad I found a pair of NOS Telefunken tubes for 70 bucks recently. The smooth plate is balanced, but has high plate resistance, which is kind of annoying as a V1 that needs more 'oomph' put into it to get the gain, but the ribbed plate is fucking amazing, 70/70 instead of 120/120 according to the American testing machine.

Are all Amperex 12AX7's valuable? I just got one that looks like the very first one shown. Has the bugle boy and says "Made in Holland" on the side. Still in the box, not used.

Have listen to the Mullard with the halo ring . Sounds god but so sensitive to vibrations.

Unfortunately the articles are not online for free. You would need to get back issues of the now-defunct magazine. If you do a Google search on Vacuum Tube Valley you can find places to purchase back issues.

No offense was taken, and I did not feel that was your issue at all. Thanks for the kudos. I have sent an answer to your Lord Valve tests. Made me think quite a bit about this stuff. Good mental workout. Thanks!

This testing has been done. I refer you to back issues of Vacuum Tube Valley. Tests by qualified engineers using lab grade test equipment proved over and over, that measurable differences can be detected especially with regard to signal distortion, with NOS tubes usually being rated superior over new tubes. Not my words, but Eric Barbour's. He has over 30 years as an engineer in the industry, and consulted for Svetlana and Vacuum Tube Valley.

Gawk! What a tube collection! and I bet that the ones shown didn't even skim the surface.. Can I have that Mullard long plate? I promise not to tell anyone.

I love valves.

The point is that tube equipment used to cost the same in its time as transistor stuff costs now. And cheap tube equipment made 'back then' sounds better then cheap transistor equipment.

....I have 200 amperex 12AX7 tubes never knew they could be worth something

Mullard ECC82 ? this is not a 12AX7 ? What is going on?

anyone know if the 12ax7a is worth anything ? ive got a ton of them

@zaphodbeeblebrox554

9 жыл бұрын

Paul Scott Williamson The 12AX7A is exactly the same as the 12AX7 except that the heater has a slower warm-up time.

Nice table! Is that mahogany?

True, NOS tubes can be failure prone just like new tubes. The testing that was done on professional equipment under controlled conditions, does show that NOS tubes display lower signal distortion and more accurate curves when plotted, than new tubes, if you want scientific evidence. Beyond that, I have 16 years of talking to clients who were skeptical at first, then heard the difference themselves that NOS tubes make. 10,000 clients and 1% wanted their money back due to "no sonic difference."

one of those was a 12AU7!

There is much evidence to support the quality of NOS tubes over new tubes. Vacuum Tube Valley a number of years ago did mass testing of NOS vs. new tubes, including sound quality, build quality, electrical stability, and found time and again the NOS tubes sounded better, performed better, and lasted longer than new production tubes. Since 1996 my clients overwhelmingly vote with their wallets for NOS tubes in their guitar amps, and confirm they sound better!

From what I understand the ECC82 hs much lower gain, and is not a direct replacement for ECC83 type or 12AX7,

@zarzosaandoni

10 жыл бұрын

You can replace a ecc83 (12ax7) tube with a ecc82 (12au7) they have the same pinout and you can switch between them, but as you say, 12AU7 has muuuuch lower gain.

After watching this video it seems that I have telefunken smooth plate 12ax7's in my amp.

@gigabrid Check out our 12AU7 video!

good video, like the rozac155 comment, to funny the joker smacking, even picked up a little joker accent, was hoping for a double smack to end the video

Raytheon had a head quarters in France and I by luck won a bid on a Silver plate 12ax7 which test like new well almost NOS. Raytheon acquired some plates and other parts somehow copied it in there factory , that tube but must be very rare .

I kinda like it.. Reminds me of the Joker.

they still make vacuum tube audio equipment but, they are only found in high end audio equipment and Samsung's 600 dollar Bluetooth speakers and some of their surround sound products.

OK, listen up, youngsters...I've been in the tube game since 1961, and this is the truth: the best tube for your (audio) application is the one that sounds best to YOU, regardless of what any professional tube-roller might tell you. (Disclaimer: I'm a professional tube-roller - I specialize in guitar amps. I've done work for Derek Trucks, Meatloaf, Let's Go Bowling, Susan Tedeschi and many other top artists.) Sometimes tubes which test as excellent in a tube tester sound like ASS when installed in the equipment, because tube testers (for the most part) don't test for hum, noise or microphonics. By the same token, tubes which test poorly on a tester may well sound dynamite when plugged into a guitar amp. "Brand snobs" often get burned by selecting tubes by what's printed on the glass...just because a tube says "Telefunken" or "Sylvania" on it, it's no guarantee that what you've purchased isn't a turd under glass. The "legendary" tube manufacturers turned out crap as well as good stuff back in the day, so use your EARS when selecting tubes. If you can develop a relationship with a tube seller who is a musician as well as a technician, you'll have a greater likelihood of obtaining quality parts. Bear in mind that there is a whole universe of tubes which is circulating on e-bay; people buy them, try them, find out that they suck, and put them back on e-bay. Buying from someone with a good reputation may keep you from joining that particular dance. And don't rule out currently-produced tubes; some of them are damn good. Some aren't. ;-) Good luck!

@jochemjonker3362

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your experience.

lol........and finally the 2xx7, and lastly the 12xx7, and then finally the 12xx7, he should be the spokesman for energizer.

At 59 sec,you have a 12au7.

are all the 12az7s interchangable

@dnebdal

7 жыл бұрын

As I've understood it, they all sound about the same when operating in their "normal" range. There are variations in noise, gain, and microphonics (that is, how they react to vibrations) that obviously follow from the different mechanical designs, but they're near enough interchangeable when used as "clean" amplifiers. (As an example, I think larger plates and emitters give more gain but also more noise.) The interesting thing with tubes is how they sound when pushed into distortion. Again, there's not really any magic to it - different shapes and sizes of emitter/grid/plate will mangle the signal differently, and thus two tubes really can sound different when used in e.g. a guitar amp.

@dnebdal

7 жыл бұрын

Oh, sure - most of the tube fanatics are using them for things where you shouldn't hear much of a difference, and probably overpaying a lot for tiny (if any) perceivable differences. I'm just saying that there are certain uses where the differences between tube models are quite real, so it's not *all* superstition. Merely most of it.

@maverickdallas1004

7 жыл бұрын

Lefty McStinky ...You can't go wrong with tubes from Mesa Boogie, Sovtek or Groove Tubes for your guitar amp. Just choose the brand that fits your style.