Why buy tubes from me - You get to choose tubes based on how they sound! I personally burn in, test, listen test, and Application Grade TM every 12AX7 preamp tube I sell. Applications Grading TM means I sort them for suitability for use in different parts of an amp. There is no more comprehensive and practical testing done anywhere in the world. As you read through this page you will discover how to cook up a custom amp sound by yourself here, with highly reliable predictions for your sound. My customers are amazed at how different various tubes sound, and are astounded to discover that these different qualities can be combined for a highly refined amp sound. See how-to in my free illustrated guide. I have 23 years of professional experience as an Amp & Guitar Technician. You do not need a technician to change 12AX7 tubes. The 12AX7 is the most important tube in your amp in determining how it's going to sound. It is the most overlooked and usually the least expensive tube in an amp.

12AX7A choices: This is where tone happens! Different preamp tube characteristics will have a marked effect on your guitar amp, tube compressor, otherwise nice sounding foot pedals or any other 12AX7 equipped sound gear. All tubes listed are burned-in, tested, listen tested, and Application Graded TM. See tone index below.

This is where I make you fall in love with your amp! You bought a tube amp, now hear it for the first time!

If your amp would sound good with three of these tubes then choose one gain, one function, and one driver tube.
If choosing more than one type then read about successful mixing of tubes below before ordering.
Remember when reading terms like "Clean" and "Distortion" that these terms are used within the context of an amp with controls of that type; a distortion tube in a Twin will never be cranked up enough for the distortion to even come into play. A "Clean" tube in a High Gain amp would only be clean on a clean setting.

AVAILABLE 12AX7, 7025, ECC83 TUBE TYPES:

The Name...	Attributes...	Good Use....	Choose the Application...
Clean and COMPRESSED	This tube stays clean when overdriven by compressing. The effect is very fluid and natural. Punchy clean sound. Rounder sounding trebles.	This is the go-to tube for any amp that lacks punchiness. The sound is very much like the full natural sound of a recapped Twin or Pro. The natural choice for tube compressors. For your studio mic preamps if you want natural transparent compression use this tube and forgo dealing with finicky compressor settings. Try it for mix down! There is great inexpensive tube rack equipment out there, but they don't know what I know about tubes! Use this one or the Clean and Accurate one, based on your application. Either will be a REAL improvement!	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.
Clean and Bright	This tube has that extra sparkle and edge when brilliant tone is needed without adding any drive or distortion.	One of the most commonly used tubes by amp makers. Good when you want a more modern tone with a hard edge feel. Tight bass response to keep it from sounding tubby. Clean and Bright, not brittle. And no, its not blue. Select this type as either a better performing tube of the factory equipped sound, or as an alternative that's close to the original sound.	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.
Bright with slight COMPRESSION and slight distortion.	Generally a clean sounding tube, it has tight bass, strong upper mids and highs. It goes into distortion when pushed.	The other tube popular among amp makers, but a bit more soulful as it has a slightly softer more forgiving feel. Not a dirty sounding tube, but will offer pleasing distortion when pushed. Select this type as either a better performing tube of the factory equipped sound, or as an alternative that's close to the original sound.	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.
Rich with moderate COMPRESSION.	Rich sparkling distortion with a notable amount of compression.	Suitable for any amp needing some degree of harmonic liveliness. This tube is so effective at adding harmonic content that its effect can easily be heard in the second position (FUNCTION). In a clean amp the effect is to add a richness to sound, subtle yet discernible it draws the listener in. In a high gain amp the effect is not fuzzy but maybe fizzy like soda. Less like a V8 more like a sport bike. Less like course 40 grit sandpaper more like 100 grit. Very saturated harmonic content. In the "High Gain" a whole new sound emerges, so rich that you either love it or have an aneurysm.	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.
Warm with mild COMPRESSION and early distortion.	Very musical qualities far removed from the sterile solid state feel.	The tube to balance the tone of a naturally too-bright sounding amp. There is a unique increase is bass response, although not flabby. Pushing the tube to distortion results in an full, rich, wondrously even tone with punchiness and more distortion than any other tube. It is the combination of dark tone and early predictable onset of distortion that make this tube have such a balanced sound when driven hard. The mild compression is just a bonus.	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.
Clean and Accurate , high headroom , low hum and low microphonics .	The true response of this tube extends high frequencies beyond all other tubes.	When no other tube will work without squealing in your high gain circuit this tube will get it done, and with an added sense of connectedness. For your mic preamps if you are concerned with accuracy and low noise this is the best tube. This tube exhibits the widest frequency range, as well as the lowest microphonics, and the lowest hum. Hmmm, impressive, unique mix of attributes. Hi-Fi if you want it.	GAIN for the critical first gain stage. FUNCTION not for use as gain or driver. DRIVER for use with matched finals. GAIN/DRIVER suitable for either use. PRIVATE STOCK When available. For use as a gain stage tube. These are the 1 in 200 tubes you hear about. Unusually high performing tubes, the very best of a lot.

Glossary:

7025; this is actually a 12AX7 with an American INDUSTRIAL part number. The 7025 designation indicates additional testing for low microphonics and low hum. Similarly, you would choose one of my Applications Graded TM GAIN tubes, which additionally would be tested for the greatest gain, burned in and listen tested in an actual amp with a specially optimized brutal high gain circuit! It sounds like an Applications Graded TM GAIN tube is better, and it is!
Application Graded TM; There are three different types of circuits in your amp that use 12AX7 tubes. There is the GAIN stage which is the most demanding in terms of sonic qualities, followed by the FUNCTION stage(s) which may or may not increase the gain of the signal but not by much, and then lastly the DRIVER stage which must have each triode within it operating at the same potential in order for you to benefit from those matched output tubes. By sorting the tubes for their best application the amplifier performs far better. Its tone is stronger, the sustain is longer and more natural, and each tube in the amp lasts longer! Hi-Fi tube amps are laid out much like a guitar amp, featuring gain stages and a driver stage. They also stand to gain from properly selected tubes. For other tube based equipment like expensive studio gear and tube foot pedals, a GAIN tube should always be selected.

Burn in; most electronic equipment including tubes will fail within the first 24 hours if it premature failure occurs at all. So to bring out failures, power is applied along with the typical load for a period of time (burn in time).

Clean; the ability of a tube to amplify a signal as designed without adding harmonic overtones.

Compression; In a word, punchy. The quieter parts of your playing are made to sound louder. For example your picking, plucking, swishing and single notes made to sound the same volume as a chord. Or the breath of a singer made to seem as loud as her voice. Technically when the tube runs out of headroom (ability to accept larger input signals while still resulting in proportionally larger output signals) instead of distorting the tube puts out a clean signal but the louder parts don't get represented by as loud of a signal as it otherwise would. If this sounds to you like it gets quieter, then you thinking right, however, the brain interprets the new softer loud part as being a louder soft part. In other words, compression makes the quieter parts of the sound seem louder. For example, a single note could be made to be as loud as a power chord.
Distortion; tubes either compress or generate harmonic overtones when asked to do more than the tubes' construction allows. Distortion refers to the latter, rich harmonic texture that is desirable and specific to the way that tubes distort.

Driver; the last tube before the output tubes. In push-pull amps (almost every amp over 15 Watts) the output tubes should have matched performance, although there would be little point if the driver tube was not also matched. More on this and more on the about tubes page.

ECC83; this is the European part number for the American 12AX7. They are in every way the same tube.

Gain; when the signal voltage comes out at a larger magnitude than it went in then it has gain. For example, the voltage from your guitar swings one tenth of a volt, and the voltage of the same guitar signal after being amplified by the first tube circuit will increase to maybe five volts! Now that is some gain! If the input is the same as the output then it has unity gain. You do have circuits in your amp near unity gain. A tube would really have to be messed up, or you would have to really be rocking the amp for a microphonic tube to be a problem when in a near-unity circuit! 12AT7's are very prone to high frequency microphonics, but due to their pingy tone they only find use in very low gain stages like the reverb driver or output driver. Different tubes within a batch exhibit differing amounts of gain. The more "healthy" a tube is the more rigid it must be in its construction in order to be usable, ie; a tube may have so much gain that it exhibits an unusable amount of microphonics in a gain stage circuit, and still be perfectly suitable for use anywhere else in the amp.

GAIN/DRIVER; these are a bit hard to come by, and an ideal choice for experimenters. You can use them as top performing gain stage tubes, or as balanced section Driver tubes equally well. One of these of each tube type make the ideal experimenters kit, as they can be used anywhere in the amp. Offered at a slight premium.

Microphonics; when the vibrations caused by amplified sounds cause an internal part of the tube to vibrate in sympathy resulting in a runaway effect similar to sticking a microphone in front of speaker. All tubes are microphonic to some degree. In preamp tubes the problematic notes always tend towards the higher frequencies. In output tubes the tendency is towards low notes. Since preamp tubes and circuits have more gain, they are more likely to be a practical problem for the player. Most amps are laid out so that the input jack is closest to the tube whose circuit has the most gain. This first tube also imparts the greatest effect on the sound of the amp.

Overtones; notes in addition to the fundamental one that is a product of the electronics and not necessarily part of the musical source.

PRIVATE STOCK; For a long time I would not sell these to anyone. They are truly the best tubes available of their type. Very few tubes make the grade. When you read about guitar legends who utilize a technician to hand pick the best tubes after listening to hundreds, THIS IS IT. That's what I'm doing, these are the tubes. Offered at an appropriate premium.

Punchiness; a sound quality similar to bassy response but relating to the ability to move a lot of air quickly. Like a punch in the chest.

CREATE YOUR OWN SOUND! The very best part of this whole thing is that you don't need to settle on just one single tube sound! The tube closest to the input jack, V1, is the tube that effects your sound by the pound. The next tube down the line alters the sound by the ounce, and so you now have the opportunity to bake a sonic cake. The next tube down the line is the last tube before the output tubes, the driver tube. This one does in fact amplify the signal voltage too - so its a gram of spice to finish it off. Now its time to cook.

Mix different tubes - I can tell you that when I voice an amp that my clients seldom choose three tubes of the same type! Pick what two or three different tubes sound like what you want from the descriptions and then try them out in different positions to hear what the effect is! Remember that V1, usually the tube closest to the input jack is the one tube that has the most dramatic effect on the sound. Most of the time people nail it with their choices the first time. The experimentation validates the choices that you made. If you choose to do this experimentation you will need to select "gain/driver" application grade TM for each tube.

Advice on choosing new tubes - First try to figure out what your starting with. Do you want less razory trebles? Do you want a more realistic, connected feel? A punchier sound? A brighter sound? Richer texture? More, or maybe less distortion? From there you really have your own answers, its simply a matter of priority. As you read the product description ask yourself if that is something important to you.

BACK TO THE TOP

What are the characteristics of a bad preamp tube? There a few common failure modes. Excessive microphonics will render a tube useless because of the high pitched squeal. A shorted heater will make a loud hum but you may still be able to play. A vacuum leak usually discolors the glass bluish gray, but it wont work. A quick way to determine if a bad tube is in the preamp or output stage is to see if the offending noise can be turned up and down with your amps volume or gain control. If so, then the bad tube is between the input jack and the volume/gain control (V1 and or V2). All preamp tubes are used in 'self biasing' circuits so you can replace them without a tech. To refine your bad tube search pull one tube out and see if the noise stops. You wont hurt anything aside from burning your fingers, and yes tubes normally do get scalding hot. Generally, preamp tubes seldom go bad. The worst failure is bad tone, and since that is a matter of taste you may never experience what an incredible amp you already own.

What is different about the tubes? Thankfully every time someone makes a 12AX7 they have different materials, different physical dimensions, different vacuum levels, and invariably a different sounding tube. It's my business is to know what tubes sound like so that I can test them and offer you reliable choices. Choices that vary as much as possible.

Who makes the best tubes? There is so much talk about this, and its all opinion. All tubes sound good, that is why we have tube gear. Some tubes sound more like what we want than what we currently have, others bring us farther away from our goals. The ONLY way to buy a tube is to select one for the way it sounds, NOT where it's made or how reliable the particular type is! Tubes that are subjected to a burn in period, high gain listening tests, and Application Graded TM are going to last a very long time regardless of who the manufacturer is. This process allows tubes of any initial level of reliability to screened for a very long life. In the case of the 12AX7 the expected life of the tube will be decades. I want choices! Because of my unique process, we can have tubes that both sound the way we want and are highly reliable! We live in the golden age of tubes!

There are no brand names displayed on this website. I do not reveal the brands for a reason - I want you buy your tubes from me! I offer a service that is truly unique. It evolved from decades of experience. If you want the benefit of all that expertise, then you will need to buy the tubes from me. Here you get to buy the tubes that sound the way you want, plus you get to model your own amp sound. A little trust here. I do not remove the names from the tubes, only from the website. If later you want to try to save some money and buy more of the same brand tube from someone else, you're welcome to. But you won't be getting the same quality or performance! I know this because I reject as much as 80% of the tubes I buy! If by chance you were to choose the exact tubes that are in your amp now, it will sound stronger have better tone and increased reliability using my tubes!

Guarantee All tubes are guaranteed 90 days. Preamp tubes like the 12AX7 are guaranteed for 180 days. If you are unsatisfied with the tubes you may exchange them for a 15% restocking fee.

Confidentiality: WE HONOR OUR CUSTOMERS RIGHT TO COMPLETE PRIVACY. Still no name dropping. I won't sell my customer list, etc.

BACK TO THE TOP

[About Tubes] [Tube Data Sheet Archive Content] [How-To Customize your Tube Amps Sound] [E-mail us!] [Links]



All Content Protected Under USA Copyright Law
Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Gregory Raynard

WEBSITE LINKS