Anyone tried the GT 12ax7m (mullard copy tube)?

freshears said:
Just wondering. I've heard good/bad things about these tubes.
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Among tube mavens, these do not get high points -- not that great compared to a real Mullard and too expensive for what they are.

Real Mullards are not that expensive if you get OEM-badged examples, which are identical to the Mullard-badged tubes. I use real Mullards in the V1 (preamp) sockets of my amps.
 
bongolation said:
Among tube mavens, these do not get high points -- not that great compared to a real Mullard and too expensive for what they are.

Real Mullards are not that expensive if you get OEM-badged examples, which are identical to the Mullard-badged tubes. I use real Mullards in the V1 (preamp) sockets of my amps.
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Yeah, i've kinda heard that same talk. Could you share a link where I might find some of these "OEM-badged examples? :)
 
bongolation said:
Among tube mavens, these do not get high points -- not that great compared to a real Mullard and too expensive for what they are.

Real Mullards are not that expensive if you get OEM-badged examples, which are identical to the Mullard-badged tubes. I use real Mullards in the V1 (preamp) sockets of my amps.
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Maybe so, but IMO its notworth wasting a non-renewable resource like old-stock tubes for something like gigging. That is hell on tubes and most clubs sound like total ass anyways. ;)


They are good tubes for current production if you ask me. And if we buy them it gives companies a reason to continue trying to get back to where tubes were 40 years ago.
 
freshears said:
Yeah, i've kinda heard that same talk. Could you share a link where I might find some of these "OEM-badged examples? :)
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Just look on eBay from reputable tube resellers. You can tell what a tube actually is by the little code on the "bottle," and the rest of it makes no difference.

Mullards were labeled with Hammond, Bogen, EICO, Rogers and probably a dozen or two more OEM names until the '70s.

Amperex made essentially identical tubes on the same machines with the same materials in the Netherlands, but these are usually more expensive than Mullards.
 
Outlaws said:
Maybe so, but IMO its notworth wasting a non-renewable resource like old-stock tubes for something like gigging. That is hell on tubes and most clubs sound like total ass anyways.
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Yes, but my stuff rarely leaves the studio -- where good sound does matter.

Road tubes? I know the engineer in NYC who preps the tour amps for the big, big names in the business and you know what he uses? Sovtek 12AX7WAs, same as the OEM stuff everyone replaces. Why? Because you can't kill 'em, and that's what's important in a gigging amp.

Those Groove Tube things are more expensive than OEM-labeled genuine Mullards.
 
i used them. i got a bad one and within a couple months my amp started clicking pretty continuosly. i thought it was my amp and i was just going to replace it cause it was sounding like crap anyway.

i asked around a little bit online and a couple other people with riveras had used them and their amp started popping also. i decided to change them and see if that fixed the problem and it did. it sounds 100% better now and doesn't click/pop at all.

i dunno, they might sound good if you don't get a bad one, but i've heard there are a lot of bad ones. i'm just going to stay away from them. i'm going to start getting my tubes from a local guy that sells jj's. i was going to get them when i replaced them just recently, but he was out and i didn't want to wait. i ended up with 1 jj and 3 ei's.
 
I've been testing these and other 12Ax7's over the past few weeks in my Carvin Belair, and my Quad X preamp w/tube power amp, and I really like the "GT-M". Tubes used in comparisson are:

EH's
JJ's
TungSol
Sovetek LPS
SoveTek WA


The GT-M's really made both of my amps come to life....very rich and warm.....not very bitey on the top end.

My overall favorite in the Belair clean channel was the Tungsol....that one sounded a bit better than the GT-M.

The EH's and the JJ high gain worked great in the gain stages as well as the LPS and the Reg. JJ's.

This was just my opinion using my ears.

Rick

PS- From what I understand, the reliability issues have been resolved in the Current production of the GT-M.......worth 20 bucks???? Let your ears make that call I guess--------to me they are.
 
damn

Picked up a pair yesterday at guitar satan. Some how I managed to break one getting it out of the damn box :rolleyes: . I've got one in V1 slot, can't really tell much diffrence so far..
 
Hmmm...

I'd think you'd be able to here a pretty big difference between the two.......especially on the clean channel (Is that your V1?)

Rick
 
WERNER 1 said:
Hmmm...

I'd think you'd be able to here a pretty big difference between the two.......especially on the clean channel (Is that your V1?)

Rick
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Not hearing much difference so far..maybe a little warmer. The V1 is the 1st Gain Stage for both channels, more noticeable on the clean I would think.
 
steve350 said:
I tried one in my Vox Tonelab and could not hear any difference.
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I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) that the Tonelab is yet another starved tube device. If this is the case, no 12AX7 will work as designed in it.
 
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