I got mine from www.eurotubes.com. Great service, fast delivery, good prices and excellent tubes. All around good folks and I will definitely be ordering from them again.
I ordered a "regular gain" 12ax7 for my Champ and one of the "high gain" 12ax7's for my Epi VJ. there's definitely a difference in sound between the two and the "high gain" definitely has more bite and is a good fit for the VJ.
I can't vouch for the site that Mike posted, but if he's posting it, I'm sure they're good folks too.
When you get it, shake it first next to your ear. If it makes any sort of rattling sound, it is already bad and will only get worse. Quality control is not what it used to be on anything in this world, and it holds true for tubes too.
When you get it, shake it first next to your ear. If it makes any sort of rattling sound, it is already bad and will only get worse. Quality control is not what it used to be on anything in this world, and it holds true for tubes too.
Hmm now I'm worried, I guess it's like a light bulb. Well I have some options thanks to Wade and Mike, I'll see if Mike gets back to me about the testing.
i totally agree. i'd put an RCA (or GE) NOS into a fender amp or something where you're looking for sweet and clean and good headroom.
IMO a marshall AVT calls for something, well, grittier. i'm actually thinking a russian sovtek (or the rebadged ElectroHarmonix) might not be a bad choice. or maybe one of those high-gain JJ's i was talking about. something that will work well with the distortion circuit.
thank goodness tubes are cheap (as long as you're talking only 1 or two preamp tubes and not matched quartets of KT88's or something silly like that ) and it's easy to experiment until you find something that sounds good to your ears.
just when you thought you were done b/c you'd found the right guitar with the right pickups and the right neck and the right strings and the right setup and the right pick, now it's time to find the right tubes.....it never ends. i love it.
again, totally agreed when it comes to "off the shelf" tubes you buy at the local GuitarMegaLoMart. that's why i like a service like tubedepot or eurotubes--they make sure that what goes out the door is a quality piece. jay at eurotubes is the man.