What tube?

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bigwillz24

bigwillz24

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I just bought a SE Electronic z5600. It has a chinese 12ax7 in it. Do I have to replace it with a 12ax7 or can I use any tube?

What tubes do you guys reccomend?
 
i'd use a 6072a (or 12ay7) tube. you can use a 12at7 tube too. for 6072a tubes i've been using the nos ge jan tubes (i believe telefunken just bought up several thousand of these to use in their stuff) on kidvybes' advice and have been very happy with the results. i've heard of other people using jj 12at7's in these types of mics with good results. i've been seeing other good tubes on ebay and elsewhere like nos mullard or ei 12at7's.
 
kojdogg said:
i'd use a 6072a (or 12ay7) tube.
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...still the best advise...GE 5-star triple mica (JAN/military or consumer GE) or RCA black plate 6072...plenty of 'em show up on ebay...going rate is $10-25... ;)
 
kidvybes said:
...still the best advise...GE 5-star triple mica (JAN/military or consumer GE) or RCA black plate 6072...plenty of 'em show up on ebay...going rate is $10-25... ;)
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Those are great tubes. I bought a matched pair for a pair of ADK CE mics. Most tube mics which come with a 12AX7 can use any 12A__7 tube, usually a 12AY7 or 12AT7. But some mics won't work well with anything but the original 12AX7 (or replacement 12AX7), for example, the ADK A48. Dunno about the SE tube mics.
 
Incidentally though, a guy who modded a mic for me and who has modded a bunch of the Nady TCM-1050/1150's and Apex 460's with Peluso capsules, Cinemag and Tab Funkenwerk transformers and very nice caps and other parts, swears that the Chinese 12ax7b's still have their uses and encouraged me not to toss mine. He told me that he actually likes the sound of them on acoustic guitar. YMMV.

When I picked up my mic, we compared the GE JAN 6072a (the same one you just got), with the Chinese tube and some JJ 12AT7's through a Pendulum Audio Pre and Sennheiser HD 600's (same cans I have) and personally far preferred the GE JAN 6072a tube to the others FWIW (again YMMV).
 
Well I bought it so I'm eagerly waiting to hear the phenominal sound of this thing.
 
kojdogg said:
Incidentally though, a guy who modded a mic for me and who has modded a bunch of the Nady TCM-1050/1150's and Apex 460's with Peluso capsules, Cinemag and Tab Funkenwerk transformers and very nice caps and other parts, swears that the Chinese 12ax7b's still have their uses and encouraged me not to toss mine. He told me that he actually likes the sound of them on acoustic guitar. YMMV.

When I picked up my mic, we compared the GE JAN 6072a (the same one you just got), with the Chinese tube and some JJ 12AT7's through a Pendulum Audio Pre and Sennheiser HD 600's (same cans I have) and personally far preferred the GE JAN 6072a tube to the others FWIW (again YMMV).
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Yeah I tracked a little Accoustic guitar with the stock tube in there. It really didn't tickle my fancy. I went to GC and bought a Groove Tube 12ax7 burned it in but haven't tracked anything through it yet. If the GE takes away the hideous high end on this mic I'll be more than happy.
 
bigwillz24 said:
Yeah I tracked a little Accoustic guitar with the stock tube in there. It really didn't tickle my fancy. I went to GC and bought a Groove Tube 12ax7 burned it in but haven't tracked anything through it yet. If the GE takes away the hideous high end on this mic I'll be more than happy.
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The 6072a may be better just because I believe that it puts out less gain then the 12ax7 and will have more headroom. It some mics it's a better match for the circuit.
If it doesn't work, I've become a firm believer in capsule and component replacement for some of these Chinese mics.
 
bigwillz24 said:
Well I bought it so I'm eagerly waiting to hear the phenominal sound of this thing.
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found a link on the telefunken site about their acquisition of large stock of those exact tubes. note that even though these are clearly (as they indicate) ge joint army navy tubes, they are calling them telefunken tubes:
http://www.telefunkenusa.com/products/show_product.php?item=12&cat=tubes
i now have a few extra sitting around, which is pretty cool. i notice that they are also one of the stock tubes in the universal audio 610 preamps.
 
Hey I tested the tube out yesterday with excellent results! This mic sounds awesome now the shrill high end I was getting has disappeared. Maybe Thursday night I'll compare it to a U87 and U47. But right now I couldn't be happier with my purchase. What a great differance a tube can make.
 
bigwillz24 said:
Hey I tested the tube out yesterday with excellent results! This mic sounds awesome now the shrill high end I was getting has disappeared. Maybe Thursday night I'll compare it to a U87 and U47. But right now I couldn't be happier with my purchase. What a great differance a tube can make.
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awesome! i have four of those in each of my tube mics (swapped out the stock Chinese 12ax7b's or 12at7's) and I am expecting a 5 star 6072a in the mail w/in a couple of days so I can compare.
 
6072a and NTK

Would this tube do much for a NTK?

I've read that replacing the the tube in a NTK is a good idea and I've also read that the Stock tube is just fine and you wouldn't hear much improvement.

Any first hand experience?
 
Booda said:
Would this tube do much for a NTK?

I've read that replacing the the tube in a NTK is a good idea and I've also read that the Stock tube is just fine and you wouldn't hear much improvement.

Any first hand experience?
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in most of these grades of mics, the tube used is going to be a concession to mass production. i had an ntk, but never swapped the tube out-- i believe they come stock with eh 12ax7's (?). based on my experience with swapping the tubes in tube mics since (a karma k-58 tube mic, and two heavily modded nady mics (plus another in transit back to me), i believe that swapping the tube makes a big difference-- one of the better upgrades in terms of cost vs. benefit that you can do and perhaps the only one you can do w/o knowing how to solder.
 
kojdogg said:
The 6072a may be better just because I believe that it puts out less gain then the 12ax7 and will have more headroom. It some mics it's a better match for the circuit.
If it doesn't work, I've become a firm believer in capsule and component replacement for some of these Chinese mics.
Click to expand...


Thats correct Koj, the 12ax7 is the higher gain of those type/size of tubes-people will often substitute an ay or au to get a cleaned tone and headroom that a ax won't have.
 
Booda said:
Would this tube do much for a NTK?

I've read that replacing the the tube in a NTK is a good idea and I've also read that the Stock tube is just fine and you wouldn't hear much improvement.

Any first hand experience?
Click to expand...

Im not sure how much decent tube mods are for the likes of the NTK since it has a 12ax7, but I upgraded the tube in my Rode K2 after I bought it, to a NOS Telefunken 6922, and the difference was very noticeable - tamed the highs quite nicely, and rounded out the bottom end.

Not sure if you will hear the same noticeable difference, but again, I don't know how much you would have to invest in the tube... the Telefunken I bought was something like 75 bucks, and it was well worth it :)
 
cusebassman said:
Im not sure how much decent tube mods are for the likes of the NTK since it has a 12ax7
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...actually the Rode NTK shares the same stock Russian made Sovtek 6922 tube as the K2...best bet for an upgrade would be either a Siemens or Amperex 6922/E88CC/6DJ8...both were sold under the RCA brand gold-pin 6DJ8 (look for made in Germany/Holland) and these are still available for under $20...Teles are equally fine tubes but the Telefunken name brings big bucks...better deals to be had under the RCA brand...definately worth upgrading... ;)
 
Yeah, so I discovered buying that Telefunken tube!

As for the NTK having a 6922, best he find out before he buys a bunch of other 12ax7's :P

I don't own one, so I had no idea.
 
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