ASKING OPINIONS

[parntz145]

What 12ax7 tube do you think I should use in the v1 position for a triaxis?I want a lot of gain but dont want it to sound muddy.I currently use all JJ tubes,but they seem a little dark.I want to brighten it up a little.I like a high gain tone but I want it controllable not death metal sounding.Thanks Paul

[ October 25, 2003, 08:42 PM: Message edited by: parntz145 ]

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

I like the Groove Tubes 12AX7...they are easily obtained, sound great, and last as long as other tubes.

[Soloist1]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

Get an old RCA 7025. It's an extremely high gain bright tube that was made for military use to have very little noise. They can be had on eBay quite often for around 20 to 25 bucks each. If it has a logo it will be an orange RCA one. They have a hexagon towards the top of the tube with the 7025 designater inside if it. That logo should be there regardless of whether the main RCA is. It's etched on the glass lightly. Make sure you get one that is tested and has both triode sides equal or close to equal for transconductance. And nice strong full of life ones as well.

[ October 25, 2003, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: Soloist1 ]

[Soloist1]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

These are the ones right here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=7275

[parntz145]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

What about the chinese 12ax7?I heard they are supposed to be good for high gain.I want to get a real nice crunch/bite to my tone.I am getting a real nice tone now I just need to remove the darkness of the JJ tubes.Thanks for the help Paul

[Firebird V]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

I use cheap chinese tubes in all of my heads. I like them alot. They are great for high gain. I dont think they are too muddy at all. I dont own a Triaxis but I do have a Rackmount boogie with chinese 12ax7's in them... If you want to check them out and make the drive Paul... I dont have a problem with it. I am about an hour and 20 min away from you though...

Chris

[Firebird V]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

Hey Paul... Let me check... I may even have one or two laying around and I can just let you borrow it for a while. Let me look and I will let you know. Cool?

[ October 26, 2003, 06:16 AM: Message edited by: Firebird V ]

[parntz145]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

Hey Chris,Yea that sounds cool.If you cant find them just let me know where you got them and what brand they are and I can even order them.Im shipping the xls out this week.Im not sure if I will miss it or not?Great for what it is but very limited.My mesa rack just kills it tone wise.Thanks Paul

[Firebird V]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

I will look for ya. XLS is a good head. I too needed more out of it flexability wise though. I will look today and test them out to make sure they are good. Talk to you soon.

Chris

[ October 26, 2003, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Firebird V ]

[Soloist1]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

The Chinese tubes work the best for the price. That's all I used to use before I started experimenting with NOS and old tubes that test good. All the RCA tubes have a Chinese type tone to me but are more musical an a little brighter. And the gain of the RCA's is way higher than the Chinese ones. The best Chinese ones in my opinion are the 12ax7a's that have the triple mica piece's in them. Personally I don't think the Chinese would make a huge difference in just the V1 position like the 7025 would. You probably want to load all sockets with the Chinese tubes. But give it a try. Different amps do different things with different bottles in them. I have a total mixed set of tubes that I found I like. Just experiment by moving the around in the sockets.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

Chris is right, I took his advice on the RCA 7025 in my CAE3+se and it really woke it up and brightened it quite a bit. WAY cool.

I use a couple of those, some old chinese cheese grater getter tubes, and a good sounding high end Sovtek (never thought I'd use one of those things).

The RCA 7025 will definitley tighten and brighten.

[Firebird V]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

Hmmm. Maybe I will try one too...

[DeathIsMyJustice]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

do JJ tubes give a realy dark tone? Iv never tryed them Im my Triaxis and I play death metal...

RaR!

[parntz145]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

The JJ tubes are great.They are my faves.I was just trying to see if I replace the v1 position with another brand will it make a major difference.I love the tone I am getting I would just like to try and get more high end.I am also thinking of trying one of the new JJ 12ax7 that supposedly give you 15% more gain.

[Soloist1]

Re: ASKING OPINIONS

The problem with most modern tubes is that they are no were near the standard that tubes of the past are. If you went through a bunch of them you will find some nice hot high gain ones. I bought a bunch of Svetlana 12ax7's and have 3 out of the 7 that were decent sounding. It's a shame to because the tube really has a great tone. But I'm not buying tubes that have a less than a 50% success rate of being anywhere near useable. The Chinese have always been the best for the buck and I don't ever recall getting a bad one. I tried other tubes so I could tailor my sound. I have 4 tubes that test extremely well and have matching triode sides. All 4 are different tubes and have a very unique tone. Got most of them from Pete. Pete could better explain the testing process and what it all means.