That is an interesting observation I had a pair of 12AE6 of GE construction that I just could not abide by. They were brash and even distorted under load even at normal bias. I really did not enjoy them and have avoided GE construction since. Perhaps you have a similar situation. Care to post a picture of them?
In any case, I have found there is a variation in tube construction that effects the sound. Perhaps you did get a bad pair.
Hmm ... Oh well, that shows you the variation in Millett-type tubes. It's unfortunate that they are so inconsistent. It's one of the reasons that I suggest that people try several, because you can get the total gamut - bad to absolutely great. It's one reason why there are some out there who totally deride a Millett Hybrid/MAX/MiniMAX/etc. One pair of tubes, a short listen, and they think they know all they need to know about an amp - NOT! Heck, half the time the not-so-favorable opinions are formed, the tubes were probably not even biased correctly! There are people who've had Millett Hybrids for years, done tube rolling the whole time, and never touched the trimmer screws.
In any event, I've always preferred the GE versions of 12AE6's above all else - but that's my personal opinion, of course. I trust Jake that he knows what he likes, but that maybe shows you that the inconsistentcy is real and that you need to try a bunch of tubes before coming to a final conclusion. People think that they're like opamps - every one identical, but instead, every one was probably hand-made to a certain extent and the result is that they're all different. Jake is absolutely right that certain constructions can display certain traits statistically, but I think it's a shallow bell curve rather than a steep one.
Edited by tomb - 9/2/10 at 6:38pm
