12ax7 and 5751 tube hunters... caveat emptor!

[Blasyrkh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrikane Thank you kindly for the new guide Nick. Based upon your original guide I sought out a Raytheon and I must say that I am finding it to be a huge improvement over the stock Electro Harmonix. I am thoroughly enjoying what is shaping up to be a pretty magical combo of K701/MG Head/Raytheon.

good, which power output tubes are you using?

could you talk me about the mg head + k701 combo? mine is coming next week and i'm really curious



PS: my luck...one EI el84 broke up

 

[Afrikane]

I have kept the stock Sovteks in for now. I need to validate what I am hearing with the Raytheon so I am only going to change one thing at a time. With the Electro Harmonix the highs on the K701 (and a few other cans) tended to be on the screechy side and the overall sound congested. The Raytheon has corrected the membrane ripping highs and at the same time the sound seems to be a little more effortlessly presented. I have about 80 hours on the K701, I expect the headphone will change a lot in the next 100 or so hours, but there is enough goodness here to keep me hooked. Like I said, I think there is a lot of promise in this combo even though there is relatively little play time on the rig.

 

[Ferbose]

The new Chinese 12AX7 are actually quite nice.
I have the Shuguang generation 8 and 9 12AX7, and gen 9 has slightly lower noise.
I find them to work better in my amp than Ei 12AX7, JJ 12AX7 and GE Jan 5751.
I guess, after 9 generations of improvement, these tubes can't possibly suck.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blasyrkh Nik, just a question, which output mode do you often use? and which kind of music do you listen to?

OTL output only. I never use transformer output... although I'd give it a try if I owned a pair of Grados.

Favorite music? Anything that's good. Brazilian, electronica, classical, rock, experimental, ambient, you name it.

It's strange how our findings are the same except for the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH. Perhaps we have different versions? All I can say is that mine has the exact same plate structure as the original nasty-sounding 12AX7 Sovteks I first discovered in 2001.

One of my JJ EL84's blew up last night. You too?

I also sampled a pair of vintage Westinghouse EL84's, but I liked the JJ's better. Not much difference, really. I'm still not convinced that EL84 rolling makes that much difference in the MG Head. Perhaps better tubes are required, but I'm not going to shell out $250 for a pair of Amperex Bugle Boys to find out.

 

[Blasyrkh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Dangerous OTL output only. I never use transformer output... although I'd give it a try if I owned a pair of Grados. Favorite music? Anything that's good. Brazilian, electronica, classical, rock, experimental, ambient, you name it. It's strange how our findings are the same except for the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH. Perhaps we have different versions? All I can say is that mine has the exact same plate structure as the original nasty-sounding 12AX7 Sovteks I first discovered in 2001. One of my JJ EL84's blew up last night. You too? I also sampled a pair of vintage Westinghouse EL84's, but I liked the JJ's better. Not much difference, really. I'm still not convinced that EL84 rolling makes that much difference in the MG Head. Perhaps better tubes are required, but I'm not going to shell out $250 for a pair of Amperex Bugle Boys to find out.

I really don't know about the EH 12ax7...maybe a synergy problem with the cans...

about the EL84s-rolling i have to say i find it very useful, the differences i hear are not subtle...changing from sovteks to JJ it was like night and day...
sovteks have flabby bottom end ,harsh midrange and treble...well they are quite bad. differences between JJs and others EL84 aren't as clear as the one with soveteks, but are not subtle either.


i really don't know how the EI broke....i found it with the grey top turned to white/trasnsparent and the glass near a pin slightly broken...maybe when i pulled it from the ampli

now i'm testing the mg head with the k701...i'm gonna give some impressions soon

 

[Blasyrkh]

after have tried other tubes, reached the conclusion that maybe the Tungsol 12AX7 and the GT 12AX7M are the two best sounding new production tubes, just as i read somewhere.

their sound is lush like the NOS tubes, well balanced (GT is slightly more bassy than the tungsol), detailed, crisp in the highs...i prefer their musicality over the 12AX7LPS and ECC803S

now i'm gonna settle this game down...the configs are the following:

HD650
EH EL84 + either Tungsol and gt12ax7 in OTL - for new wave,soft rock, jazz, blues, pop, acoustic and bass driven "slow" musica

same as above but with Transformer output - for faster musica like hard rock/heavy metal, or orchestra and music/recordings from above that sound better with "less" bass and more dynamic

K701

JJ EL84 + either Tung and GT in Trafi with most of the music for a overall brighter presentation than the HD650
works wonderful with orchestra and acoustic

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Argh... two new tubes to buy!

 

[Blasyrkh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Dangerous Argh... two new tubes to buy!

i hope you'll not dislike them like the EH, you'll make me feel guilty for have driven you into temptation

just one more thing, the 12AX7LPS has the tightest and most controlled bass, at least with the hd650, but lacks musicality if compared to other tubes (that's why i prefer GT and Tungsol).
if you like these lps' features, then there's no point on buying other tubes

 

[Blasyrkh]

and then...are there any news nick?