help identifying a 12ax7 tube

[Gary Brennan]

Can anyone guess who made this 12ax7- came from an old Masco office intercom, tube said Masco on it and Made in USA, the plates are dark grey (but not black) and ribbed, 1.9 cm tall counting the portions protruding thru the 2 micas. Below the X of 12AX7 (large characters right where the top curves) are 6 dots in the same label ink, set up in 3 vertical rows, the first row has 3 dots, the 2nd has 1 at the bottom position, the 3rd has 2 at the top and middle position. No other visible markings.

Seems to sound good. Any educated guesses? I know Masco was on Long island NY as was Amperex...? Thanks

GB

[alltone]

Can't help with the identification but...Cool pic...looks like something from the "X Files"
Cheers..

[mockoman]

The dots usually mean GE...

[rockon1]

A picture is worth a 1000 words! Bob

[Blue Strat]

A picture is worth a 1000 words! Bob

+1, or +1000.

And yes, etched dots and a stencil like font usually means GE.

[Gary Brennan]

Thanks guys, I don't know how to post a pic here. Needs to be hosted elsewhere, yes? I'll assume its a GE.

gb

[rockon1]

Thanks guys, I don't know how to post a pic here. Needs to be hosted elsewhere, yes? I'll assume its a GE.

gb

I host my pics here. Its simple and of coarse free. Just upload the pic to thier site. I like to click on it for a full size image(to see if its clear enough) then I right click the image,hit properties and copy the adress. Bob


http://tinypic.com/


heres a GE long plate.

http://i33.tinypic.com/2aj8kde.jpg

[Gary Brennan]

Bob, this looks just like it, except its missing or not showing the stencil dots. Are these considered to be good sounding tubes? One more feature- the getter looks like a large horseshoe with the open ends connected.

gb

[rockon1]

Bob, this looks just like it, except its missing or not showing the stencil dots. Are these considered to be good sounding tubes? One more feature- the getter looks like a large horseshoe with the open ends connected.

gb

Some have dots,some dont. U shaped getter is fairly typical of a lot of the GE long plates I have. Only you can decide whether they are good sounding... Depending on the amp I like them. To my ears they have a slightly softer high end which can help bright amps. Bob

[Gary Brennan]

I tried it in V1 of a Glaswerks, compared to a Bugleboy it sounded warmer but less hifi, yet still balanced. Not worse just different. Thanks again for the posting tip.

gb