Best 12ax valve for valve based distortion pedals

[Tompski]

I have just bought a second hand Radial Tonebone Hot British, it sounds great but a little fuzzy, this could easily be my speakers in the amp - Jensen reissues p12Q's which are known to sound a bit crap with certain distortion FX , but they sounded alright with my boss OS2 which is not well regarded so I thought a tonebone would sound better, so if anyone has suggestions for their favourite valve in this kind of application.
My amp is like an old Fender blackface, the idea was for nice warm amp tone and then use the Hot british for kick ass lead and rock rythm tones.
the guy sent some spares with it one of which is a Mullard so I may swap them over as the one fitted at the moment is the one the pedal comes with and he said it had been in there for a years use.

Suggestions please peeps.

cheers

T

[leofenderbender]

I use two Mullard 12AT7s in my Coopersonic ODs. Having tried most everything else [since I am something of a tube slut] those sound the best to my ear.

In your pedal, they might also work out well...

[wingwalker]

Im using an old RCA 12AT7 in my Real Tube and I love it.

[Custom50]

I had a real tube and I put an old 12AU7 in it and it sounded leagues better than the generic 12ax7 that i had in it before.

[Tompski]

Thanks keep em coming
T.

[fiddler49]

Put an RCA JRC-5814WA blackplate (equivalent to a 12AU7 gain wise) in my Varidrive, and now I have what I consider a more usable gain range as well as a much smoother grind. Sounds great with my Princeton Reverb!

[xntrick]

i have electro harmonix in my damage control solid metal pedal and they seem to smooth out the sound over the stock tubes, but another member recommended tung-sol which i am keen on trying for more gain...

[Stormbringer]

Apart from those mentioned here, I think a NOS Brimar 12AX7 or a NOS RFT 12AX7 are the best at taming a fizzy distortion device. The RFT is darker in character.

[greatwhiteclark]

All good choices but, keep in mind there is no clipping being done by the tube in that pedal.

[Tompski]

of the spares that came with the pedal I tried them all over the weekend,
1.Electroharmonix

2. Ruby

3. mullard

the Ruby was way ahead of the others and the one that was in the unit which I can't remember the name of, the Ruby had crisp punch and clarity while the others were weaker and fuzzier and just not in the same league , I haven't really heard much about Ruby valves, any comments?