Mullard 12ax7 Groove Tube reish

[electronpirate]

Well, not to buy into the hype, but wanting to check these things out, GC had one 12ax7m left, and quoted me $16 for it. At that price I had to see.

Well. I play a Zinky Superfly. I put it first into V1 (SF has 4 preamp gain stages, and one 12at7 as reverb/effects loop buffer/driver).

Some disappointment here. VERY dark sounding. Muffled even. Added alot of gain to my clean sounds as well. Not good gain, very 'fuzzy' and unfocused. Messy.

Off to V2. New issue Tung-Sol in V1, JJ's in the others. Now it's just plain nasal. Midrangy. And still that irritating fuzz.

V3 and V4. Now it's just messy. Can't control the distortions and gain stages of the SF.

Final analysis: Not a good tube for this amp at least. I'm sure a bright amp would be a better match for it. I'm in no mood to pump up my global treble to cut through the fuzz....shouldn't have to do that.

I went back to Tung-sol in V1, JJ's in others, and suddenly it was 2 hours later and a smile on my face. I guess that sais it all. At this price, I expected more. Good thing I kept the reciept.

Your results may vary.

[ck3]

I had a similar experience when I placed one of those in a Vox TonelabSE.

[Pedro58]

I didn't like the Mullard RI in my GDS 18 watter. Loved it in my Univalve, particularly with EL34 or KT66. Killer! I haven't tried it in Fender style amps, yet.

Ah, that is dissapointing to hear....so much hype for those too. Anyone know roughly what the original's are going for?

[carltonh]

Not to take sides either way, but probably many modern amps have been designed and refined using 12ax7s with less gain than 12ax7s are supposed to have. Then if the RI tubes really do restore the full gain factor of 100, then they may not work great in many modern amps.

[kannibul]

Originally Posted by carltonh

Not to take sides either way, but probably many modern amps have been designed and refined using 12ax7s with less gain than 12ax7s are supposed to have. Then if the RI tubes really do restore the full gain factor of 100, then they may not work great in many modern amps.

I disagree with that idea.

If that was the case, than you would end up with the same result when replacing your tubes from any tube vendor worth your money.

[Red Planet]

I did the same.

I boguht 6 of em when I first could get my hands on em. Everyone of wet to motor boating after a while. I like the way they sound but the motorboating dont work.

I waited a year and a half and bought 6 more and they did the same thing. I swapped em out for new ones where I bought em and the same thing happened.

One of Myles defenses was that they dont work well in High Gain Amps. I didnt know my Tweed Deluxe was considered a High Gain amp.

Out of all the ones I had I picked the best sounding 2 and put em in my Tweed Amp and left them in there for the last 6 months. I was hoping that maybe the Motorboating would stop at some point. Never did.

When I would use that amp at band practise I would get these funny looks from everyone when it would take off and go.

I'm kinda angry with GT because there was all this BS about how they were gonna get to the bottom of it and get back to everyone here. They havent done anything except try to do damage control and sell more product. They have no more control over those Chinnese factories than you or I.

All they are interested in is parting you with your money.

These comments though Flame worthy are just my opions I dont think those guys are evil or anything. I just think they dont deserve my money.

Maybe they will get them fixxed. I like how they sound but the fail one after another.

I'm most humored by the Tube Delaer that just happens to sell thier products come on here and say they havent had any problems.

[lordcliffton]

considering that it's supposed to have full on gain, and what the above poster just said, I wonder how much more gain it would give a 5150!

[EL34]

I had been using a few in vox and fender style amps....recently, I had two of them develop a ticking sound (which went away when the GT was removed). I am very disappointed in this tube....it lasted about 5-6 months before the ticking developed, so it is outside of the warranty.

[aleclee]

I've had great results with it in a couple amps, particularly in V1. In a lot of other tube positions, the difference has been negligible.

IME different tubes behave differently in different amps and different positions within an amp. In that light, there probably isn't a be all end all tube.

[johnny q]

Originally posted by aleclee
I've had great results with it in a couple amps, particularly in V1. In a lot of other tube positions, the difference has been negligible.

IME different tubes behave differently in different amps and different positions within an amp. In that light, there probably isn't a be all end all tube.

These sounded weak and thin in my early 80's JCM800, but sound awesome in V1 and V2 of my Rivera R100. Wish they had a pinch more gain though....

[Jon C]

I have found even real Mullard 12AX7s to not be an automatic good fit... they have their tone but it may not be for everyone.

[t0neg0d]

I don't recall the original Mullards being extremely "gainy" tubes... the RI must be WAAAAY off base then

[bscepter]

I bought a pair for my Vox AC30CC2. One went microphonic in only a couple of weeks. They sounded pretty good, but just don't seem rugged. I bought some EHs, 'cause I heard they were pretty solid. We'll see.

[Robotechnology]

I found one good spot for a GT-M... V9 in my Carvin pre (4 channel). Stockers were non branded chinese high gainers and the GT refined the channel a little bit. However, I did not like this tube for any of the other 3 lower gain channels or my Fender HRD. So it may work for anybody with really high gain amps but, of course YMMV.