I suggest thoroughly combing through Brent Jessee's descriptions of 12AU7 tubes or any other tubes for that matter. Depending on your tastes and preferences, you may or may not like the sound profile of the German brands. Telefunkens and the other German tubes are more stark and less warm than the Dutch, Belgan, French and British sound.
Re: current production Gold Lion and Tung Sol tubes, I find that the Gold Lions are tilted toward the upper mid range and highs and that the Tung Sol tubes are tilted the other way, more toward the mid bass and bass.
Unfortunately, current production tubes just can't match the abilities of NOS tubes and there are NOS tubes available that can be had for the same cost or even less than the better current production tubes.
I also suggest to sticking to the better tube suppliers such as Brent Jessee instead of buying on the "open market". My results on "open market" buys have been a mixed bag that were mostly disappointing.
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I’ve run 12AX7 and 12AT7 as signal tube in my integrated. No experience with lower gain 12AU7, however I have found consistent sound signature across mfg with AX7 and AT7. Mullard = warm, smooth with less detail, Telefunken = master of transparent balanced detail, Amperex BB = clear, clean sparkling treble extension. My favorite that combines all three are Raytheon black plates from 50’s = warm, strong bass and midrange with great treble and detail up and down frequency range. Doesn’t have full extension and sparkle of BB, but has warmth of Mullard, but not too warm, detail and transparency of Telefunken but not at expense of bass, and superb treble extension but doesn’t leave out beautiful midrange. Goldilocks of signal tube in my system.
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Well why not try the Telefunken 12AU7? CBS 5814 are good as are the Amperex. Really depends upon which direction you want to take the sound. I always found the RCA clear tops primitive and bright sounding.
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I love the Brimar CV4003 from Upscale. $300. I own Tele red medicals from Brent, Siemens nickel plates & currently prefer the Brimars. To be honest, I haven’t tried my Tele’s yet in my new BHK pre. They were my least favorite in my old Rogue. YMMV.
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You may try CryoTone tubes. In my experience with them, they are simply quite. Also, they offer a trial period. If you don't like them, send them back.
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I've heard good things about the Apos Ray tubes. They're not cheap, but they're less expensive than a lot of the NOS options.
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Brent Jesse has medical grade red or green tTelefunken that are very closed ,$450-$550 a pr I bought a pair great ,defined lots of air and neutral No mullard is close in detail ,warmer yes.
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The RCA clear tops are good. If you can run a 12BH7a, that's my strong preference.
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+3 on Amperex. Sound wise it sits beautifully between Telefunken and Mullard.
Look for the 7316, the older the better.
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Look @ the Amperex Holland offerings ($119 a matched pair).
Found most of the Holy Grail 12au7’s touted to be thin/bright sounding in my gear.
http://www.audiotubes.com/12au7.htm
DeKay
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the TF ecc802s is probably not the holy grail, but its expensive. if you want to spend money theres a blackglass TF 12AU7 variant. theres also the 7316 by philips holland, of which there are several versions. lng plate d-foil getter is the top tier. somme people swear by the siemens nickel plate ecc82, and theres the siemens 5814 triple mica as well.
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I used Genalex Gold Lion in my previous preamp, so maybe those will tested. And the PSVANE are not overly expensive either, so I might as well toss them into the mix
Greatly appreciate all the advice and knowledge!!!
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Tried 22 different pairs of vintage 12au7s, and 6 pairs of new re-issues.
Vintage best for me, 1965 Blackburn Plant Mullards if you like vintage. Stored now.
New, PSVANEs are lasting longer than any of my former Gold Lyons.
Get them curve tracer matched triodes w/guarantee, with guarantee.
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Gold Lyons are everything I want out of a tube, could not sound better.
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@mulveling I don’t know about that assessment as the 12AU7 is used in the pre section of the integrated amp... you definitely need to it t be quite or you will amplify it
Oops, missed that part of your amp; assumed it was power only. I did not consider they might create 845 based amps in a "space saving" integrated form factor lol. Yep you need quiet 12au7 tubes. Stick to 12au7, 6189, cv4003, and (maybe) 5814 types then.
Andy at VTS (recommended below) can very carefully select for noise, but I’m not sure how his stock levels are these days, other than RCAs. Upscale Audio used to have some great vintage options (Platinum or Gold grades); most of them long gone now. Other than that you can play the buy-and-try game on ebay, or try some of the new production tubes.
I’ve used Arizona Tube Supply in the past for some of these tube types, and I like him. They are generally used but good quality tubes.
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@mulveling I don't know about that assessment as the 12AU7 is used in the pre section of the integrated amp... you definitely need to it t be quite or you will amplify it
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I suggest going to a professional- Andy at Vintage Tube Service. Andy knows his products and has a terrific reputation for recommendations and delivery of NOS tubes. Very easy to talk with as well and will absolutely keep your budget in mind. Give him a call.
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Good news: since they’re going in an amp, not a preamp or phono, you have more options for 12au7 tubes & subs that would be too noisy / microphonic in those slots.
I’ve recently been using RCA 5963 (close 12au7 sub) in an amp - they’re affordable (beasue 5963 was not intended as an audio tube) and have a nice balanced sound. There are gray and black plate variants. They’re too microphonic for preamp / phono, but fine in an amp.
I’ve also liked GE 5814 (triple mica, gray plates), as a warm 12au7 sub that’s not quite as "wooly" as Mullard. Also affordable. 5814 is a very close 12au7 sub.
If your component’s PSU has a little extra heater current to spare, you can sub in 12BH7 (very close sub except for 0.6A heater current draw instead of 0.3A per tube). These tubes tend to be more dynamic sounding than 12au7. A power amp is more likely to have the heater current to spare, since the power tubes take up much more of it than small tubes. I’ve subbed them in a few different amps.
6189 is another sub you can do (12au7 equivalent). The Sylvanias and Philips ECG of this tube tend to be more "solid state" like in their sound. Cifte / Mazda / France made some silver plate 6189 that are very good, definitely not on the warm side though. Siemens also made some silver (nickel) plate 12au7 some people like - man, mine are microphonic as hell though - should be OK in an amp.
RCA cleartop 12au7 are everywhere (often rebranded - millions were made) and some people like them. They used to be pretty cheap. I find them "fine" but nothing really exciting.
I haven't tried Brimar or Amperex of 12au7 types - but based on their 12ax7, they should be slotting between Tele and Mullard sound, like you are looking for!
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check out my user profile in my system pictures i have a handy chart for small NOS 12XXX tube types with sound characteristics. its relivent for all of the 12xxx series tubes.
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