Anyone ever have, use or hear this tube?

@thecarpathian -

I had a set that I used in a 12AU7/12AX7 Cayin integrated amp. They were very quiet, and warmly-revealing tubes. Mine did not last 40,000+ hours, but I'm not complaining. And yes, they are black-shielded.

@thecarpathian

I did a fair amount of tube rolling, with both the AU7 and AX7. I started with new production EH 12AU7-they are ok, are dependable, and very quiet. The Genalex ECC82 is terrific for modern production tubes--good dynamics, resolution across the sound spectrum, are rugged, and again no microphonics. Tung-Sol 12AU7/6189 sounds terrific and have low microphonics. If you find NOS Mullard 12AU7 you will get a tube with the Mullard house sound--great creamy mids, a tad rolled-off at the higher ends. The new Mullard 12AU7 are Russian production and are detailed, low distortion and terrific for their price. FWIW, my F-I-L also had sets of G73R because he was an electrical engineer for Hewlett-Packard, back in the day. That’s how I acquired them.

Before selling the Cayin (which was paired with a 2005-era Jolida JD100 CD player-GE5751’s sound GREAT in it), I started rolling 12AU7 variants because my father-in-law was a ham radio enthusiast, and had a cabinet full. The Sylvania 6189W is a AU7 variant and I liked it very much--clear resolution, good top and bottom end. Raytheon 5814 is good, for the same reasons as the Sylvania 6189W. The AU7 variant I liked the most is the CBS/Hytron 5814a. It is detailed with great dynamics and low distortion. Ironically, with the rolling I did I did’t try the Amperex 7316.

Since the G73R are Telefunken’s, from experience I think Telefunken made awesome signal tubes across the board. As time has passed, they have gotten expensive. Sure enough, I looked up the pricing and Tube Depot listed them at $500 a piece.

Hope this is helpful!

What audio equipment do you have that has 12AU7s?

David

@audioman58 

Are you the Yoda of A'gon? Or perhaps James Joyce?

I re-read your posts multiple times.....

Spellcheck and editing would help.

Just sayin'

And yes, NOS are harder to find. As are good tube testers.

@thecarpathian 

Yes, yes, yes. You named some terrific tubes.

I haven't heard of Simply Italy. Will look it up.

When my F-I-L passed we inherited BOXES of signal and rectifier tubes and a Hickok tube tester. I spent the better part of a summer testing tubes. Most were microphonic. The ones saved are in plastic boxes...never used, rarely thought about.

I'll be interested hearing what you end up doing.

David

@asvjerry 

LOL!!!! A terrific A'Gon post, with my morning coffee. 

@cey 

Good info. I did not know that. TY!

Anyone remember when "Tubes" was a very, very active category on A'Gon? Pages of NOS offerings. Today, I saw 29 listed.

David

@asvjerry -

Dude!!! You are cracking me up.

Back in the day, before the Tweakin’ Twenties, it was "etchings."