Best 12AU7 Type Tubes for a Preamp
I am hoping for some help finding good quality and good sounding 12AU7 variant tubes for a preamp – I need two tubes. A price of around $100 each or less would be great but I would pay a bit more (150 ea.) for something that is likely to sound better. The unit came with JAN PHILIPS ECC82 (12AU7/5963) and I also own a pair of reissue/new Mullard ECC92 tubes. Both sets are quiet but I am wondering if there is something even better sounding at a moderate price.
Readily available NOS options I have seen include:
New options I have found (in addition to Mullard) include (among others):
Thanks for any help.
Just bought a matched pair of Amperex PQ 7316/ECC186 Holland Short Plate O-Getter 1965 Ct5 tubes that measure like new. Should be here by Saturday. No, I did not look for the Mullards. I believe those short plate Amperex tubes are supposed to fall somewhere between the lusher Mullard long plates and box plates, and the more precise/detailed Telefunken and Siemens tubes. I did like the PQ 7308 version in other preamps I owned some years ago. |
@mitch2 Waiting for your impressions. I've Hattor Big pre with AMRG resistors. I'm thinking of getting its tube active stage.
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