Tube subtitutions 12AT7 for 12AX7


My old ARC SP6-B sounds swell with my phono,
but has way too much gain for my CD players.
To get normal volume levels,
I barely adjust the gain past 9 o'clock (3 clicks).
With the stepped gain, this leaves no room for
fine volume adjusments.

I would like to reduce the gain by substituting
the 12AX7 tubes (in the line stage portion only)
for 12AT7's. There is some discussion of this
at www.thetubestore.com, but more from a guitar amp
point of view, than audiophile amps.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
Am I gonna wreck the preamp doing this?
tjbearman

Showing 1 response by precbsed

I agree with Dekay. Although it is not recommended to substitute a 12AT7 for a 12AX7 a 5751 is simply a special (industrial) type of 12AX7 with lower gain and a slightly higher heater current. Amplification factor of the 12AX7 is 100 where the 5751 is 70. I have both NOS 12AT7 and 5751 tubes in stock if you need them but would not recommend the 12AT7 in this case.