Tubes

Old telefunkens or Millard’s. Teles are better in the mids and highs and Mullards are nice and mellow when your in that Coltrane kind of mood. Tried all the newer ones but they don’t come close which is reflected in the current market value of these vintage tubes. If money is an issue, then gold Lions would be a good choice. 

Sterile?

I had tried the Tung-Sol and found them to be a little sterile in my Unison amp.
In place I am using the RFT, though a little darker I like the richer tone.

I just received my amp today. It came from the factory with TungSol 12AX7'S & 12AT7'S for line and Electro Harmonics for output. It's been outside for quite a while. I'm not going to plug it in until tomorrow. Can't wait to listen to it

In my Jolida 502P (a GREAT amp sold recently as I switched to a single ended thing) I used GL 12AX7s and they were great…for 12AT7s I used NOS Mullard 6201s or 4024s which I really liked…and they flash on start up which is a bonus and a crowd pleaser.

I like JJ’s. Their ECC83s sound great and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Very happy with GGL AU's and AT's.  Tried a NOS Amperex in the pre-amp socket, and very little difference between it and the GGL.

I am with rotaryphone, I don't care for Russian or Chinese tubes. I have used many different 12AX7's and prefer, by a long shot, vintage Tele's and are the only choice for me in my phono stage.

I have used few different makers. No name Chinese ones ( horrible), Russian sovtek ( just as horrible, well, maybe little bit better ), now they are the bad ones. I liked reissued genalex 12ax7. If you are going to stick with new reissued tubes, I think you can't go wrong with it. It has a nice smooth extended highs and clean mid and low. But I think low was little bit on lean side in my system. I used them in my phono, pre amp and mono power amp. But one thing all these new tubes lacks is big 3D soundstage. They can be wide but little flat, front to back. In my system they just can't do it as well as NOS tubes. FYI, I, now use telefunken 12ax7 in all of my gears. I have tried RCA ( like genalex, but little more of all the goods but not as 3D as tele), Mullard is nice, creamy, rich mid, full bass but lack little on top, just a little. Great with voice. Tele is like 60% mullard, 40% RCA with best 3D and wide soundstag, nice high and fast and meaty mid to low. And that's just me and my system.

I have had and am having great luck with the Genalex Gold Lions.  I'm using Cryoset (cryogenically treated) 12AU7s in my line stage and a Cryoset Gold Lion GZ34 as the rectifier in my SACD outboard power supply.  They sound great and they last.😀

@dill, looking for input on all. I couldn't edit once commented on but I welcome any and all shared info

I would not think twice, they are the best of the 12AX7 reissues. I have them in my pre-amp. I also really like the Mullard 12AX7 reissues.  

Look at Amperex circa 11958 at Vintage Tube Services or Brent Jesse they will blow the reissues away.Good luck though!!

He is asking about the input tubes, not the output tubes.

I tested 4 different vintage power tubes and decided i liked the Gold Lion KT 88 the best.  i recently upgraded to the KT 150 for a little more power.  It was a close tie between the Genalex and GE.  The sound was more dynamic, the instrumentation more concise and pleasing to listen to.  I have a Raven Integrated Reflection MK2 tube amp that generates about 65 WPC.