Whats the best and quietest 12AX7 tube

Get to upscaleaudio.com best tube site. Talk to Kevin, he is an expert on tubes, and he'll give you honest advice. I bought NOS Mazda's from and they are fab! cheers, Gerrym5

Gedrrym5 gives good advice about Kevin. My experience with Kevin and the (French Mil) Mazda's is excellent as well. If you want the quietest and least expensive new tube, another option is the 12AX7 LP Sovtec. This is the ONLY Sovtec tube I like. It is a remarkable tube and a fraction of the cost of similar sounding NOS tubes. Other choices for an ultimate sounding 12AX7, is the Telefunken smooth plate. Be prepared to pay dearly for Telefunkens, as they are hard to find, and therefore expensive. Tele's are not necessarily the quietest tube around, but noise is more or less important, depending entirely on where it is used in a circuit. For instance, a Telefunken that would not be acceptable as a first stage gain tube in a phono circuit, could be the best tube available in a power supply, even if the noise numbers were not the best among the tubes you are testing.

The 12ax7s I am useing ARE Sovtek LPS which Albert recommended.Should I just forget upgrading.I called Kevin Deal,he said no guarentee his QUIETEST tube would lower the tube rush anymore. WHAT TO DO GUYS? IM fairly new to tubes so please advise. Thanfs Albert,I've read your replys elsewhere your cool!!

David, the Sovtek 12AX7 LPS is the spiral version of the LP, some people have reported that after as little as 60 days that particular tube begins the tube rush (noise) you report. The good news is that either version is very cheap (LP or LPS, maybe $7.00?) so you can afford to replace the pair three or four times a year (if absolutely necessary) for about the price of a good dinner. I know that this is not a wonderful piece of advice, but I have the same problem with my phono stage, and I use Sovtek 12AX7 LPS in the first stage, the Madza's in the second stage and Telefunken in the other stages. I find that the first tube (after the cartridge) effects the overall noise level more than stages after it. When I get the "rush" you describe, I can usually replace the first tubes and be back as quiet as possible without replacing the more expensive tubes. And, thank you for your kind words.

Albert, The LPS tubes had rush upon arrival of the Rogue 99 Why not get low noise or super low noise 12AX7s and can the LPs?? Can you help me with this also? I paid my dealer $!00.00 extra for NOS tubes for the 99 He told me Rogue sends some from the factory already equiped.Come to find out the sovteks arent NOS the other 12AX7 and 12AU7 are Philips are these NOS? The line stage has 4 penta Labs 6sn7 But they have a different number on them.I checked out their site and I think these tubes are new.Kevin D.told me they are probably Russian or Chinese.This dealer has always been the BEST in every way but I think he is assuming Im an idiot. If this were you what would you do? What tubes for 99 would you suggest? My sound is very good but the tube rush I wont tolerate.It is quite low but combined with groove rush one has to go. I just today got Prosilway MK2 for preamp to amp.They dont sound much better than my old PBJs but its only been an hour.Will they eventually trounce them? Thanks Albert!