olds1959special Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 What is the best 12AU7 or equivalent? NOS or new production. I like brighter sonics with good treble air. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeske Posted June 23 Share Posted June 23 I’ve been through a few on my phono pre. The ones that I have always come back to are old (late 50’s) CBS Hytron 5814A’s. Short black plates. They have a wonderful ‘sparkle’ on top and just seem to ‘open up’ the music for me. I use old Blackburn Mullards for my 4 12ax7’s in combo, but have tried old Tele’s, and also a mix of the two. The CBS and Mullards are a magical combo for me. I was lucky to find a pair for $60. A steal actually. One of the CBS started showing signs of microphonics, which luckily I was able to tame by ‘fooling around’ with its seating, but have recently been looking for a replacement set, and the ones I found are not cheap compared to the $60 I spent on mine. Regardless, I would get another pair as back -ups without hesitation. Tube sound is so subjective, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it 😁 Brian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olds1959special Posted June 26 Author Share Posted June 26 For my tube buffer, I have settled on the new Tung Sol 12AU7, which I like to run at the +4dB gain level. It adds a nice saturation. For some recordings/moods I can run it at +8dB and get even more tube tone. The 0dB setting is not as exciting, but interestingly I've noticed the NOS RCA tri mica 5814a I have sounds a little more detailed than the Tung Sol with the 0dB setting. The Tung Sol, however, sounds better when pushed, so I use this tube and run it at +4dB usually. I feel the +4dB (or +8dB) setting is necessary to get the most out of this device. It sounds so good that I don't think I need a tube pre-amp at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeske Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Nice. The tubes I mentioned above are in my Hagerman Trumpet phono pre. Jim creates some fantastic equipment for the $. Quite honestly, I wasn’t even aware he made a tube buffer. As you only need one, I tell’ya, you should at least consider experimenting with a CBS Hytron. I think it’s an amazing 12au7 (equivalent). Enjoy, Brian. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC-93 Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Vintage Telefunken tubes are nice sounding. I have a lot of them in my 1967 vintage MAC-1500 receiver. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olds1959special Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 (edited) I switched to Mogami 2964 cables into and out of the tube buffer (from my unshielded silver conductor IC's) and found it mellowed the sound a bit so I started using the GE 5814a which I find to be a great sounding tube with a touch of brightness on top. I now believe these NOS tubes are better than the new ones, even the Tung Sol that I like so much. The sound is more focused than it was before. Edited July 5 by olds1959special 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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