Favorite new 12ax7's and 6922's?

Currently available recently manufactured tubes, not NOS?
12ax7 & 6dj8 + families

 

I think the Sovtek 12AX7LPS is a nice tube and is very affordable.

That's a new production isn't it? or am I confused?

 

Not many choices for current production 6DJ8 and 6922s. I don't care much for the currently made 6922s and 6DJ8s - EH and JJ are about it - I'd suggest spending a little more and going for some NOS Amperex/Mullard 6DJ8s, especially if you can find some rebranded for other companies. You'll get 5000 hours or more from NOS 6DJ8s, and 10,000 hrs from 6922s if they're not driven to extremes.

 

Damn!

First SED goes and I'm now going to have to find another nice (non Winged C) EL34, luckily I don't use those Sovtek's myself. I think I'll stock up on what I do use now.

So my list would be EL34 Winged C's, 6N1p's, 6H30's and some variety of 6SL7s' that I haven't decided one yet. Hmm...

 

Gold Lions are the best 12AX7's on the market

 

Is that true, I thought New Sensor was still producing Sovtek? They're certainly still selling the Sovtek 12ax7LPS on their website. I dunno if they're still any good. Sovtek used to be a Russian brand with a wide range of tubes from various sources including Russian milspec tubes. Not sure about what New Sensor is doing with the brand today or if the 12ax7LPS is still any good. It used to be decent but at $15 a tube from most dealers for a 12axyLPS, I'd think about stepping up to spending $30 on a used pull Sylvania or Tung Sol or something.

 

For current production 12AX7, Sovtek 12AX7LPS and JJ ECC83S but you need to buy them from a reputable seller who can match a pair.
As for 6DJ8, I'd skip current production and get NOS 6N23P-EV from Russia.
My 2 cents.

 

I'm using a pair of these from Genalex in my Ares. There were a marked improvement over what I had before. I know that the Mullards (NOS) have quite a bit of good press too on here.

 

So the current production I used in a mates Yaqin phono will be the New Sensor "Sovtek" ones, they are pretty nice sounding to me, I probably haven't heard a NOS one for comparison.

Unless the New Sensor ones have that on the box, as these where traditional Sovtek looking boxes?

 

For a new tube you can't beat it IMO.

 

I like the new Tungsol 12ax7 used in my Jolida 502 P but I'm a newby at this. Any other 12ax7 recommendations?

 

I will order up some Gold Lion 12ax7's.

 

I retubed my SP16 with the Gold Lions and was not happy at first as they were a bit bright, but after awhile they have settled in nicely. I also put a set in my ProJect Tubebox IIse with nice results. I will be trying the JJ's next as I love them in my Rogue Cronos though it uses the 12AU7s as well.

 

Currently using psvane 12ax7, I like them the best of the new 12ax7, next I would say it is Genalex Gold Lion. Others that I own and have used are NEW JJ, tung sol, Northern Lights, NOS 50's RCA Blackplates, Telefunken, Philips minwatt, amprex Bugle boy.

 

I bought 3 pairs for my stash from CONUS - decent tube. Prefer other NOS types from that family of tubes though.

http://www.conusaudio.com/

 

Well the LPS has a spiral filament, which I don't think is true of the other New Sensor 12ax7s made at Reflektor, so its not an identical tube to others. How much else is different and it's impact on sound between all the other New Sensor-made 12ax7s, I don't know.

 

The 12AX7 Sovtek LPS is the only new production signal tube that is remotely in the NOS ballpark IMO. However they tend to be microphonic. One should get cherrypicked LPS tubes to be safe. I don't know any 6922 tube that I like past or present so I have no opinion there.

 

I have some LPS lying around from a decade ago or something and I always liked the tube, really reminded me of the long plate Mullards -- balanced, warm in the middle, plenty of HF energy without ha shines or hardness but I have so many old production 12ax7s that those are just kind of spares now. On the basis of sonics I'd use em again. Never had one go microphonic on me. But I haven't tried a lot of new production 12ax7s.

 

The best advice I've ever seen? Start cheap, stop when you're happy. (Ha! Happy....)

 

the only downside is the price tag. for similar money you can get NOS.

 

Geez, a set of 12AX7 Teles or Amperex would sound amazing and is really worth the $$ in my opinion.

 

The right tubes depends upon your tastes and your equipment. That said, I must admit that I am thrilled with the sound of the combination of remake Tunsols 12AX7s in combination with remake gold lion 12AX7s in my SP8. The combination is pure magic.

However I must agree with the NOS crowd when it comes to the 6DJ8 family of tubes. I can't find ANY current 6DJ8 tubes which will produce magic inside of my system. Almost nothing sounds quite as sweet as an NOS Mullard 6922 in my SP8. Although several other NOS 6922s sound superb as well, just with different flavors.