I remember 12au7 tubes being so cheap back 20 years ago and nobody wants to buy it. Now its like silver-gold.
I had the opposite experience in my old BH Foreplay. Same with Bugle Boys. Just goes to show it's really down to the specific equipment used. jeff
Just remembered something. TUNGSRAM. Are they old East German or Hungary or something? The box (if I remember) was blue with red and the ECC82 (12AU7) was very nice sounding, used in my old Concert Fidelity preamp. In fact, the designer loved the tube so much he didn't want anything else in there. Tungsram. Didn't cost much but that was 20 years ago..
The tungsram and the old tung-sol with a charcoal grey bottle. Those were the holy grail of the 12au7 when it comes to hi fidelity and professional music.
I don't know what it is about Sylvania tubes. I had a pair of 7308 (aka 6DJ8 or 6922) Sylvania tubes and loved them in my Atma-sphere amps. I liked them so much I got a pair each of Sylvania 12AU7 and 6FQ7 to replace the rest of the amp's line driver stage. No...no...no...no...no. Steely bright. Run for the hills. I have found clear top RCA 12AU7 tubes are better than average sounding. To me they are the coin of the realm. I judge everything against them. You can commonly - meaning inexpensively - find RCA clear tops branded as Conn tubes. They were used in Conn organs. Even though tube prices have skyrocketed, I see the always reliable Brent Jessee has them in stock for $29.99, or matched pairs for $79.99. link
In my old vintage system I used RCA Clear Top 12AU7's to get some false top end out of my old Tannoy Lancasters. The Clear Tops have an 8k bump that can make SOME systems play back brittle sounding. Others, perfect. It's always system dependant. I would recommened trying Tungsram over Clear Tops though. Or, buy two of each and see. It's fun rolling tubes, as long as you don't spend too much. It's addicting, that's for sure.
After you said you saw Tungsrams for $30, I went a-lookin'. I've never used Tungsrams. I couldn't find them for that price. Would you mind sharing the location of your fishing hole...err, tube source?
Can't find the page I read an hour ago, sorry. Found this: NOS Tube Store: Tungsram ECC82 / 12AU7 Forgot about this thread I started. Silly me. Tungsram ECC82 12AU7 tubes. People swear by them? You?
Thanks. For people who don't know, this is a good source for vintage tubes. I'll buy a matched pair for $79.
I will. 12AU7 tubes are popcorn to me. Gobble it up by the handful. PrimaLuna amps use a lot of them. Off the top of my head, I have pairs of vintage Mullards, GE Jan 6189, Telefunken, Westinghouse, Pinnacle (could be Russian made but I think are Matsushita), CIFTE (French), Amperex, Sylvania and RCA, both regular and clear tops. After re-reading that list, I feel like an alcoholic, proud of his collection of empty whiskey bottles.
Yeah, it’s like an addiction. In the 90’s when I got most of my stash they were mostly a few dollars each, all NOS. Hard to resist. Fun though.
Small stashes are fun too! (thanks again mkane). Mine fit perfectly in an old peanut butter filled pretzel nugget barrel.
I have two Baldwin tubes that are labeled 38 15 22 VFH . Can anybody verify that this is truly a 12AU7 tube and give us its manufacturer?
When I tried to research the Baldwin I have(red print), I learned there are many variations/manufacturers of "Baldwin" 12AU7 . The ones I have say "Made in Japan" and "2B". Does anyone know anything about these? I gave up trying to figure it out.
