Need a rugged 12ax7 for Twin

[VonBonfire]

The tech sold me some EH 7025's last march. I have a loud-gig Twin and a dinner-gig Twin and both of them are microphonic now. While I beat the loud-gig model like a red headed step child I didn't put very many hours on the dinner-gig amp and last night I noticed the tube was riding the edge of being microphonic with the volume dial on 4. I was gonna buy a couple more from the tech this week but this has me rethinking the tube choice.

I had been running JJ 803s gold plated in the V1 and had gotten a lot of mileage out of them, like a few hundred gigs. I ordered a covid era batch and they were microphonic out of the box which sucks cause they are a great sounding tube. What's a decent sounding, economical, and most importantly RUGGED 12ax7 or like tube? I'd rather hear from combo owners who are gigging not amp head guys that run IR's. There is a lot of vibration here....

 

[Smash]

The tech sold me some EH 7025's last march. I have a loud-gig Twin and a dinner-gig Twin and both of them are microphonic now. While I beat the loud-gig model like a red headed step child I didn't put very many hours on the dinner-gig amp and last night I noticed the tube was riding the edge of being microphonic with the volume dial on 4. I was gonna buy a couple more from the tech this week but this has me rethinking the tube choice.

I had been running JJ 803s gold plated in the V1 and had gotten a lot of mileage out of them, like a few hundred gigs. I ordered a covid era batch and they were microphonic out of the box which sucks cause they are a great sounding tube. What's a decent sounding, economical, and most importantly RUGGED 12ax7 or like tube? I'd rather hear from combo owners who are gigging not amp head guys that run IR's. There is a lot of vibration here....

I have quite a few dampeners for microphonic tubes. Bogner uses them and that is how i learned of them. He seems to use silver dragon like me, and he puts the dampeners on them just on case, though they are very low microphonics.

With a low gain amp like yours, i doubt a tube could overcome a dampener

 

[VonBonfire]

I have quite a few dampeners for microphonic tubes. Bogner uses them and that is how i learned of them. He seems to use silver dragon like me, and he puts the dampeners on them just on case, though they are very low microphonics.

With a low gain amp like yours, i doubt a tube could overcome a dampener

Noted. I'll order some with the tubes. You think it would shut up those 803s' that were microphonic out of the box or am I SOL on those?

They claim this JJ ECC83 gold pin is rugged in the description. It's short plate. I might give these a whirl:
https://www.tubedepot.com/products/jj-ecc83-12ax7-gold-pin-preamp-vacuum-tube

 

[Smash]

I think it would work. I wouldnt overthink preamp tubes for your use. I dont believe in magic with the things, i just go for low microphonics. In a high gain amp, the more you have, the less clarity. This is why i use silver dragons. But in your case, i would just go 12ax7 wa and be done with it. I wouldnt go for gold pin or anything.

Just my opinion. I think any preamp tube differences in tone are easily overcome by eq

 

[GuitarGuy08]

The Sovteks are really hardy and quiet. I have a small combo amp that is also 40w of tube power. Since they are 2" away from the speaker, has to be something super quiet. Short plates are a given for reduced microphony and noise.

I have some Sovteks that have really been troopers, and are dead quiet. I throw them around and blast on em, etc.

They are not my favorite sounding preamp tube, but they are very hardy and dead quiet. I've had these same ones kicking around in different amps for years and they are still reliable.

The JJs are a pretty tough tube, they just have this certain muffled brashness I can jive with. I have not used the gold pin variants.

 

[DanTravis62]

Use the cock rings.

Otherwise you're going to have to buy Mesa STR1s or NOS vintage tubes.

 

[GuitarGuy08]

Use the cock rings.

Otherwise you're going to have to buy Mesa STR1s or NOS vintage tubes.

I completely disagree here. I have amps where NOS tubes can't be used at all, only modern. For any combo where the speaker is right near the tube, NOS would be way harder to find a super quiet, long lasting than new production.

 

[VonBonfire]

Use the cock rings.

Otherwise you're going to have to buy Mesa STR1s or NOS vintage tubes.

Are you saying this based on post covid manufacturing problems or just in general? As I noted this was never an issue even with long plate gold pin JJ 803s' prior to 2020 and now the past four preamp tubes have been either microphonc out the box or went microphonic 3x as fast as pre-covid batches.

I ordered some JJ ecc83 gold pins and the cock rings as advised. The plate looks extra short and they claimed ruggedness in the description and I needed the problem sorted now since I have gigs.

Maybe I can get those 803s' to work correctly with the damper rings? I really loved that tube.

 

[DanTravis62]

Are you saying this based on post covid manufacturing problems or just in general? As I noted this was never an issue even with long plate gold pin JJ 803s' prior to 2020 and now the past four preamp tubes have been either microphonc out the box or went microphonic 3x as fast as pre-covid batches.

I ordered some JJ ecc83 gold pins and the cock rings as advised. The plate looks extra short and they claimed ruggedness in the description and I needed the problem sorted now since I have gigs.

Maybe I can get those 803s' to work correctly with the damper rings? I really loved that tube.

Try the damper rings first, then, at least for V1, look for nice vintage NOS or high test tubes

I completely disagree here. I have amps where NOS tubes can't be used at all, only modern. For any combo where the speaker is right near the tube, NOS would be way harder to find a super quiet, long lasting than new production.

Apparently none of the tubes you used were actually NOS then.

 

[GuitarGuy08]

Try the damper rings first, then, at least for V1, look for nice vintage NOS or high test tubes



Apparently none of the tubes you used were actually NOS then.

I was thinking of long plates. IDK why I did not specifically say that, but those are my favorate vintage type, so I always grab them. Yeah, I definitely have NOS tubes from reputable sellers and then validated testing on a Maxi so..... yeah. Anyway, microphony and tube strength are different tests anyway. A tube can run strong and good with no leaks and be microphonic. Anyway, I was thinking long plates in my original post, though I failed to mention it. Short plates will give you better luck for sure. Tube dampeners are not miracle workers but are better than nothing for sure.

He will have better luck with getting a modern production short plate. He could grab 3 for the price of some decent NOS tubes right now so I would just go that route and put the quietest one in V1.

 

[DanTravis62]

I was thinking of long plates. IDK why I did not specifically say that, but those are my favorate vintage type, so I always grab them. Yeah, I definitely have NOS tubes from reputable sellers and then validated testing on a Maxi so..... yeah. Anyway, microphony and tube strength are different tests anyway. A tube can run strong and good with no leaks and be microphonic. Anyway, I was thinking long plates in my original post, though I failed to mention it. Short plates will give you better luck for sure. Tube dampeners are not miracle workers but are better than nothing for sure.

He will have better luck with getting a modern production short plate. He could grab 3 for the price of some decent NOS tubes right now so I would just go that route and put the quietest one in V1.

Okay that makes more sense - in general, honest-to-god NOS tubes are build to WAY higher tolerances and quality standards than the modern slop that we can buy new now - whether long plate, short plate, whatever.

That being said, yes, it's really difficult to find long plates that are going to work without microphonics - and grabbing a few short plates is certainly the quickest, easiest to source solution.

But the advantage of NOS stuff is that once you find stuff that works, it tends to work functionally forever because of how much higher quality the tubes are.

Especially for a vintage amp, it's probably worth looking into both.

 

[GuitarGuy08]

Okay that makes more sense - in general, honest-to-god NOS tubes are build to WAY higher tolerances and quality standards than the modern slop that we can buy new now - whether long plate, short plate, whatever.

That being said, yes, it's really difficult to find long plates that are going to work without microphonics - and grabbing a few short plates is certainly the quickest, easiest to source solution.

But the advantage of NOS stuff is that once you find stuff that works, it tends to work functionally forever because of how much higher quality the tubes are.

Especially for a vintage amp, it's probably worth looking into both.

Agreed 100%