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Re: Mook's Taste Tests: 12AX7s

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5/8/1999 3:25 PM

Re: Mook's Taste Tests: 12AX7s

I have been using Tesla's for a long time now and I think that they are great tubes. I have a lots of other tubes Ei's, Sovtek's (yuck puke, belch) and various NOS Phillips, RCA and Sylvania's the Tesla's are nice balanced and quiet. I usually use then for the initial preamp tube and in the driver position in my Peavey Classic 30 and i use one of the NOS tubes in the second preamp position. I have a Dumble (no I'm not lying) that sounds nice with practically any tubes but the Tesla's and NOS stuff (especially the Phillips tubes are best in that amp. I find Ei's to be a little over the top when they break up. Good for rock or metal but not clean tones IMO.

5/6/1999 7:46 PM

Clyde:

    That's a good point you brought up (akin to the placebo effect) but for just swapping out tubes I don't think that there is enough money and labor involved to persuade Mook to "cheat" here. When spending up to $250 on a new set of pickups (along with the labor to install them), I really want those suckers to sound good! I may "con" myself into thinking that they really sound great, but that does wear off after awhile. If they are in fact exactly what I was looking for, they will keep sounding better and better the more I play them, as I explore all of their subtleties. If I don't like them after a week I'll grit my teeth and yank them out (although some pu's that sound lousy in one guitar may sound fantastic in another so it might not be a total loss.)

    The same could be said about amp mods: after spending several nights working on a particular amp, I really want it to sound much better! But the real test is after playing the amp for a week or so- are you still pleased with the results, or is time to go back to the drawing board?

    It's probably unrealistic to expect an amp or a guitar to do everything, so I just figure if I can add some usable sounds to my tonal pallette I'm making steps in the right direction.

    Thanks for bringing up that point (even though I don't think it applies to Mook here- he just wanted to see which 12AX7's work best in his amp and I don't think he really cared which ones came out best.)

Steve Ahola

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