Needing tube advice w/ studio preamp

[EOengineer]

I am ready to retube my studio preamp, god knows how old these tubes are. I have intentions to clean the pre up a little, get some glass without all the fizz, and really round out the midrange.

Im not opposed to going NOS with the preamp tubes, and I am mildly curious to try a 12at7 in V1. Where is the tube expert here?

What should go where if I want to clean the gain up a little, and make it less fizzy and more dynamic?

 

[EOengineer]

My study has lead me to think that I should grab a good mullard NOS 12aT7, and then a Good NOS 12ax7. I would like to find mullards because they seem to generally have a nice midrange roundness/smoothness from most descriptions. Where is a good source to pick some of these up??

 

[fishyfishfish]

http://www.audiotubes.com/ Here is a good start!

 

[dmt]

I had a nice Mullard 12AT7 and man was it godly! Only problem was that it was microphonic. I generally like the 12AT7's in the driver as they brighten up the sound. I have some other tubes that I like as well, the 5751 is awesome with a little more bite than an 12AT7. I really like 12AV7's and 12AU7's for crunch and cleans, it sounds heavenly. But they are terrible for distortion, and for some reason even a distortion pedal sounds horrible through there.

http://300guitars.com/index.php/articles/preamp-tube-gain-factors-and-substitution-chart/

I recommend NOS RCA or Sylvania tubes; they had some really beefy sounding tubes.

 

[dodger916]

^ +1 for the 12AT7 in the driver (phase inverter). I had great results rounding off the edge of a C+ with a new Mullard 12AT7/CV4024, balanced triodes, from Doug's tubes. Turned the beast into a Keith Richards riffing machine!

I also like the Herleen-manufactured NOS tubes (Amperex, Bugle Boy, Valvo, etc.). I found them to be a bit brighter than the Mullards. I often combine the two.

Also check out this thread for some great tube references:

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=749&highlight=timbre+wolf