Opinion on various currently made 12ax7's (and one NOS)

[ryjan]

I have only used a the chineese and the jj's. I didnt care for the chineese tubes, I thought they sounded "2 demensional" The jj tubes on the other hand sounded great. The gold pins are buttery smooth for cleans and lower gain leads and the standard jj tubes are a great all-around choice. My favorites are the jj high gain 12ax7s. They keep the same round, full tone of the standards but push your gain to 11.

 

[Killtone]

A lot of people like the Tung-Sol reissues, but I have to say that they sound horrible in my Mark IV. I put some in, got busy with other things for a few weeks and forgot I did it. Later, when I tried the amp out I thought there was something wrong with my ears. The tone was weak and fuzzy.

After experimenting with the tubes I found the Tung-Sols were the problem. I tried some a few months later just to confirm what I had heard and got exactly the same result.