[SET Man]

Hey!

    My pre use 12AU7 in the output stage. It had been a while since I was last looking at 12AU7 tubes.

    Looking at current production 12AU7 tubes, there seems to be a few so called "re-issued" 12AU7 tubes like Gold Lion, Mullard and Tung-Sol. Aren't they all make by the same company/factory in Russia?

    What I would like to know if there's any difference between them. Are they really made with the same materials and constructions like the old ones?

    And more importantly, if anyone here have experience between them and can share how they sound. Thanks.

Buddy

[Tyson]

I'd stay away from the Russian tubes, they all sound a bit dry and a bit gritty to me.

The PSVANE 12au7-T is probably the best sounding modern tube.

[rollo]

 Buddy, Electro Harmonix gold pin . Psvane is VG just costly. WTF this is Audio Psvane it is.


charles

[thorman]

 A  excellent NOS 12AU7 is Tungsram ....Neutral and natural...Not all that expensive either.....Try Tubemonger

[SET Man]

Buddy, Electro Harmonix gold pin . Psvane is VG just costly. WTF this is Audio Psvane it is.


charles

Hey!

    Hmmm... Rollo, I know tube is mostly system depending but how would you characterize the overall sound of this tube in your system?

    Anyway, I should have mention that I love NOS tubes, I have been using Mullard CV4003 for years. But as the price of these NOS tubes keep going up and not to mention that they will be harder to find as time passes. I thought that I would try to find a good current production 12AU7 tubes that I can live with, and as a DIYer I can re-tune or voice my system with it.

   As for the the sound, the Mullard CV4003 have a beautiful mid but upper bass and lower mid can sound a bit thick and this make the overall sound a bit slow and too laid back in my system. Also, the high is detail but lack a bit of airy hall feel to it, which I'm OK with that.

   Other tubes I've tried and still have...

    RCA 12AU7 Clear Top, very open but a too forward for me.

    JJ ECC802S, Great bass and extension on the top. Got that giddy up and go speed. But! the mid can sounds a bit thin and brittle... can be annoying when you listen to a lot of pops. And they are getting a bit noisy over time.

     Anyway, thanks for all the responds here it is very helpful for sure.

Buddy

[rlee8394]

This tube looks interesting.

https://www.thetubestore.com/northern-electric-12au7?quantity=1&additional_options=3

-Ron

[decooney]

Buddy,
I replaced my vintage [Mullard, Tungsram, RCA, Sylvania, Ei] and [new Mullard, TungSol, JJ] attempts with the new PSVANE 12AU7-T already mentioned. 

Also the NE tube mentioned is worth a try as well.  For my preamp I picked up two quads of TJ Full Music 6SN7s after quite a bit of research learning they were making the same 6SN7s for Northern Electrics for awhile until TJFM made company changes, and reportedly sold off some tooling to PSVANE after the owner passed.  I always wondered if the 12AU7 by NE was also made by TJFM and labeled for the TheTubeStore, its unconfirmed. 

Back to PSVANE.  Been testing the recent 12AU7-T and 12AT7 PSVANE tubes for four months now with no desire to put vintage back in for now. I thought I would do this to preserve and mothball away the vintage tubes but kinda liking these right now.  Full, rich, and a nice presentation with layering and not too forward. The next question all will ask is how long will they last.  Time will tell, we will see.  Good luck. 

[dB Cooper]

Not current production, but JAN Phillips always worked well for me. (JAN= Joint Army Navy mil-spec) Availability is still pretty good and prices aren't ridiculous. A little googling will find them.

[Escott1377]

I purchase my 12AU7’s from Spin 4 Cards on ebay.  Very good selection for NOS, depending what you get can be cheaper than new production.

My personal opinion, I was not very impressed with the Psavane and found them overpriced.

They may have improved since I bought right when they were released.  They are the higher testing version of Chinese tubes.

My new production choice in the Tung Sol.

[S Clark]

Not current production, but JAN Phillips always worked well for me. (JAN= Joint Army Navy mil-spec) Availability is still pretty good and prices aren't ridiculous. A little googling will find them.

Of all the tubes that are sought out by audiophiles, I've always wondered why anyone bothers with new production 12au7?  There are so many good older tubes available for usually $10-12 each. Matched pairs at $25 are common.

[Tyson]

Of all the tubes that are sought out by audiophiles, I've always wondered why anyone bothers with new production 12au7?  There are so many good older tubes available for usually $10-12 each. Matched pairs at $25 are common.

After discovering how amazing the 6SN7 tube sounds, I'm surprised anyone uses gear with 12au7/12ax7/6922, etc... Octals are where it's at!

[RDavidson]

+1 6SN7's and 12SN7's are great. I'm a fan. I think they've gotten a bit of a bad reputation for always sounding too warm and "tubey." That's just not the case. They can actually sound quite neutral and tonally accurate and display varying degrees of bloom. Bloom can be greatly altered by the use of tube dampers, which I think is a fun characteristic of them. I've never heard small tubes like 12AU7's with the same kind of tonal qualities as 6SN7's. But with any tube, implementation and circuit design is key (as always).

[knotscott]

Of the 12AU7s I've tried, I like the RCA clear tops best.  However, I actually prefer a Sylvania 12BH7a in place of the clear top.  It's all very subjective, and a tube that sounds great in one circuit may not work out as well in another. 

[Meicheng]

I've used the current production Gold Lion 12AU7 tubes in Rogue Cronus Magnum and Atlas Magnum amps and been very happy with them.  Buying NOS tubes on Ebay is really a crap-shoot.  You might get something good or something terrible.  For NOS tubes, better to deal with a very reliable person/company like Jim McShane, he tests every tube he sells and has knowledge of what works in lots of preamps as well. 

[decooney]

...My personal opinion, I was not very impressed with the Psavane and found them overpriced.They may have improved since I bought right when they were released.  They are the higher testing version of Chinese tubes...

Agree on the older 12AU7 2012-2015 pavane, my small signal/driver vintage tubes were better. However, a few buddies were using new 2019,2020 PSVANE in various tube amps. Then learned Peter at AudioNote started supplying his amps with them in his own oem label version, so I thought what the heck, maybe they improved. Ordered the 12AU7 and the 12AT7 for 2020 production and quite surprised. 

First few hours they were large, wide, tall and stage front to mid-hall.  After about 40-50 hours the sound stage set back a bit, and all the sudden added layering and texturing started coming in nicely on my mono tube amps.  Swapped back twice to my very best u7/t7 triode curve tracer matched vintage tubes, and while they were nice - actually prefer the psvane. Running them now, like them a lot, fwiw, and YMMV.   

[SET Man]

Hey!

    Man! My head is going to explode! Wouldn't life be easier if things with same part number, measure the same also sound the same? With tubes almost like cables could sound very different in each system.

   Audio Note UK labeled tubes are made by Psvane? Power tubes I assumed. Anyway, my pre is Audio Note M1 Phono I bought it new back in 1997, of course as a DIYer over the years modded it. I do like the simplicity of it.

   Anyway, back to 12AU7.... I actually listening to the new production Tung-Sol 12AU7 right now. I had a discount coupon from eBay, so I though why not try them. So, new out of the box, they do sound nice I must say, very detailed but not bright or edgy and very spacious. The mid is fuller than the JJ ECC802S for sure but not as thick as the NOS Mullard CV4003. Althought I feel the JJ ECC802S have a better drive in the lower end. A great start consider this is pretty much from 0 hour.

    BUT! A big one. Look like I will have to return them to the seller on eBay. One of the tube is noisy, my speaker is 94dB and I sit 10 feet away and it sound there's a waterfall outside my window! I knew there's something funny with that particular tube when I pop it in my Hickok 6000, the noisy one drifted a bit when tested. Anyway, I don't know how this one passed the seller's test considered how much good feedbacks the seller got and at 100%. By the way, this is the second time I bought tubes from this seller, believe it or not, the first time was this same problem. I gave this seller a second chance and this will be my last.

    So, I guess I won't know how this Tung-Sol sound after some hours on them. But a side from one noisy tube I am impressed so far with the detail and expansive spacious sound. I will pop back the JJ and see.

    Maybe I should switch to SS pre, no tube rollin'... if you don't like the sound, just change the whole unit!

Buddy