[Jeff Flowerday]

I've yet to find a preamp tube that compare to my NOS/used GE 12AX7s. Mostly because I like a nice tight bottom end.

I've pretty much turned to current production JJ power tubes minus my Jan Philips 6L6WGBs that I still run in my 5F6A.

I run mostly NOS rectifier tubes.

I've got a decent collection of preamp, power and rectifier tubes. Too numerous to list, probably enough to last me a life time.

What does everyone else use? Favorites?

 

[keefsdad]

EH pre-amp tubes and SED power tubes from THE Tube Store in my HRDLX.
Definetly better than the original groove tubes.

 

[StevieMac]

Depends on the amp of course but, like Jeff, I primarily rely on NOS. I have an example to illustrate why I prefer these tubes....

I purchased a 5E3 Deluxe clone built by Wright Amplification. It came with Merc Mag trannies, a Weber AlNiCo, top shelf components all the way...except the tubes which were EH. My first thought was "Why bother building an amp of this calibre only to fit it with average quality tubes?" Anyway, I was not impressed after plugging in for the first time but also accepted that spkrs need time to break in. One month later: Still not impressed so into the tube stash I go.

First swap was a NOS Mullard 12AU7 in place of the 12AY7 in V1...BIG improvement by making the Volume sweep more useable. Next I changed the 5Y3 recto to a NOS RCA 5V4G...noticeably more headroom and a tighter bottom . Finally, I put in some NOS Tung-Sol 6V6's...WOW, this was now a completely different amp. Best way to describe the difference is that it went from being one-dimensional to three-dimensional.

Moral of the story...tube changes can make a huge difference in the quality of sound from your amp and, in many cases, can get you where you want to be tone-wise. Also note: They are usually MUCH cheaper than a speaker swap.

To answer the original question: Preamps in my tweed Bassman and brown Pro are NOS Mullards. Power tubes are as-per-original 5881 Tung-Sols. Mullard 5AR4. Occasionally I'll put a JJ GZ34 in the recto slot and find them to be quite good actually.