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Excited tubes?

Posted by bajaed (A) on November 18, 2014 at 21:49:22

I recently purchased a nice pair of nos Mullard 12ax7's. When I first put them in they sounded horrible,flat and dull, took them out and went back to the stock tubes for a couple weeks. Decided to give them another try and got completely opposite results, they sounded rich full and fantastic! Great upgrade.

However, after a few days the sound started to degrade to flat and dull again. Seemed like I was cranking the volume higher to get the same level.

I took them out, put them back in and they sounded great again. A couple days later they started to fade again. I did some research and started to suspect the pins might be oxidized. I checked them out and the pins did look a dull gray with some brown on them. I read that reseating oxidized pins can make them sound better for a while. I cleaned the pins with 99% isopropyl alcohol and q tips. Sounded great again but eventually faded. Pins still looked oxidized.

The guy I bought them from (good guy) said that he thought that moving the tubes was "exciting" them, giving them a different sound and that when they settled in they went back to what they normally sounded like.

Any opinions on this? Also want to try some more aggressive cleaning. Deoxit or...?

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