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I would not sub a tube unless I was ....

Posted by PureAudio (A) on April 10, 2007 at 09:44:29

In Reply to: How do you find substitutes for rolling? (that are unlike the tubes they're replacing) posted by Mark Tinordi on April 10, 2007 at 09:01:03:

...absolutely sure that it was a safe replacement for my circuit.

For a 12au7, there are plenty of direct replacements; in my circuit 5814, 5963, ecc82, 6189, and others. However, some of the subs used by others do not work in my circuit and put components like the transformer at risk.

If you want to sample some 12au7 (ecc82) flavors; I (personally) wouldn't buy one of those '50 untested tubes in a bucket' lots. There's a lot of work involved in testing, matching and culling those lots; although, some find that fun. I've tried a few of those lots and often ended with surprisingly few pairs. It's a different matter if they're all RCA 5963 black-plates, for example; that is if you want 15 pairs of RCA black-plates.

I would sample some of the pairs offered on ebay to get a feel for the sonic signature of each flavor in your gear. Maybe start with a search here on favorite 12au7's and work from there. You can get a lot of good tubes at $10 a pair, or less.

Have fun! ; )

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