Tube Testing

[duhvoodooman]

[email protected]
Terry Kilgore is a professional musician who's most notable association was with Dave Lee Roth on his first album and tour after splitting with Van Halen. Terry has an extraordinary ear for tone, and he finds tubes that no one else can. He is often first to find tubes that become the latest "must have", and he is reasonably priced. His tubes are mostly NOS. E-mail Terry with specific requests or to ask general questions about his stock. Be prepared for an entertaining reply...Terry is a real character with an ear of gold.

Hey, Blooz! I tried your advice and contacted Terry Kilgore. He replied very quickly. Yeah, I can see he's "one of a kind". I found him very helpful & accomodating.

I have a BEL 12AX7 coming (they're a bit more than $30 if purchased singly; that was the price apiece for three), and a triple-mica Westinghouse label GE 5751 that he recommended very highly as a reduced gain 12AX7-type to try on the gain control of my Delta Blues lead channel. I'm very curious to hear how it sounds vs. the JJ ECC832 I put in there last week. According to what I've read, the two tubes have very similar overall gain factors (~70 vs. 100 nominal for a 12AX7/ECC83).

Don't really need either of these, but the cost of admission was pretty reasonable to be able to actually try out a couple of these highly touted NOS tubes and see if my old ears can discern what all the fuss is about!

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I have a BEL 12AX7 coming (they're a bit more than $30 if purchased singly; that was the price apiece for three), and a triple-mica Westinghouse label GE 5751 that he recommended very highly as a reduced gain 12AX7-type to try on the gain control of my Delta Blues lead channel. I'm very curious to hear how it sounds vs. the JJ ECC832 I put in there last week. According to what I've read, the two tubes have very similar overall gain factors (~70 vs. 100 nominal for a 12AX7/ECC83).

Don't really need either of these, but the cost of admission was pretty reasonable to be able to actually try out a couple of these highly touted NOS tubes and see if my old ears can discern what all the fuss is about!

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same. So what was the total Voodoo?

What was the original 12xA7 & what kind of difference did the JJ make?

 

[duhvoodooman]

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same. So what was the total Voodoo?

What was the original 12xA7 & what kind of difference did the JJ make?

The total for these two NOS tubes came to about $65, including shipping. Seemed very reasonable to me, seeing as how you can easily drop $100 on one of the rarer NOS 12AX7 tubes.

The original 12AX7's (the DB uses 3) were Electro Harmonix (Russian; basically a Sovtek tube, from what I've read). The impact of the JJ retubing is documented HERE....

 

[duhvoodooman]

He must save a lot on shipping costs....

The two NOS tubes I ordered from Terry Kilgore came today, and I laughed out loud when I opened the mailbox. Don't get me wrong--the tubes arrived in great shape and work perfectly. But here's what I found:

View attachment 220

More tape there than box! Not pretty, maybe, but he got 'em safely from CA to NY for under a buck! Way to go, Terry! R

I've tried them out with the BEL 12AX7 in V1 and the Westinghouse 5751 in V2 in my Delta Blues, and they sound real good. Now I have to do a little A/B recording with the JJ tubes and see what the real differences are....

 

[Bloozcat]

Oh yeah, that's Terry packing alright. He puts enough of that brown plastic tape on the packages to hold up the Golden Gate bridge!

The contents always arrive safe and sound though...and that's all that matters.