Since I've been looking around on Ebay, I've been buying up a bunch of vacuum tubes for use in my amplifier. These tubes called "NOS" (new old stock) are types of vacuum tubes made from the 50's to the 80's that are unused, and made to the highest possible specifications with the best machinery. Really the only people that buy these tubes anymore are collectors (these things are skyrocketing in price, and NOS tubes can only exist for so long), survivalists (for the day when the EMP hits and only the old HAM radios will function :P) and guitar enthusiasts (like myself) that have amplifiers that operate with vacuum tubes. As of right now, I've bought the following:
A set of 5 12AU7 RCA tubes
A set of 5 12AT7 GE tubes
A pair of 12AX7 GE tubes
A pair of EL84 RCA tubes
The first three are preamp tubes, and the EL84s are power tubes. The first 3 are all interchangeable with each other. The AUs and ATs have a lower gain factor than the AXs, which means that the amp functions more quietly, however allows for a faster breakup and leads to a more crunchy rock sound, which is what I'm after. Many newbies (I'm a newbie, but I just know this) think that 12AX7s aren't interchangeable with anything else, so the ATs and AUs aren't as desireable, however they just put out a different sound.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to testing these babies out.
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