Tube Talk 12AX7 Preamp Tube Shootout in Blackface Princeton Reverb® Style Amplifier Kit

Justin compares the differences in tone when changing the 12ax7 vacuum tube in our 12" Blackface Princeton Reverb® Style Amplifier Kit from Mojo. He plays the same riff while swapping between Electro-Harmonix, JJ, and Tungsol brands. See if you can hear the slight differences in tone.

[@toddneary]

EH was bottom heavy, mids pulled back, top was thinner clean. Dirty was raw and sounded like drive from a bad fuzz.
JJ was a little fuller, better balanced, and a sweeter, more musical clean. Dirty was smoother, with better grit and drive.
TungSol was the fullest sounding, but seemed a bit dull. Not as lively sounding. Dirty seemed to be between the EH and JJ. The most balanced sounding of the three.
An issue to take note of - pickup selector was in a different position for the Tung Sol clean clip - neck vs middle like the others.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Neat man

[@clovergrass9439]

Tung sol...warmer cleans and nice rounded gain, not fizzy.

[@Jeffcatbuckeye]

EHX clean: 0:26
JJ clean: 1:04
Tung Sol clean: 1:41
EHX dirty: 0:45
JJ dirty: 1:24
Tung Sol dirty: 2:01

[@zhou_sei]

perrrrfect, thanks

[@Jeffcatbuckeye]

@@zhou_seino problem…we all need it in every video like this.

[@gigmandrew8975]

Tube Depot, what is your take on the differences of these three tubes with a dirty sound?

[@szaki95]

Forget about it, for a scientific shootout you need to reamp the same performance, with the same microphone position, etc. Keep the variables consistent and you will be shocked how similar they are.

[@hardball107]

They all sound great to me, you can drop off a set to me for evaluation anytime.