Ei 12AX7- another hidden gem on eBay

ksrigg

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#1
I just got some Ei 12AX7 tubes from a seller on eBay. They are going for around $45-$50 per quad, and are really a great little tube. These are the pinched base version and were made, as you know, on the old Telefunken machinery. There is a lot of debate on the sound of these tubes, but the ones I received are dead quite and sound amazing. I really think you are buying a tube which is very close to the old smooth plate Telefunken for a little over $10.00 per tube, or about the same price as the modern production Russian and Chinese tubes..Tele's are now fetching over $50.00 per tube. If you're in the market for some nice 12AX7's, you might want to get a quad or two of these to put away. They aren't making these little guys anymore..and the seller can't have an infinite supply.
 

speakerman1

Honorary Forum "Larrt" (ornery too)
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#2
ksrigg said:
I just got some Ei 12AX7 tubes from a seller on eBay. They are going for around $45-$50 per quad, and are really a great little tube. These are the pinched base version and were made, as you know, on the old Telefunken machinery. There is a lot of debate on the sound of these tubes, but the ones I received are dead quite and sound amazing. I really think you are buying a tube which is very close to the old smooth plate Telefunken for a little over $10.00 per tube, or about the same price as the modern production Russian and Chinese tubes..Tele's are now fetching over $50.00 per tube. If you're in the market for some nice 12AX7's, you might want to get a quad or two of these to put away. They aren't making these little guys anymore..and the seller can't have an infinite supply.
Where is the link?

Larry
 

ksrigg

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#5
There are a couple of other sellers, but they are asking two or three times the price for their Ei's.


I read the same review....and back several years ago, I stocked up on 12AX7 tubes. Based on the reviews at the time, I bought a bunch of te EH LPS version, as it had the best reviews, and only bought 10 Ei tubes, as its' reviews were not all that "glowing". I also bought lots of Chinese 12AX7's. I thought that tube production might cease, or there might be an embargo placed on vacuum tubes from China, Russia or some other wird import fee, tax, or simply a ceasation of production due to lack of sales. Anyway, I wanted to make sure I had a good inventory of everything I used in my tube amps.

I need to compare the construction of my EI labeled tubes to these with no screen printing. Apparently the Ei tubes are a marriage of Telefunken and Amperex techniques and internals. I don't know if there were too many different versions of the Ei 12AX7. I do know there was the "Silver Bullet", with the internal plates being chrome or something that was shiny. Thought they looked cool, but I never saw too many 5 star reviews on them...it was really to the contrary.
I also have a couple of quads of the second version Ei KT-90 tubes. Those were all the rage back about 8 or 10 years ago. I use them in my Harman Kardon Citation II which Jim McShane rebuilt.

I think vacuum tubes are really an investment. I've seen the old NOS and even used tubes quadrouple in price in the last ten years Seven or eight years ago (prior to the introduction of the EH 7868 output tube)you could buy a Fisher 400 receiver....full of Telefunkens for aroung $100-$150. Today, you can barely buy two or three Telefunkens (12AX7) for that price.

Go Figure...............
 

rtp_burnsville

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#7
My good friend has about 75 Telefunken 12AX7A tubes from an EKG machine that he may be willing to part with. I grabbed a couple just to try in a Music Man and also a Fender amp,the ones I tested are dead quiet and sound great.

Robert
 

ksrigg

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#13
Looks like the price of these Ei 12AX7's has jumped since I posted the link...Damn, I should have gotten my quads bought before I posted that link....Damn....
 

ksrigg

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#17
Yeah, I'd love to get some nice Tele 12AX7's. They are argueably the finest 12AX7 tube ever made. A lot of people love the British Military CV4004 (Mullard) but I think Telefunken made THE 12AX7 and Mullard made THE 12AU7 (actually the British Military CV4003). Just one guys opinion..
 

rtp_burnsville

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#18
Hi Guys,

I just received an email on the tubes..... $20.00 each is what he would like. If you have an interest PM me and I'll send you his name and email. I know he will be at the lake until the weekend but should be around after that. BTW, He's a straight shooter like those of us here.

Robert
 
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