New TAD tube

[nosaj]

Anyone seen this yet? Looks promising and reasonable. I've always had good performace from their tubes.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articl...-tad-rt001-bpd

nosaj

[nickb]

Save your money Jason. These are not needed for guitar amps.

BTW, I have good reason to believe that at least some of the TAD tubes come from the Shuguang factory. That one looks suspiciously like one of them.

[nosaj]

Save your money Jason. These are not needed for guitar amps.

BTW, I have good reason to believe that at least some of the TAD tubes come from the Shuguang factory. That one looks suspiciously like one of them.

I am aware in the past that some have come from China, they were just culled for consistancy from what I understand.

nosaj

[Leo_Gnardo]

I am aware in the past that some have come from China, they were just culled for consistancy from what I understand.

nosaj

Some TADs were apparently specially made for them by Shuguang. I've run across a TAD black plate 6L6 for instance, they were trying to cash in on the demand for RCA 6L6GC. Guess TAD thought "if it looks enough like RCA that justifies charging a premium price." I heard there was a behind-the-scenes punch up between Magic Parts (Ruby) and TAD a few years ago, but I have no details.

From the photo it looks like the standard Shuggie 12AX7 that we've seen since the late 80's. Perhaps they select them for a good gain match between the triodes. Whether it's really an upgrade from the s.o.s. - of course they claim it's the greatest thing since sliced liverwurst but don't they always do that? Time will tell. At least the price isn't outlandish. I have no source for TAD tubes with a pro/quantity discount so won't be in a rush to try 'em out.

[Enzo]

The old "balanced" 12AX7. That has been around for decades. The ONLY place in a guitar amp it remotely makes any sense at all is the phase inverter, and even then only if everything else is totally balanced, as well as all aspects of the power tube stage. Most applications, the two triodes do completely different jobs, so what does balanced even mean there?

[Chuck H]

The old "balanced" 12AX7. That has been around for decades. The ONLY place in a guitar amp it remotely makes any sense at all is the phase inverter, and even then only if everything else is totally balanced, as well as all aspects of the power tube stage. Most applications, the two triodes do completely different jobs, so what does balanced even mean there?

And I'd add that a balanced PI might not be the best thing for guitar amp sound anyway. But there sure are a bunch of sellers touting balanced triode preamp tubes. You'd think there were a bunch of amps out there with four phase inverters and one preamp tube .?.

[Mick Bailey]

I've dissected and weighed TAD versus Shuguang 6L6 tubes. The only difference I could find between the two was the weight of the glass envelope - thicker/heavier with the TAD. All the electrode assembly tooling marks, cutouts and construction was the same in both cases. I'm not a huge fan of TAD's claims and marketing, though to be fair their 6L6 tubes exhibit lower levels of microphony than the off-the-shelf Shuguangs. I haven't seen any difference in performance or lifespan and so long as a Shuguang branded tube is properly graded and selected there are no problems.

Maybe the TAD tubes have a different alloy for the plates; Fictionite. Sent back in time from beyond infinity. Either way, I can't tell any difference.

[Tom Phillips]

Is TAD now using the same marketing ad writers as Mercury Magnetics?

[stokes]

I dont think there is any need for a balanced triode in a guitar tube amp.All the components in the circuit are +/- 10-20% tolerance.There goes the balance.Might be useful in hi-fi were tighter tolerances are the norm and and you want a linear,clean sound reproduction with absolutely no distortion or "color" in the circuit.But not in guitar amps.

[nickb]

I've dissected and weighed TAD versus Shuguang 6L6 tubes.

Methinks you might have too much time on your hands

[g1]

I think for tube hifi guys this will be the holy grail du jour. Heck, maybe even of the whole week.

[bob p]

Who needs a balanced 12AX7? I thought real HiFi guys used 6N1P.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I think for tube hifi guys this will be the holy grail du jour. Heck, maybe even of the whole week.

Who needs a balanced 12AX7? I thought real HiFi guys used 6N1P.

No self respecting hi fi guy would be caught dead using a tube that cost only $17.50. Scratch the label off, paint on something exotic like "Eastern Electric" and a piccie of Reddy Kilowatt, charge $139 and watch 'em fly off the shelves.

[Justin Thomas]

Don't forget to Nitro-freeze them then anneal them in one of Mt. Etna's lava flows, then a few orbits around the sun on the outside of a spacecraft, so the electrons can be activated into a frenzy by all the uncontrolled full-spectrum EM radiation...

Justin