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  • New TAD tube

    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
    soldering stuff that's broken, breaking stuff that works, Yeah!

  • #2
    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.
    Experience is something you get, just after you really needed it.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by nickb View Post
      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
      soldering stuff that's broken, breaking stuff that works, Yeah!

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by nosaj View Post
        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.
        This isn't the future I signed up for.

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        • #5
          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?
          Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Enzo View Post
            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 .?.
            "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

            "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

            "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
            You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

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            • #7
              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.

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              • #8
                Is TAD now using the same marketing ad writers as Mercury Magnetics?

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                • #9
                  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.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Mick Bailey View Post
                    I've dissected and weighed TAD versus Shuguang 6L6 tubes.
                    Methinks you might have too much time on your hands
                    Experience is something you get, just after you really needed it.

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                    • #11
                      I think for tube hifi guys this will be the holy grail du jour. Heck, maybe even of the whole week.
                      Originally posted by Enzo
                      I have a sign in my shop that says, "Never think up reasons not to check something."


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                      • #12
                        Who needs a balanced 12AX7? I thought real HiFi guys used 6N1P.
                        "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

                        "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by g1 View Post
                          I think for tube hifi guys this will be the holy grail du jour. Heck, maybe even of the whole week.
                          Originally posted by bob p
                          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.
                          This isn't the future I signed up for.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            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
                            "Wow it's red! That doesn't look like the standard Marshall red. It's more like hooker lipstick/clown nose/poodle pecker red." - Chuck H. -
                            "Of course that means playing **LOUD** , best but useless solution to modern sissy snowflake players." - J.M. Fahey -
                            "All I ever managed to do with that amp was... kill small rodents within a 50 yard radius of my practice building." - Tone Meister -

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