Sovtek 12AX7LPS Vacuum Tube (Original Version)

The LPS is a high signal gain, high headroom tube. This means it does not distort easily but will deliver a loud and clear signal. You don't want to use one of these in gain stages unless you want to clean up the gain stages. They sound best in slots that interact with the signal initially, like V1, effects loops, or the phase inverter. They will bring a touch more bass relative to most other tubes. I've loved them for many years now. If you want something for gain stages that has less headroom, look for almost anything else.

Quality and tone for days. I have 2 in my Bogner Twin Jet Uberschall.

I was using a Mullard 12AX7/ECC83 in my Vincent Audio SV237 that sounded too bright for my ears and causing listening fatigue. After many hours of research, I decided to try out this Sovtek 12AX7LPS (Long Plate Spiral). The Mullard 12AX7 and Sovtek 12AX7LPS looked exactly alike, but on the first drop-in of the Sovtek, the brightness when away and music had more bass and a wider sound stage. I'm very happy with this tube that I 'm planning on buying another tube for a backup. Words from another tube user - The 12AX7LPS is a great tube and an exceptional choice for tube equipped home stereo systems. The difference is that the LPS has a longer plate structure than some other tubes. The bigger the plate structure the more chance for microphonics. The LPS stand for long plate/spiral filament. A spiral filament will decrease hum considerably which is very important in home stereo's, especially when listening to classical music.

I'm not an expert when it comes to audiophile products, and am always taking reviews where people use highly qualitative and vague terms to describe some "improvement" in their sound stage when using various products with a grain of salt, as they're usually highly subjective and often not substantiated with any sort of testing results. Blame the research engineer in me. However, I will say this: this Sovtek Tube has definitely brought life to my Bellari VP130 phone preamp. I have heard sounds where I've heard none before. Strings seem that much more rich and warm, and it sounds like a string should, with reverberation and oscillation. The bass has dropped in intensity compared to the stock tube (I lost the "punch"), however it is so much cleaner, focused, and I bought the bass levels back in the amplifier equalizer. The tube took some time to "break in..." I could tell an audible difference immediately, however, it was probably about after a day of staying warm that I started hearing things in a new context. I have no experience with other remanufactured or NOS tubes, so all I have is this context. However, I can highly recommend this tube to anyone looking to improve preamp sound quality at a great price. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

I put this into my Orange Micro Terror DARK version and it made a heck of a difference. One thing I noticed immediately was it is drastically louder. As far as tone and shape I far prefer it over the JJ in there. The overdrive is like night and day. By way of example, gain at noon is now at 9. The gain is a better sound to me, much more crunchy. From 2 o'clock to wide open I would call this a distortion as opposed to gain. I really notice a difference in the overall clarity. I think this tube is very clear and not mushy on open chords. This is the only other tube I have tried and I will leave it in as I prefer it to the stock tube. I will give you a word of caution. If you are using a micro terror or dark terror exclusively with headphones this may not be for you, or me, in the long haul. I use my micro dark with headphones by night and my Hughes and Kettner in a 1x12 Orange by day. The volume increase is so substantial that it is hard to adjust the headphones low enough for me to not lose my hearing in the next week or two. Further to get to a comfortable volume I have to reduce the gain to about 9 o'clock which limits me on the tone I can get. I may try another tube that may not be quite as loud but have the improved "color" and tone of this tube

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I am going to use this tube in a tweed champ build my son and I are building. I have tried it in a champ clone and it starts breaking up around 3 on the volume and it has very good break up and saturation at full volume. One of my favorite new production tubes and I have several old stock tubes like the 1957 rca long black plate 12ax7, sylvania, Raytheon, hytron and G.E. 12ax7's. I also purchased a mullard long plate 12ax7 to try out. This and the Mullard both sound great and break up very well but I haven't decided which I like the best so far. I recommend this tube for a small amp like a champ or similar or a few of them in a bigger amp to get that great tube break up.

I roll a lot of different preamp tubes through my guitar amps. The Sovtek Long Plate Spiral is a great tube in either V1 or the Phase inverter socket. I don't know if I would put this in a cathode follower slot, but in V1 its very close to my 50s RCA long black plate 12ax7s, and in the phase inverter its about the best new production tube you can get. So different than the dead-stiff sounding short plate WA and WB Sovteks. Open and musical, 3-dimensional and breakup gets big and fat with gain behind it. This tube does that glassy scooped American sound in spades. If you can't afford the old RCA's give these a whirl, they are tough, sound great and are pretty cheap. Note: its normal for these to not glow like short plate 12ax7s, if you have sound coming from your amp, its working.