Just ordered some new 12AX7 valves for my Marshall amp.

[DrNomis_44]

Hi Everyone,

I finally decided to "bite the bullet" and order a set of three Russian made Genalex 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Lion Gold Pin valves for my Marshall MA100C guitar amplifier from Evatco, I've decided to pay a bit extra so I can get them delivered via express post, apparently these Genelex Gold Lion 12AX7 valves are supposed to be amongst some of the best 12AX7 valves you can buy, so it'll be interesting to see how they perform in my Marshall amp, going by what I've read on a valve comparison chart that I downloaded from amplifiedparts.com, they have the highest ratings out of all the valves listed on the chart.


Here's a pic so you can see what the Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 valves look like:

[G-Axe]

"Gold Lion's gonna tell me where the light is."

Keen to see how you go with them. My valves are (probably) long overdue for a replacement, and it sounds like these have some hype behind them. Any chance of a before/after comparison?

[DrNomis_44]

"Gold Lion's gonna tell me where the light is."

Keen to see how you go with them. My valves are (probably) long overdue for a replacement, and it sounds like these have some hype behind them. Any chance of a before/after comparison?

Yeah it'll be easy enough for me to record a before/after comparison of my Marshall amp, will do that when the new valves arrive in the post so stay tuned.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I just got an email notification from Australia Post, apparently the three Genalex 12AX7 Gold Lion Gold Pin valves that I ordered from Evatco are due to be delivered today, so that's only three business days (not including weekends) that it took for the parcel to arrive in Darwin, not bad for express delivery.

[G-Axe]

Good stuff. I imagine you'll be very excited to have them in your hands sometime about now.

[DrNomis_44]

Good stuff. I imagine you'll be very excited to have them in your hands sometime about now.

I just checked my mailbox after getting home from uni (I was at uni all of today), expecting to find a parcel card in it, but there was nothing, hopefully I'll be able to pick them up tomorrow, Australia Post did send me a second email notification, saying that there was a parcel ready to be picked up at the Winnellie Post Office just up the road from where I live, it included a parcel tracking number with it, so, it looks like I might need to either write-down the tracking number on a piece of paper, or do a printout of the email, and then take it with me to the post office tomorrow in the morning, it's very odd that they didn't leave a parcel card in my mailbox, usually they do, oh well, I'll just have to wait and see tomorrow then.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Finally got the parcel with the new valves in it home from the post office, since my Marshall amp is at uni, I will be taking the parcel with me when I go to uni, along with my laptop computer, Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface, and etc so I can do the before/after demo recordings, I do need to stop off at Battery world to get them to order in a new rechargeable battery for my laptop computer though, but it can still be powered by the power adapter, once everything is sorted I'll post a link to the before/after demo recording so stay tuned.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do the before/after demo recording today because I still need to install my DAW software onto my laptop computer (I had to do a reformat/clean install recently because it had been running very slow lately), which I will be doing tonight, hopefully I'll get a chance to do the recording tomorrow, but, I did manage to get the three new valves installed in the Marshall amp and give them a tryout, first impressions is that the Marshall Amp sounds a lot smoother with the new valves installed, especially the overdrive channel, I can turn the gain up all the way and it doesn't get all flabby in the low end like it did when the old valves were installed, it sounds much more like a Marshall amp now, and the amp definitely seems to like the new valves, anyway, I like the sound of them so they are keepers.

The clean channel sounds really good, especially with some reverb dialed in too, definitely worth the money I paid for them, so I'll be buying more of them in future.

[Simon Barden]

Glad you're happy with the changes. It can be a real let-down when you splash out on some reportedly extra special valves only to find you liked the old one's better. Done it myself several times!

Pre-amp valves last for ages so you won't need to buy any more for the Marshall for many years (except for an early failure). It's the power valves that need replacing, but even they can last for many, many years if the amp isn't used that much and is always driving into the correct load impedance.

[DrNomis_44]

Glad you're happy with the changes. It can be a real let-down when you splash out on some reportedly extra special valves only to find you liked the old one's better. Done it myself several times!

Pre-amp valves last for ages so you won't need to buy any more for the Marshall for many years (except for an early failure). It's the power valves that need replacing, but even they can last for many, many years if the amp isn't used that much and is always driving into the correct load impedance.

Yep, that's because the preamp valves usually only have anything up to a milliamp of current flowing through them, on the other hand, the power valves tend to conduct the most current while the Amplifier is operational, hence the reason why most valve guitar amps have a standby switch which does two things, firstly it enables the valves to properly warm up before the + HT is applied, secondly it prolongs the life of the power valves while the amp is powered up and not actually being used, there's been stories of used preamp valves being still good after 40 years of use.

When I am powering-up my Marshall amp, the first thing I do is make sure the standby switch is set to "Standby", then I set the mains power switch to "On" and then I give the amp time to warm up, then I switch the Standby switch to on so that the + HT gets connected and the amp is fully operational.

When I power down my Marshall amp, I simply set the mains power switch to "Off", leaving the Standby switch on so that the filter caps in the amp's power supply can drain.