The 9 Best 12AX7 Vacuum Tubes (2023 reviews)

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Best Overall: Buy: JJ electronic 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For cleaning up A muddy Low end: Buy: Tung-Sol 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For voice: Buy: Kailas accessories 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For Audio: Buy: tubedepot 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For metal: Buy: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For Blues: Buy: Sovtek 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For mic Preamp: Buy: Mullard 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For guitar Amp: Buy: Tung Sol 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best For hard rock: Buy: Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 Vacuum Tube READ REVIEW

Best Overall: JJ electronic 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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The jj electronic 12ax7 vacuum tube is capable of outshining several other tube featured in this list in overall features. If you want a brighter sound out of a dark amp (tweed Fender, Marshall) these are the cure. It is a great tube to add perfomance to your chinese c-12 clones. These tubes have a buttery smooth sound to them. The gain is noticeably hotter with these tubes. They cleanly deliver highs and seamlessly convey the low notes.

The high frequency's are almost transparent in good range but with no "ice picking" with a even bottom. Its a good sound if you are a lead guitarist but it flushes out the high strings. These tubes are especially neutral, quiet and accurate.

• Very warm tube, doesn't hold up well to microphonics however
• Extremely reliable and consistent sound quality
• Works and sounds just fine in various amplifiers
• Nice warm tone great for vocals

Best For cleaning up A muddy Low end: Tung-Sol 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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Not everyone likes to purchase tube for their regular usage, but the tung-sol 12ax7 vacuum tube would be an anomoly. The Tungsol tubes are good replacements for any 12AX7 tubes. It sounds great, is reliable, widely available, and affordable. The Incredible bottom end, mids are gently pronounced and delicious and the treble is smooth, harshness is removed and there is no need to even come close to 10 on the three band. It does improve audio quality. The tube is absolutely whisper quiet. It has a great sound at high gain. The Sovteks are all gain and great if you need to slam a signal into a clean amp. It is suitable for hifi applications.

• Very clear, balanced and thick tone
• Rich harmonics and a sonic color palette that feels more 'musical
• Crisp and clean great for vocals
• Low-end is cleaner, tighter more accurate than any other brand

Best For voice: Kailas accessories 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate tube. The kailas accessories 12ax7 vacuum tube is exactly that - it's a simple tube that hits all the right notes. These just brought the whole unit alive, gorgeous woody-rich tones, mids and highs are smooth and clear, just beautiful. They really add a nice warm thick tone but they still keep your overall tone incredibly clear. They increase the low end, take out some of the fizziness in the distortion, and overall just sound better. It will be a great replacement in any amplifier requiring ecc83 or 12ax7 and many of their variants.

These are simply tubes pulled from available stock. It has its own small box. There are so meany effected areas of performance so it’s best to try it out to see what works for your application. It is also highly recommended for studio pre-amps and hi-fi gear.

• Good sounding tubes that have a ton of clean
• Not harsh, jagged distortion, but creamy, bluesy drive
• An inexpensive way to improve your sound
• Warm, musical, any genres of music, high gain and excellent sound

Best For Audio: tubedepot 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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Next on the list, we've got yet another tube that manages to win our hearts. It's the tubedepot 12ax7 vacuum tube and it's widely considered as tube that has the most suitable features. This set contains 2 JJ ECC83s / 12AX7 Preamp Vacuum Tube. It has a sharper sound to it but great tube.

• Tone ranges from ultra clean to warm to mega crunchy
• Good investment for long term

Best For metal: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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These tubes are a considerable improvement over the 6N2 Chinese tube in a Dared MB-5BT headphone tube amp. Though the Tug Sol's sound is not bad sounding, these are just more detailed, cleaner, better/more detailed bass and still has that amazing tube sound. It reduces oxidation in the socket to add to that features balanced sections and gold plated pins.

The sound of the Gold Lions is already a significant improvement even with only a couple of hours of break in on them. They sound better than the stock tubes but the bass is boomy, the highs are slightly lacking but the mids and vocals are more detailed. It depends on what your looking for, a quiet tube, that is warm or bright, and different brands have different plates long and short. It’s easy and highly recommended. If you want/need hot, these tubes are awesome.

• Holds up against great nos tubes
• Wonderful for upgrading tubes in a phono pre-amp
• Silky smooth, warm and sweet reproduction tubes

Best For Blues: Sovtek 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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The Sovtek 12AX7LPS is a high gain version of a 12AX7 tube. This tube is known for thick sound. It has warm lows and mids with a top-end that offers more presence than the Sovtek WA, WB and WC tubes. It is great for blues and breaks up well for some 80's.

This tube does that glassy scooped American sound in spades. The bottle glass is thick, oversized and the microphonics are therefore low. It is a great tube to through in the phase inverter section of your preamp. It is packaged very well and the tube sounds great.

• A great tube for the phase inverter position of most amps
• Excellent" sounding tube in the right amp
• Great tube for the phase inverter slot in a guitar amp
• Noisy and issues with unwanted feedback

Best For mic Preamp: Mullard 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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The mullard 12ax7 vacuum tube is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily purpose. This brings another kind of warmth and, along with it, big big big detail and fuller mids without any buffering or softening that a 'warmth' might imply. It works well in small (5 watts) and bigger (15+ watts) amps. It has nice warm gritty overdrive tones with perfect sounding tube breakup. The signal is clean and warm with none of the high-end brittleness produced by the stock tube when using the ART's V-3 settings.

It doesnt glow orange like other tubes, but heats up. It has pretty big shoes to fill. It sounds warmer and has crisper deep clean tones. The room feels bigger, the music is more natural (and musical), and the separation is better than you might even suspect your vinyl or hi-res music had the potential for. This is a powerful great sounding tube.

• Balanced, revealing, rich, clarifying, live-performance buzzy
• A great tube for guitar amps
• Great for vocals and acoustic guitars

Best For guitar Amp: Tung Sol 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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The Tung-Sol ECC803s is a low noise version of the standard Tung-Sol 12AX. Warm in character with lots of detail, this tube is perfect for any hi-fi or musical instrument amp out there. Compared to Electro-Harmonix, JJ Electronics, and the stock Chinese-manufactured tubes, these just have an unparalleled depth to them. The original tube sounds good, the tungsol performs in clarity, warmth, punch, and detail. These are durable and will enhance your tone.

These are some of the best quality tubes you can get for pro-audio. The tube is quality made and sounds great.

• Smoother audio and sharper high frequency
• Works great nice mellow but with full tonal expression
• Dual pedal, it comes stock with the sovtek

Best For hard rock: Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 Vacuum Tube

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Best part: electro-harmonix 12ax7 vacuum tube costs comparatively low and it is available to ship in 24 hours. This gold pin eh is very golden with the amp wide open, not only creamier and warmer but also quieter than the other tubes. It provides high gain with ultra low noise and detailed. The sound of this EH tube changes everything about this amp. It is great for your amp's v1 slot.

• Best pre-amp tubes for high gain
• Sweet and singing, great for your amp's v1 slot
• Pretty low noise for being high gain