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Post by gbowman on Apr 2, 2019 14:21:28 GMT -7
A while back I managed to gut an old Baldwin organ - made in the 60s I think. There were many tubes including a whack of Baldwin labelled 12ax7s (some green labels and some white/yellow-ish). Does anyone know much about these tubes? I assume they would be made by one of the big American companies of the day...
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Post by zpilot on Apr 2, 2019 16:24:21 GMT -7
Any tubes that are made for use in organ speaker cabs are probably very rugged. Go on Brent Jessee Recording's site and see the many substitutes for 12**7 tubes made for that purpose. Yes, they are probably made by the major North American and British manufacturers. Also if you see tubes labled "JAN", those are for military use and very rugged.
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Post by Paul (TRANE) on Apr 2, 2019 20:37:05 GMT -7
I know Sylvania and Raytheon made some tubes that were used by Baldwin. I think they used whatever group gave them the best deals at the time.
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Post by gbowman on Apr 3, 2019 8:38:18 GMT -7
Any tubes that are made for use in organ speaker cabs are probably very rugged. Go on Brent Jessee Recording's site and see the many substitutes for 12**7 tubes made for that purpose. Yes, they are probably made by the major North American and British manufacturers. Also if you see tubes labled "JAN", those are for military use and very rugged. I checked out Brent Jessee's website and found the following: "12AX7 Sylvania special select organ (low noise) tubes, 1950s & 1960s vintage. New Old Stock in whiteboxes, specially made and selected for Baldwin, Lowrey, Conn, and Wurlitzer organs. A few are for Motorola instruments, some are blank industrial stock tubes. Very nice audio graded grey plates, all Sylvania USA made. These "audio screened" selected organ tubes are the best-kept secret in the 12AX7 world." Looks like I scored pretty good! Thanks for the info...
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Post by Maddog on Apr 3, 2019 8:49:31 GMT -7
Post a pic, and I'll see if I can match the internals to some "knowns" I have. I've pulled many RCA's, Sylvanias, and GE 12ax7's from old organs I've picked up at garage sales and junk shops.
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jmg
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by jmg on Apr 3, 2019 18:46:56 GMT -7
I found a pair of these, green labeled Baldwin 12ax7s. They are Sylvania's of early to mid 60s vintage. They are very rugged and quiet indeed and aren't as spendy as say an old RCA 12ax7.
They are a bit bright, however, so I don't perceive them as a great fit for V1 of a Z. YMMV. As a reverb return V4, I believe, they can be pretty darn useful. They will tame the verb a tad for a better sweep and are rugged enough for that slot. However, even there, expect your amp to get a little brighter.
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Post by perryr on Apr 3, 2019 19:38:28 GMT -7
Sylvania and Raytheon, Black plates are likely Raytheon, both are good.. some people love the Sylvania 12ax7 overdrive sound, some people think the Raytheon blackplate 12ax7 is better than the RCA, enjoy!
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ksks
Full Member
Posts: 120
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Post by ksks on Apr 4, 2019 8:06:20 GMT -7
The Baldwin 12AX7 I've seen are usually Sylvania. The EIA code for Sylvania is 312. Check the tubes to see if they have 312 on them. Sometimes printed vertically:
3x 1x 2x
The X's would be other numbers that would indicated date of manufacture.
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Post by gbowman on Apr 4, 2019 8:12:55 GMT -7
I found a pair of these, green labeled Baldwin 12ax7s. They are Sylvania's of early to mid 60s vintage. They are very rugged and quiet indeed and aren't as spendy as say an old RCA 12ax7. They are a bit bright, however, so I don't perceive them as a great fit for V1 of a Z. YMMV. As a reverb return V4, I believe, they can be pretty darn useful. They will tame the verb a tad for a better sweep and are rugged enough for that slot. However, even there, expect your amp to get a little brighter. Well, I've never been accused of being too bright, so we'll see how it goes... Actually, so far it seems the Baldwin seems ok in V1, but I am also clean amp kinda guy. I'll know better at my gig this weekend.
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jmg
Junior Member
Posts: 53
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Post by jmg on Apr 5, 2019 18:02:00 GMT -7
I found a pair of these, green labeled Baldwin 12ax7s. They are Sylvania's of early to mid 60s vintage. They are very rugged and quiet indeed and aren't as spendy as say an old RCA 12ax7. They are a bit bright, however, so I don't perceive them as a great fit for V1 of a Z. YMMV. As a reverb return V4, I believe, they can be pretty darn useful. They will tame the verb a tad for a better sweep and are rugged enough for that slot. However, even there, expect your amp to get a little brighter. Well, I've never been accused of being too bright, so we'll see how it goes... Actually, so far it seems the Baldwin seems ok in V1, but I am also clean amp kinda guy. I'll know better at my gig this weekend. hehe. Well, I'm sure you're plenty bright if you own a Z amp. Everybody likes different things. I kinda dig my NOS RCA in V1, but I could see the Sylvania Baldwin doing well there too if you want a little sparkle. Sometimes sparkle works out better in the mix, so good luck during the gig!
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Post by screenresistor on Apr 5, 2019 20:29:57 GMT -7
Ive harvested many great tubes from Hammond and Baldwin "home use " organs
Usually preamp tubes have lots of life left and sometimes you find some killer el84s as well.
Remember a lot of people bought those home use organs played them for a minute then parked them.
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