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Post by detuned on Jan 23, 2006 19:32:51 GMT -7
Score more big marks for the Doc (no surprise there...). I emailed the Doc & asked him if filament rattle was normal in a Mini-Z, & he said he'd send me a new EL84, as tight as he could make it. Apparently the filament acts like a spring, so when it's worked hard, it can move around a bit, creating the filament rattle. So... Funny part of the story, the package arrives last weekend, I open it, & inside is a Groove Tubes 12AX7 box. I have a lot of kid-related stuff scheduled, so I go "oookayy", write the Doc a note, & head off to take care fo the rest of my weekend. Tonight I went downstairs to check the furnace water level, see the package,& say "what the heck - I'll put the new pre in the Mini & see what it does". I open the box, &... yup. It's a new Grrove Tubes EL84S. Duhhhhhhhh.... I popped it in, cranked up the Mini, & problem solved! Yay! Upstairs, there's an email from Dr. Z in my Inbox: "Open the box". I'm an idiot. But a happy & VERY grateful one. Thanks Doc!
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Post by prowler on Jan 23, 2006 20:16:43 GMT -7
Glad to hear that all is well. As usual, Z has the best customer service that I have ever seen. Z is like a shepherd who keeps watch over his sheep (amps). He is genuinely concerned with every amp that comes out of his shop & consistently goes above and beyond what is expected to ensure that his customers & amps are happy and well taken care of.
I have a stash of GT EL84S tubes but I haven't swapped out the tube that came in my Mini. The rattle is there but it doesn't really bother me. I'll just keep playing it until the EL84 needs to be replaced.
I've had real issues with the GT 12ax7m tubes though. My Mini-Z came loaded with a GT 12ax7m preamp tube. Within 30 minutes of turning the amp on the 12ax7m went microphonic. The Mini-Z was brand new in the box & I bought it from a well known Z dealer. I had two spare 12ax7m tubes so I figured that I would try another one in my Mini. After two hours of playing the second 12ax7m went microphonic. To make a long story short the third 12ax7m that I put into my Mini was so noisy that it made the amp unplayable.
Since then I have gotten a few of the Svetlana 12ax7 tubes from New Sensor and they have been very solid performers. They are articulate and have an excellent strong tone. My Mini-Z sounds great with the Svetlana 12ax7 & the EL84s.
Needless to say I am NEVER going to buy any GT preamp tube again. In my opinion they are junk. Maybe I had bad luck and got three bad 12ax7m tubes... maybe not. Either way GT preamp tubes aren't anything that I will ever be using in the future.
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arthur
Junior Member
Posts: 85
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Post by arthur on Jan 23, 2006 21:12:20 GMT -7
Prowler, you should let Myles know about this.....
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Post by prowler on Jan 24, 2006 4:46:14 GMT -7
I suppose I should let Myles know about it. However I don't have any of the 12ax7m tubes that went bad. I was so pissed off I threw them out & vowed to never buy another GT 12ax7 ever again. I'm not sure what Myles would be able to do for me without having the bad tubes.
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