Mazda tube find...

[Early B.]

I recently bought a pair of NOS Mazda 12AX7 grey plates. They're older than I am -- late 50's or so. Don't confuse the name with the car company. These are British tubes, although they could have been made in France. Anyway, I popped them in and they sounded great right out of the box. They already sound as good as any tube I've tried, and better than Telefunken, IMO. Very smooth and warm with plenty of zip. A bit light on the bass so far, but break-in should help. Gonna hold onto these for a while.

[danger boy]

cool to find NOS tubes like that.. never heard of those before. curious how you found them?

[Early B.]

curious how you found them?
Cruising on ebay. Did some research before I purchased them.

[BlueMDPicker]

Nice tubes! The original Mazdas are of French military origin. I have not heard them in 2 CH gear, but I've run the silver plate version in Fender blackface guitar preamp circuits. Very high gain, fat sustain, work wonderfully pre or post distortion.

If these have the sound you like, you might consider trying the Svetlana Winged C 12AX7 sometime.