Mixing Tubes

[nikolas812]

I was curious if you could mix tubes. I have a Jolida 1301 intergrated with a tube pre and a SS amp. The tubes for the pre are 2 12ax7's. Well before I ever got my amp I bought a pair of Ei Elites that seemed to come highly recommend. Well I let them burn in for about 100hrs and then decided to see what the factory tubes sounded like. They are probably around 300+ hours on them. To my surprise I was floored by the sound of the factory tubes. The Ei's are VERY detailed and airy and all most too bright or detailed if you will. The stock tubes are for one thing louder than the Ei's and less bright or detailed. I am curious if the Ei's need more time to burn in or if this is what they sound like. I was wondering if I could put one of the Ei's in with one of the stock tubes to give it just a hint more detail with the added warmth of the stock tube. Is this possible to do? Mixing tubes.

[BlueMDPicker]

Yes, as long as they are the same type, it's fine. Go for it. If one 12AX7 per channel is the circuit, and one tube is "louder" than the other, you may get an unbalanced presentation though.

[nikolas812]

Also the stock tubes say 12ax7a and the Ei's say 12ax7 is there a difference?

[nikolas812]

If one 12AX7 per channel is the circuit, and one tube is "louder" than the other, you may get an unbalanced presentation though.

Hmmm. Seems like a bad idea then. It would seem one would be for one channel and the other would be for the other channel. Correct? I don't know much about this intergrated. I bought it used with no paper work.

[nikolas812]

I'm so confused. Do tubes need to warm up before they start to show there true colors? After listening for a while. The stock chinese tubes went from very warm, to very bright and hard to listen too. Does this make since because i'm begining to feel crazy. It took and hour or two before they started to sound bad. With the Ei's it was a litte bright but it was so smooth I could listen for hours and hours without any ear fatigue at all. I need a tube for dummies book I guess.

[nikolas812]

Bump for top spot.:D

[Midnite Mick]

When first turning on tube gear they tend to sound more closed/rolled off. They get bigger and more open as they warm up.