I thought it best to address this for a couple reasons. To correct some misinterpretations of my comments, and to add some factual content vs. opinions where appropriate.
I will disagree with the TGP 'wisdom' here. I was a TGP member for a long time, and remain good friends with the owners of the site, so I have no axe to grind.
To call TGP a serious tool for researching tone is...well...probably not a good idea.
I know some guys there too, but that is irrelevant... To be clear I said that I was quoting both a couple of the biggest tube dealers in the country, and then popular opinion of those who tried it. And that included some higher end amp makers. There are some real tube experts at TGP that make their living selling tubes and interact in all kinds of threads on the topic. Some boutique amps makers as well. So this is not a "some guys at TGP said this tube was good in their Blues Jr" type of research. I didn't mention those sources specifically above, but can, if that makes my research more believable.
Tung-sol does not remotely compare to NOS in v1, and is certainly no improvement over JJ in v1.
I never said a new Tung Sol was better than an NOS tube. NEVER. I said it was by far the most popular choice of NEW tubes recommended for V1 in most amps, and it was for anyone looking over the last 5 years. But now, with them out of stock almost everywhere, that has changed. The last part is 100% your opinion so the "certainly" does not apply because 2-3 of the biggest tube dealers in the country feel it's better than the JJ's in that V1 slot in most amps. So, we can disagree, and that's ok, but "certainly" doesn't apply here. And, yes, I have two Tung Sols and they are consistently better across all my amps in the V1 position than anything else I tried except my NOS tubes. So, I did actually try it myself in multiple amps.
I like the JJ 803S among modern tubes for the PI slot. It's got some nice gain, and does very well in that position.
It does, and handles it well. But here again, at one point all 3-4 of the biggest tube dealers in the country were recommending the Sovtec LPS as the best sounding NEW PI tube in most amps. A couple years ago, that was just as easy to verify... go to Doug's Tubes or many other biggies and they were all recommending it unless you wanted NOS. It was a big favorite in the PI slot in many amp building forums as well.
Hey, no one has the same taste. We're all different. But so many of the folks on TGP don't know WTF they're talking about. People on the internet are just people with the same frailties and lack of knowledge as the rest of us, and most of them aren't exactly mavens on tone. If you want to know what you like, you have to try things yourself.
Last item is the only one anyone here really needs to pay attention too. I noticed that you edited out your comment about using Tong Sols in Cathode follower positions. You said it was fine there, and you'd used one in a Two Rock for a couple years with no problems. You probably googled it after typing that and found that I was correct, in recommending that it not be used in cathode follower positions, and removed that from your post. But I too need to revise what I said, to add more detail. I said "never" use one there, and that is not really correct. What I should have written is "never, unless you know the voltage your amp has in that tube slot." "Better safe than sorry" leads to comments like I made above "never" but in reality, every tube amp has a different amount of voltage at these stages and some CAN have low enough voltage in these positions to safely use these tubes.
The important thing is, most amps have too much voltage in cathode follower positions to use them safely. Again, google "using Tung Sol in cathode follower positions" and you'll find everything from "it worked fine but seems to burn out fast" to "it burns a brand new tube out in less than an hour" to the more serious "it blew and took out part of my circuit board with it." Easy to find multiple warnings in some amp forums, from guys who had them blow and take out part of their circuit board. I completely believe that you used one if you say you did. Your word is good enough for me. But GENERALLY, it is not a good choice, and in many amps, you can learn this catastrophically.
The Tung Sol is a spiral filament tube, and does not handle higher voltage as well. In fact, again, do some research. NOS Tung Sols are long plate, square getter tubes. New ones are short plate spiral filament tubes. NOT the same, and not even a reproduction! And again, this is easy to find. Edit... when going to find some quotes on the tube, it seems that now that it's out of stock, many tube dealers have removed the description notes, which SUCKS for the purposes of this discussion because just last week when I originally was going to reply, Doug's Tubes had a note on the tube description not to use it in cathode follower positions because it couldn't handle the voltage in most amps. Figures... but the info is out there.
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I use the Tung-Sol12AX7's almost universally in V1 of my amps- everything from Mesa to Marshall Plexi and 2204 to Fender Tweed/BF/SF amps. They make just about every amp sound nice and bright with rich overtones, without being piercing. Not great for a cathode follower position but fantastic for any preamp tone spot."
" Like all of the guys mentioned in this review section, the Tung-Sol 12AX7 is the one to use in V1 position. "
Quotes like this are common. You can disregard them of course, but there are a lot of them and they're easy to find. I know fully that not everyone who posts on the internet is an expert, but not everyone can be wrong.
I always factor in experience level, what amps the guy has, any clips he's posted, etc. in before putting any weight on an internet comment or review. And, when a whole bunch of guys, with a whole bunch of different amps, and a whole bunch of different levels of experience, and even some tube experts and amp designers seem to have a common if not universal favorite, you can choose to write it off or you can at least get curious enough to try it. I did, and again say, in every amp I tried it in over the last 5 years, the new Tung Sol is the best V1 in every single one of them, compared to any other NEW tube I had. I have a couple great NOS tubes that are marginally better in some of the amps and almost impossible to choose in others. You drop 5 NOS tubes in and the change is more significant, but for just one, this tube is very good for a new tube in V1 and often a couple other spots.
As a general recommendation for someone who can't, or doesn't want to use NOS tubes all the time, or in all their amps, I recommend checking at least one out if you can.
