“These tubes have it all. Nice bass, glorious mids, and smooth extended highs. With these tubes, I feel no need to search out costlier NOS tubes for my 12AX7 needs.”

Helpful Report

Posted 12 years ago

“I set out to conjure up a reasonable-cost, Not-So-Old-Stock (aka NSOS) V1/V2 matching for an Aesthetix line-amp. As I am presently listening to spoken voice more than music, I thought I'd try a cryo'ed National 7DJ8 in conjunction with this Gold Lion ECC83 both in Platinum grade. With this team in operation, I will admit to being quite pleased with the end result â€“ very good harmonic cohesion across the male vocal range and handling sibilant/transient effects realistically. As voice can have significant energy present in the lower midrange, I found the pairing to not draw unnecessary attention to this potentially problematic area. Structurally, this tube is a bit of a disappointment, with the mica configuration being both non-standard and lackluster. Internal superstructure can easily appear mis-aligned due to poor envelope contact and frankly isn't something I'd care to display on a pre-amp with externally mounted tubes. But tucked inside a chassis â€“ who cares?! Enjoy!”

Helpful Report

Posted 12 years ago

A. Krishna Rao

Unverified Reviewer

“I've tried about a dozen 12AX7 type tubes, both NOS and current-production, in the preamp section of my Vincent SV-236 integrated amplifier. This one is by far my favorite. The detail present in each instrument is amazing - I can concentrate and drill down to every low level nuance. This tube strikes a good balance between solid grip on the music with tight, powerful transients and presentation of low level details. I can't comment for sure on how neutral it is as this is always hard for me to do, but it is certainly well extended on the bottom and, to my ears, adequately so on the top while still handling sibliants well. In my opinion and in my system, it outperforms the current-production Mullards in the above areas. Putting this tube in my system had helped me understand why some audiophiles feel that the preamp is the most important component. Enthusiastically, highly recommended.”

Helpful Report

Posted 12 years ago

“Irecently purchased a pair of Carver Cherry 180 Mono Blocks and the stock tubes were ok but these amps needed better tubing. Installed different 12AT7 and 12AX7 NOS tubes and decided to try the Gold Lion Genelex 12AX7 and holt cow! What a very nice improvement. Much more fluid and smooth. Sibilance is reduced on harsh recordings and the overall performance is great! Highly recommended.”

Helpful Report

Posted 12 years ago

“I use this tube in guitar amps and find it to be quite exceptional. It is very dynamic and has wonderful extension in both bass and treble. Harmonics are abundant and notes bloom in a most appropriate manner. Can't say enough good things and it's quiet as well. It's about time we got an alternative to NOS.”

1 Helpful Report

Posted 13 years ago

Kevin Woodbury

Unverified Reviewer

“I know I have already submitted a review on this tube. I have now about 100 hrs on this tube. I am using a prologue 2 . This is by far the best tube I have ever used. It is smooth and wide. the sound stage is deep. there is no loss of detail. the mid band and voicing is placed very nice not to forward and not to laid back. the bass is articulate and tight with impact. I am very very happy. I have many NOS tubes including mullard and tungsram, amperex, ei and etc, and this gold lion does the job and sounds better in my rig than the above. I have dealt with Kevin and Jared for a long time and the reason is they give great advice and service, it's that easy.”

Helpful Report

Posted 13 years ago

Kevin Woodbury

Unverified Reviewer

“I own many tubes a lot of nos and also tried almost every new production tube out there. These are the cats meow. Most new production tubes do a lot of things right but this does them all, Wonderful 3D sound stage great depth smooth mid band, great separation nice detailed highs and a tight controlled bass. The best of all is the balance top to bottom. I am so happy they finally hit the mark with these tubes. They sound fantastic in mt prolgue2 with the rt 1956 12au7's and the GL kt-88's . just awesome....”

Helpful Report

Posted 13 years ago

“The quality of current production power tubes has been going up steadily for about 10 years. Some offerings like the Tungsol 6550,5881, Mullard EL34 and Genlex KT66 AND KT77 are worthy of their original predecessors but there hasnt been much movement up on the input side of the system-at least not sound wise. Input tubes have become more reliable and operate quieter than the pathetic, Russian and Chinese surplus - junk of the early 90's, so I guess I should be thankful at least for that. This ECC83 tube is a very welcome upgrade in sound quality, "tone" or "timbre" or whatever word you like. Really the only and best thing i can tell you about them is that, in them, i have finally found a reliable and (relatively) cost effective replacement for my B9F type Mullard Long Plates, and Im not exaggerating. Try some out. At this price you cant really get burned and since their brand spankin new, if you dont like them, sell them on ebay.Now we just need a hi grade new production EL84.”

Helpful Report

Posted 13 years ago

Gold Lion ECC83 / B759 / 12AX7 Gold Grade / No Cryo Reviews