Northern Electric 12AX7 Preamp Vacuum Tube
The Northern Electric 12AX7 preamp tube is made with the highest quality materials. Everything is designed to give you unsurpassed audio quality. This tube has very large smooth plates. This design is much like a Telefunken 12AX7 / ECC83 smooth plate but a bit shorter. This design provides plenty of gain while maintaining an extremely low noise floor. It has been torture tested in a JTM 45, a Deluxe Reverb, anOrange 50 watt combo, and Bandmaster Reverb, with no failures or noise problems after hundreds of hours in clubs and studios. It doesn’t matter if you use an American or British design, this tube works.
In our listening tests it was easy to hear that the tube did not change the voice of the amplifier as some preamp tubes do. The Northern Electric enhances the sound across the entire spectrum. Our testers have reported no noticeable spikes or weakness in the lows, mids, or high end. The highs are very smooth with a balanced midrange response and warm, full bottom end.
Other Northern Electric tubes
12AX7 TypesAdditional Information and Downloads
Reviews:
12AX7 Tube Review
Tube Matching Information:
Matched Sections Service
Warranty Information and Return Policy
Warranty Period: 6 monthsAll our tubes are guaranteed for 6 months from the date of purchase. (Any exceptions will be noted on that tube's Warranty tab)
If you receive a tube that does not perform to the manufacturer's specifications, please do the following:
- contact us to get a return authorization
- return it via regular mail within 180 days from when we shipped it, and we will provide an exchange or refund of the full purchase price of the tube.
Returns not related to warranty or defect will be considered at our discretion, and are subject to a 15% restocking fee.
We can not accept returns that don't have an authorization, are past 3 month, or are returned improperly.
These guidelines may be updated without notice.
Ratings & Reviews
42 reviews
Great sounding. DID NOT LAST!
by Brian
Bought a matched quartet about a year or so ago. Used them in an audio tube pre amp for hifi applications. I hate to give them a bad review because indeed they were the best sounding 12ax7 I've ever used but at 200 bucks a matched quartet and to not get more than a little over a year out of them and they started to test poorly is no good. No good. What a shame. Sound wise they are nice and quiet and a ton of detail. Went back to using my old telefunkens.
Part-Timer
by Michael
They sound great, really great. But, if you play out and need to depend on them to work, for get it. I bout two and put into a vox night train. They didn't even make it a year with very little play time and no travel within that year (wtf). Too expensive for what you get. I bought NOS RCA's (butt ugly) for $50 per. They look like crap, but sound great. Best of all, they are going on 4 yrs with a hell of a lot more use per year. Give me vintage for the same $$$ every time.
Great but a dice roll it seems
by Roy C
I recently purchased three of these for my 65 twin reverb reissue and they sound awesome however I had to pull one back out due to excessive hiss and popping. The other two seem perfect but at nearly 50 dollars per tube I want them to work! The genalex gold lion premiums sound nearly identical to me and with a lot lower noise floor. For sound I would say 5 stars but maybe 3 for reliability. This could just be a single tube issue though.
Get 'em NOW
by Mike MacLeod
I have played guitar for 50 years and never had the beautiful tone and responsiveness I get from these 12AX7s. When I first turned the TSL100 on after re-tubing I was stunned to hear the pick noise and my fingers touching the strings. Everything is captured. And the reviewer who compared the tubes to instant mastering was spot on. The sound these produce is so polished, so fitted to the human ear's response curve, that you just can't help falling in love with them. True magic in a bottle. The nearest automotive equivalent I would offer is getting an instant 200 more horsepower from a bolt-on supercharger. It's that dramatic. The V1 holder is crying out for one! Act now!
Exceeded high expectations!
by Paul L.
I put this Northern Electric in my Vox AC4TV, along with the JJ EL844 low power tube. What a difference - from a huge decrease in ear fatigue and a somewhat harsh high end to a much more balanced and articulate range. With the power reduction imparted with the EL844, this little amp really does have a rich smoothness to the distortion even when driven all the way and has that elusive tone I was looking for in my practice amp. The family and neighbors can't appreciate the difference - because they can't really hear my playing at all any more - but I get all the amazing tone I want at a truly low practice level.