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.
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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
40 reviews
2 for different uses
by Kevin G.
I bought 2 of these, one for my 5 watt Blackheart and one for my Vox tonelab. I was satisfied from the start, but event more when my dad gave me his tonelab LE with a Sovtek tube in it. I got the chance to compare. The Northern Electric has a much more vivid, responsive sound, at least in this use. I would not have paid this amount of money on a set of 4 tubes for a huge amp, knowing that they would due to change within a year anyway, but in a pedal like this, the voltage is so low, that it will last forever! ( more or less ) I'm buying another one to replace the Sovtek.
Great Sounding Tubes and Nice Packaging!
by Joseph R.
Got a pair of these babies for my Jolida CDP and wow what a big difference from the stock tubes. Very detailed and mids are great...bass not boomy just right and tight! Vocals are very natural sounding! Bravo Northern Electric.
Microphonics marr the overall quality
by Rod
A beautiful sounding tube with good highs and low. However, when used in the V1 of my Mesa Boogie Mark V, it was annoying microphonic. When the amp picks up the sound of my neighbor's vacuum cleaner or locks up entirely, it is unacceptable. This is a tube for audio equipment, not guitar amps.
Great tubes for the Carvin Legacy III
by Bharat Rajagopalan
As others have mentioned these boost all frequencies and the resulting distortion is incredibly rich and smooth - perfect for soloing. I put 4 of these in my Carvin Legacy III. I tried combinations of this with the Tung-Sol 12AX7 Golds and liked these by themselves in V1-V4 on top of my existing PM EL34s.
And yes these sound better than the preferred series - note that i previously had a combination of preferred series and tung sol 12ax7s in my carvin- in addition to the amps, i have a blackstar ht dual and a zoom g5 neither of which seem to be true bypass - when i changed the tubes from preferred series to northern electric - the tone did change - it was clearer with sweeter highs and singing sustain.
This is not a boomy tube - its very balanced. Makes the cleans of the carvin really sing and boosts channel 3 to a really smooth distortion - a bit like the Boss DS1 on steriods.
You may prefer the tung sols if you want a more metal tone with dirt and grit - but in terms of gain and sustain these tubes hold their own and are definitely more open than the tung sols or the preferred series
These also come very nicely packaged with a blue metal case for each tube as shown in the pic
I think personally the price was worth it over the preferred series simply because it let me hit the tone i wanted on the carvin legacy III. Obviously based on the amp you use and the tone you want your conclusions may differ
Northern Electric 12AX7 is by far the best - will buy more.
by Red Dog
On the web I see a bunch of negative "reviews" of Northern Electric 12AX7 - there seems to be a common theme of complaints that they are Chinese and not Canadian. The really odd thing is none of these "reviews" have ANY info about the SOUND of the tube in amps? So I bought over a dozen different brands Tung-Sol 12AX7 / ECC803-S Gold, Electro-Harmonix 12AX7-EH Gold, Tung-Sol 12AX7, Marshall factory 12AX7, Groove tubes, diff values Mullard CV4004 / 12AX7 Mullard 12AX7 / ECC83 including one Northern Electric 12AX7, for my Marshall VM 2466, and tried them all. This Northern Electric 12AX7 was BY FAR the best, really just truly stunning - will buy more.