Preferred Series 7025 / 12AX7 Preamp Vacuum Tube
The Preferred Series 7025 preamp tube is a high quality 12AX7 vacuum tube type. This tube is a reproduction of the highly regarded and sought after Mullards from the 1960s.
This 7025 is a high quality and very rugged custom 12AX7 tube. The plates are manufactured out of a premium metal imported from Germany and supported with extra thick mica spacers to insure against microphonics. They are burned in and tested at the factory and then again on our digital high voltage equipment to make sure the tubes selected for you will provide outstanding tone and performance.
From our review: "A great sounding 12AX7 tube type that reminds me a little more of the ECC83 that Ei made in the old days. That's a pretty nice compliment. I compared this tube against an old Ei and Telefunken smooth plate and there was very little difference. Lots of gain with a rather low noise floor. No microphonics issues at all. Very good considering the large plate size. Spot welding may be better for microphonics than crimped plates. I tried it in all the standard guitar amp duties and it was fine. Fabulous in Blackface Fender amps. We tried this 7025 in a 66 Vibrolux reverb 2x10 combo and the tones were all there. Light and shimmering or really aggressive, it's all good."
Warranty: The Preferred Series 7025 tubes carry a 6 month extended warranty.
Other Preferred Series tubes
12AX7 TypesAdditional Information and Downloads
Reviews:
12AX7 Tube Review
Tube Matching Information:
Matched Sections Service
Downloads:
Preferred Series 7025 Datasheet (PDF)
Download Adobe Acrobat PDF reader
Warranty Information and Return Policy
Warranty Period: 6 monthsPreferred Series tubes have a 6 month warranty from 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 6 months, or are returned improperly.
These guidelines may be updated without notice.
Ratings & Reviews
87 reviews
Wow
by Chad Lewis
Let me start by saying that the Tube Store customer service is hands down, the best. I received two Preferred Series tubes. One went bad, but they gave me no hassle at all about replacing it. Now, my review on the one that is currently in V1 of my Pro Jr. I do not find the tube harsh at all. I find it to be very balanced in tone. I had a chance to crank the amp last night at church. After hearing my tone, it is now replacing my Marshall DSL that i have been using with Mullard preamp tubes. The Preferred Series 7025 tube was made for crunchy goodness!!!
TST must be screening these, somewhat.
by Seth
I get less scritchy scratchy noises, less hum, less microphonic noise, and less mechanical noise with these. Are they as good as the old ECG STR 7025s, ...NO. I rarely see NOS STR 7025s anymore, so these are a nice option to have. Comparing against an EI may not be such a great thing. EIs could be very inconsistent. Some were fabulous, and others horribly noisy. Telefunken did a much better job with quality control, before sending their tooling to Yugoslavia's EI factory. Needless to say, "I do miss EI very much". For the price, an occasional bad valve from them was acceptable. Seeing the war in the Balkans was hard for me. Seeing the home of the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics under siege was sad indeed. I have a decent stash of EIs, along with RCA, GE, Philips Sylvania, and other low noise 7025s for 1st & 2nd gain stage uses. I was never a big fan of Telefunkens for guitar, bass, or kbd amps. For hi fi, they are great! These Preferred series valves allow me to hang onto my NOS valves for truly "special" occasions. Thanks TST! Hey, let's face it, with only 3 companies making valves now, just how competitive do you really think they will be for quality? Uhhh, yeah. Not very. One maker has visions of being the ONLY remaining maker of audio valves. God help us! Keep up the good fight TST!
7025 preferred
by Geoff
Ordered these tubes for my 73 Fender Vibrosonic along with some T.A.D. 6L6 GC and I couldn't be happier. I've had this amp for 20 years & always sourced NOS RCA tubes untill now. Given the NOS RCA sound 10/10 This combination of 7025/TAD 6L6 is easily 9/10 for a fraction of the price. As I ordered a bunch of 7025's I tried them out in my Evh 5150iii 50 watt with TAD 6L6gc with great results, creamy overdrive & big cleans. (These EVH iii amps give great Fender clean tones for a good price.) My work horse a Egnater Tour Master 4100 took on a hole new life of its own & my former work horse a Marshall DSL 100 (1999) Model has never sounded this good.Well worth the price!
Preferred Series 7025, my go-to 12AX7
by Charles Smith
The Preferred Series 7025 have become my go-no new production, high quality 12AX7. I start by putting two in V2 and V3 in a '68 Marshall JMP50 and I loved the tone. Then I dropped two in a Fender Blues Deluxe (also V2 and V3), and again, I loved the result. But the most dramatic change came when I re-tubed a friend's Fender Super 60; its preamp tubes were pre-historic! I dropped in two PS7025 in V1 and V2, and the amp was absolutely transformed. It was hard to believe a "red knob" Fender could sound so good. Now, I keep a private stock of PS7025's for whenever I need a high-quality, high-performance preamp tube.
A Disappointment
by CDinMB
I bought this as part of my new Tweed Deluxe build. I bought and tried combinations of 12AY7, 5751s and 12AX7s, new and NOS. I compared to 1950s NOS GE, 1970s Ei, and I found this tube in V2 to be bright, harsh and not musical. It may be fine in a newer build like my Mesa and I may try it there and create another review. But for a tweed vintage sound, I would recommend looking at a NOS tube, not this one.