Telefunken 12AX7 · smooth plate, diamond bottom
Ulm-made smooth-plate ECC83 with the raised diamond in the glass — the reference preamp tube.
- SKU
- MS-VT-0418
- Era
- 1950-2000
- Condition
- Tested pull, 98% / 97% on Hickok 539C; low noise, low microphonics
- Dimensions
- 68 × 22 mm (H × Ø)
- Weight
- 16 g
- Provenance
- Removed from a decommissioned Neumann V72 preamp channel, Munich, 2019.
- Category
- Vacuum Tubes & Valves
- Tags
- telefunken12ax7ecc83diamond-bottompreamp
The one every session engineer whispers about. Manufactured at the Telefunken Ulm plant in the early sixties, this ECC83 carries both the smooth ribbed plates and the small raised diamond molded into the base of the envelope — the plant's own factory mark, and the shorthand that separates genuine Telefunken from every relabelled Yugoslavian bottle that has ever tried to be one.
We pulled it from a Neumann V72 that had been running in a Munich mastering room until 2003. It reads quiet on our own test bench, and the sections balance to within 3% of each other.
One tube, not a pair. Priced accordingly.
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