Tube ID

[NightFlight]

I have a tube I'm trying to identify. Seems to be working particularly well in my rig at the moment. Total mystery tube and it's killing me I can't place it.  Here are a couple photos - see attached.

12AU7 etched with 7 dots.
D getter with double bar on the flat side.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fullheadofnothing]

We bring good things to life...

[Grainger49]

Josh says it is a GE.

[NightFlight]

It would have been a while before I clued into that cryptic reference. How long has it been since GE has felt the need to inform the public of their presence? A couple decades?

This however kinda changes things for me. I've had bias against GE tubes since I had tried a couple newer ones in a Lyr and have since pretty much dismissed them. Huh. I B surprised.

[Grainger49]

GE made a full line of tubes.  They made several variants of many of them.  Some good ones I remember in my FP 2 were "Five Star."

[NightFlight]

I'd like to keep this thread open for future ID requests for everyone. I think mine was likely easy because of the etched marking, but gosh darn it... some good ones without markings can be such a loss to never know what they were.

That being said I think I'm going to have to re-think my evaluation of tubes. I'm going to have to find a way to hide the make/model from myself.  Additionally I'm starting to believe the 'Mystery' mystique may have elevated my impressions.

[fullheadofnothing]

It would have been a while before I clued into that cryptic reference. How long has it been since GE has felt the need to inform the public of their presence? A couple decades?

Those adds ran for almost 25 years. GE now owns NBC, which owns Comcast. So basically they run television and advertise regularly on it to this day.

This however kinda changes things for me. I've had bias against GE tubes since I had tried a couple newer ones in a Lyr and have since pretty much dismissed them. Huh. I B surprised.

Book≠cover.

[galyons]

IMO GE tubes get a bum rap.  For the most part they made good tubes, as good as any other manufacturer.  The just tended to make so many more than some of the other producers.  Not many "Get it now, extremely RARE!" plays on GE tubes.

Much of the hype on some of the highly touted tubes du jour is little more than internet "one ups-manship" on forums and from vendors.  Most of the subtle differences between tubes of varying brand, getter, plate construction, etc. lose their "HUGE" differences once the first notes flow and one just listens to the music.

Of course, YMMV!

Cheers,
Geary

[Doc B.]

FWIW I have found GE five stars are pretty reliable and consistent tubes.

[2wo]

Back when my 300B amp was running 6SN7. I liked the GE's. Might go back...John

[NightFlight]

I'm getting the message that the same tubes will pair differently in different devices and when matched with different tubes.  So all bets are off on what you 'know' when you change amp or even the tubes in another section on the same amp.

I'm also willing to bet if you have control over the circuit implementation  the differences between valves can be tweaked out so they become more minor.