Has the 5751 been discovered by the tube guitar amp crowd?

Posted by Bambi B (A) on April 14, 2006 at 08:58:01

In Reply to: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? posted by CometCKO on April 12, 2006 at 18:22:06:

CometCKO,

In January I bought a Yamaha synthesizer and the seller had about 50 lineal feet of vintage tube guitar amps on shelves. We got into a conversation about tubes and he mentioned the 5751 as a hot item with the guitar amp crowd these days. And of course, there's a 1000 Marshalls for every tube audio preamp, so a fad in a mass market may have created high demand, high prices, and of course depletion of supply. Plus, is guitar amp tube life quite shorter than with audio? I may be incorrect, but I doubt whether most guitar amps are still using almost all original 1964 tubes as does my McIntosh MX110 and MC240.

Pity, if the 5751 is gone missing, in the right place it's a wonderful tube- clean, refined, and transparent. About four years ago, I tried three 5751's based on "Joe's Tube Lore" (FAQ this site) which explains all the subtlties and models. He goes into detail about 5751's we shall never see, but I found his comments on sound to agree with what I found.

After trying the three models in three types of gear, I settled on the Sylvania square getter, black plate, triple mica 5751. I eventually found someone with a big pile of these- immaculate NOS gold print military issue wrapped in crinkly, soft paper, and I bought 20 at $10 each, calculating I'd be set with that type for at least 350 years.

The 5751 is not a good match in the Audio Research SP-8 that I'd hoped, but I use 4 of the Sylvanias in my Peavey VMP-2 microphone preamplifier followed by 2 of the GE grey plate. By the way, the plain GE is very nice- excellent bass and a crisp top. Not long ago those were still $12 tubes even at dealers- there were piles around.

The 5751 does have a special quality to the sound and I think it's the effortless transparency and natural timbre through the whole range. I liken it to really good singers- my analogy is to imagine Beverly Sills with a 20 octave range with authority at 90dB. The Sylvanias, GEs, and RCA (2- mica black plate) I have are slightly different, but have some of this same essential quality. All the 5751's I have seem to be especially quiet too.

It's important to realize that the change from 12AX7 to 5751 is a farther jump than from 12AX7 to 12AX7 only of different maker- the 5751 does have adifferent tonality. In my Audio Research the 5751 became thin and a bit dry, but in McIntosh MX110 and the Peavey mic pre it sings for it's supper. I'm glad I tried the three kinds and in three styles of gear: vintage, modern, and recording.

We can hope that the Sovtek 5751 is a good one and, if the NOS are gone, we are free to hope demand increases substantially and more and/or premium 5751s are introduced by other firms- "Tung-Sol" reissue? The small tubes are getting better. I see JJ has started a new "ECC803" that is a long plate 12AX7 reproduction of their older tube by that name and an alternative to their frame grid 12AX7.

Cheers,

Bambi B

PS: Warning! There are daily new models of tube microphone coming out and good NOS tubes of "that" type (I don't want to start a stampede by naming it) are going, going, going,...

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - CometCKO 18:22:06 04/12/06 (21)

There are plenty of 1970s JAN GE 5751 tubes in the market.... - tubemonger 16:14:34 04/14/06 (4)

Re: There are plenty of 1970s JAN GE 5751 tubes in the market.... - JPS 05:39:44 04/17/06 (2)

Re: There are plenty of 1970s JAN GE 5751 tubes in the market.... - AlexK 13:50:36 04/19/06 (1)

Re: There are plenty of 1970s JAN GE 5751 tubes in the market.... - JPS 21:42:03 04/19/06 (0)

Yes, I see lots of 2-mica versions, but - CometCKO 19:59:42 04/14/06 (0)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone?-- HELL NO!; plus just use 12AX7 - ARC 11:54:13 04/14/06 (1)

I think it depends on the application... - CometCKO 19:58:01 04/14/06 (0)

Has the 5751 been discovered by the tube guitar amp crowd? - Bambi B 08:58:01 04/14/06 (1)

I'll be pleased if new product picks up in quality! - CometCKO 19:53:46 04/14/06 (0)

Military tubes... - unclestu52 21:08:32 04/13/06 (1)

Thanks Stu, best explanation I've heard (nt) - CometCKO 19:49:28 04/14/06 (0)

I have too many NOS RCA grayplates that I was going to eBay. - jeffreybehr 16:12:27 04/13/06 (0)

Good thing the Sovteks are OK - Frihed89 08:03:52 04/13/06 (0)

Raytheon 5751 source - bevo 03:58:46 04/13/06 (0)

Yep - I own them all... - HOK 22:04:43 04/12/06 (0)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - Jimmy 20:45:09 04/12/06 (0)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - MIchael Samra 19:00:20 04/12/06 (4)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - CometCKO 20:22:36 04/12/06 (3)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - Jim McShane 06:43:47 04/13/06 (0)

Re: Are the NOS 5751's all gone? - MIchael Samra 22:20:04 04/12/06 (1)

Glad you're back in circulation! Question on KT77's - CometCKO 20:04:34 04/14/06 (0)

Follow Ups

Has the 5751 been discovered by the tube guitar amp crowd? - Bambi B 08:58:01 04/14/06 (1)

I'll be pleased if new product picks up in quality! - CometCKO 19:53:46 04/14/06 (0)

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