Lorenz

Lorenz ECC83 12AX7 Matched Pair RARE Round Logo w/ BWB Falcon - Germany 1950s

$264.00 USD

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Product Summary

These must be the most exotic European audio tubes! So elusive they're even unheard of in many parts of the world. Not many of these tubes are around, either, let alone a strong matched pair! Although lesser known than big names like Telefunken and Siemens, they are just as remarkable as any other German-made tubes and have been the go-to tubes for guitar amplifier users. To many of us the Lorenz date codes are a great mystery, and yet the unmistakable "round logo" of Lorenz puts us in no later than 1958, the last year of the original Lorenz tube production and when the "SEL" tubes began to be manufactured by the company's successor Standard Elektrik Lorenz (SEL). And remember the lovely sharp pointy tips are only found on 1950s' tubes?

Sound Qualities

Like most German tubes, they are characterized by an impressive open "air" at the top end, and the soundstage is large, even in mono applications such as my classical vinyl records from the early '50s, these tubes provides you with a full 3-D imaging. The midrange is ruler flat, a.k.a. natural sound, and the bass is tight and accurate. One very unique feature of Lorenz tubes is the fine sense of dynamics you get from anything you play - it feels you are enveloped by an invisible "musical body" that you can't escape from and it's cerebrally joyful. Last but certainly not the least, as the legend goes for all the German tubes, these are astonishingly quiet. If you're seeking European ECC83/12AX7 tubes with ultra low noise look no further. These will get the job done fantastically.

Appearance and cosmetic condition

Besides its wonderful sound characteristics, we treasure this pair also because its excellent cosmetic condition as well. At least 90% of the paint is still intact.

Professional Tube Testing

Both tubes tested Near NOS (90%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a reliable and recently calibrated Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following results for mutual conductance:

Tube 1: 970/980 (97%/98%)

Tube 2: 1,000/900 (100%/90%)

Good tubes start at 700 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 1,000, and the Mercury 2000 tester's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 1,000. Test results can be seen in the pictures. In case you wonder what all these numbers mean to your sound experience, it's actually quite straightforward: mutual conductance directly translates to a tube's ability to amplify sound, so the higher these numbers the stronger.