Amperex Bugle Boy 12AT7 · Heerlen, 1959
Heerlen-plant ECC81 with the little brass horn on the label. Sweet, quiet, honest.
- SKU
- MS-VT-0420
- Era
- 1950-2000
- Condition
- Used, tested strong: 88% / 91%; balanced sections, low hum
- Dimensions
- 68 × 22 mm (H × Ø)
- Weight
- 15 g
- Provenance
- Pulled from a Fisher 500-C receiver during a customer restoration, Cleveland, 2022.
- Category
- Vacuum Tubes & Valves
- Tags
- amperex12at7ecc81bugle-boyheerlen
The Bugle Boy — Amperex's export logo for the American market during the years the Heerlen, Netherlands plant was quietly making some of the finest small-signal twin triodes on either side of the Atlantic. This one carries the delta code for 1959, third quarter, and the internal construction is the O-getter halo type with the ribbed grey plates.
Used but strong, pulled from a Fisher receiver during a recap. The label ink is a little rubbed on one side, the glass is otherwise clean, and it tested with balanced sections and no evident microphonics on our RCA equivalent.
These come and go. This one has more good hours left in it than most modern tubes will ever see.
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