I have a Chinese Yaquin tube pre that takes 12ax7 and 12au7. Few years ago I found a quad of Telefunken 12ax7's, two went in the tube amp, two in the pre. After trying a few others, those won out. As for the 12au7's I bought a few cheap pairs to roll around. i settled on a pair of Sylvania 12AU7A. I tried Raytheon black plates, RCA clear tops and Westinghouse something or other. One of these days I'd like play around with a few other 12au7's.