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Tube Rollings
Fellow AE'ers,
I seems that a large number of us are using tube gears of various make. It's indeed very odd that there are very little discussions of tubes in this forum. I wonder why this is so. I think fellow AE'ers should shared their findings about what works best with their gears, matching the right tube to the gear is critical, and can be the difference between a very good gear and a truely great creation.
I think i will chip in my 2 peso just to see if people here can share their expeiences:
6922/6DJ8 - My Zanden 2500 uses 6922/6DJ8. I have tried the Amperex Bugle Boy and so far Telefunken E88CC (earliest version). The Tele allows the highs of the Zanden to develop, without thinning out the mid. Vocals are actually more realistic. In comparision, the Amperex is (overly) warm and fuzzy. I am still to try the Valvo German pinched-waist. The 2500 decked out w/ OR, VDM and Telefunken is already exceptional. Certainly exceeded my expections.
300B. For Shindo, 1988 is it. Apparently the amp circuit is built for this tube. I had them for years and never though about changing them. Apparently if you have 300B from the 50's, the circuit can be adjusted to be optimized for that. For me, 300B's from TJ and JJ are to be avoided. Wavac 300B owners, which 300B works for you? I will try the KR 300B baloon soon.
211 - Legend has it that the Western Electric 242C is it, but I dare not try (WE's are notorious for having a lot of gas inside these tubes, and usual tube shops can't test them due to high voltage, so you are risking your amp). Otherwise RCA 1941 is apparently great, though I haven't get to them yet. I was using RCA 1942 which has a slightly different construction. Still sound great. A "sunny" kind of sound. Also tried United with inverted cap. Slightly more delicate sounding, but not as robust as the RCA. Better highs (I think, but I didn't A/B between the United and RCA too much as it's hard/dangerous to swap the 211's frequently).
Rectifiers - (soul of the circuit, really)
- 6X4 I don't have a lot of experience here. But in general, for 6X4 (also used in Zanden), early GEC U78 and U707 (Genalex) are superb. I have only compared the U707 vs the more common GEC CV4005/EZ90. There really is no comparison. My Kondo gear with U707 gives a full color rendition whereas the CV4005 sounded like 256 color monitor from the old days. I haven't directly compared the U78 myself though fellow user reported even better results.
- GZ34/5AR4 Haven't done much comparison myself, though from fellow tube fanatics Mullard Fat Based is very good, though metal-based Philips 1955 is best, followed by 1957. While I have both, I will use them after I acquired back up sets just in case I am hooked.
I seems that a large number of us are using tube gears of various make. It's indeed very odd that there are very little discussions of tubes in this forum. I wonder why this is so. I think fellow AE'ers should shared their findings about what works best with their gears, matching the right tube to the gear is critical, and can be the difference between a very good gear and a truely great creation.
I think i will chip in my 2 peso just to see if people here can share their expeiences:
6922/6DJ8 - My Zanden 2500 uses 6922/6DJ8. I have tried the Amperex Bugle Boy and so far Telefunken E88CC (earliest version). The Tele allows the highs of the Zanden to develop, without thinning out the mid. Vocals are actually more realistic. In comparision, the Amperex is (overly) warm and fuzzy. I am still to try the Valvo German pinched-waist. The 2500 decked out w/ OR, VDM and Telefunken is already exceptional. Certainly exceeded my expections.
300B. For Shindo, 1988 is it. Apparently the amp circuit is built for this tube. I had them for years and never though about changing them. Apparently if you have 300B from the 50's, the circuit can be adjusted to be optimized for that. For me, 300B's from TJ and JJ are to be avoided. Wavac 300B owners, which 300B works for you? I will try the KR 300B baloon soon.
211 - Legend has it that the Western Electric 242C is it, but I dare not try (WE's are notorious for having a lot of gas inside these tubes, and usual tube shops can't test them due to high voltage, so you are risking your amp). Otherwise RCA 1941 is apparently great, though I haven't get to them yet. I was using RCA 1942 which has a slightly different construction. Still sound great. A "sunny" kind of sound. Also tried United with inverted cap. Slightly more delicate sounding, but not as robust as the RCA. Better highs (I think, but I didn't A/B between the United and RCA too much as it's hard/dangerous to swap the 211's frequently).
Rectifiers - (soul of the circuit, really)
- 6X4 I don't have a lot of experience here. But in general, for 6X4 (also used in Zanden), early GEC U78 and U707 (Genalex) are superb. I have only compared the U707 vs the more common GEC CV4005/EZ90. There really is no comparison. My Kondo gear with U707 gives a full color rendition whereas the CV4005 sounded like 256 color monitor from the old days. I haven't directly compared the U78 myself though fellow user reported even better results.
- GZ34/5AR4 Haven't done much comparison myself, though from fellow tube fanatics Mullard Fat Based is very good, though metal-based Philips 1955 is best, followed by 1957. While I have both, I will use them after I acquired back up sets just in case I am hooked.
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Comments
I should have responded to your piece earlier because I agree to every word you say about NOS tubes and tube rolling on tube equipments. Take the Zanden CD combo as an exemple, I have tried at least 8 NOS 6x4 type rectifiers, the best is U707 and U78, both made by GEC in the 50's, without either one of them, the Zanden sounds very digital, very hi-fi but liveless. Regarding the ECC88, I like the 50's Siemens square getter, it matches well with the U78, while the Philips 50"s pinched waist square getter loves to sound with the U707. 6moon writers recommanded to use E188CC in the CDP instead of the ECC88 to yield better sound,I tried several types including Telefunkun, Philips, I have reservation on using E188CC in the CDP cause I find it less musical than the E88CC though it has a bigger sound envelope.There are also 2 6CA4 tubes in the Zanden CDP, they are even more important than the 6x4 in providing DC power to drive the converters(digital signal to analogue signal), I use 2x U709,they are definitely better than the stock Russian tubes, U709's are not expensive but extremely difficult to find.
There could be an exception, my Shindo preamp does not like alien tubes, the stock tubes are so good that changing any 2 (one for each channel) of them will change the sound dramtically to the worst, I have tried many many times
I still don't believe it, I will keep on trying as soon as any good tubes of the same tube type are in hand.