12AU7 for DeHavilland 50A Amplifier


To all those "in the know"...  I have a pair of DeHavilland 50A mono blocks which use a 12au7 input tube.  The amps are a bit "soft" sounding in my system, lacking some of the leading edge transients which I had grown accustom to with my prior solid state amplifier.   I was curious as to whether replacing the current Amperex NOS 12au7's with the Gold Lion reissue 12au7's (the amps were designed around, and use, the Gold Lion KT88 power tubes) would give a bit  more of a well defined transient type of presentation, or would I be giving up too much sonic beauty that the Amperex tubes provide?  FWIW, I tried (with Kara's OK) substituting the KT88's with KT150's, and wound up returning to the KT88's as the KT150's proved to be a little too lean.
Thanks for all your input on this...

weebeesdad

Showing 2 responses by weebeesdad

Thanks, Tom.  I realize they are not a significant investment but thought I would float the idea to see if I was headed in the right direction.  BTW, I have it on good authority that you are indeed in the know (I read this somewhere on the internet, so, of course, it must be true...).
Tom, don't let those numerically challenged wannabes steal your thunder...
Bigshutterbug and Philipwu - the 7316 is a drop in replacement for the 12au7? Philipwu, are you using an Amperex 7316 as well?