It is an interesting thread, I think most of the tubes used and the sound will depend on the amplifier or pre amplifier these are used. I own an atmasphere MA-1 monoblocks and MP-3 pre amp.
Let me start saying that the amp and preamp comes stock with shuguangs red base clear glass 6SN7s and the sound is very balanced, rolling tubes can indeed provide better sound to your liking but I find myself using the stock tubes as a reference a lot, these amps and pre sound in credibly good with stock, now that said.
On my preamp I am currently using Chinese shuguangs BT CV-181s very balanced sounding and silent tube, I tried Sylvania GT, GTA and GTB, the sound changes and IMO it has some glare, actually I believe the correct word is sibilance (the sssssss on vocals). Tried the Psvane tube and the sound is similar to the shuguangs BT but one tube died after 20 hours of use and I have only one now. Many will differ with me but I have tried and own the rca red base 5962 which everyone loves and I have find it not very special. The best sounding tubes on my preamp are the GTs, I have the Raytheon black glass GTs and love the sound, that is the only tube I prefer over the BTs on my preamp.
Now onto the amps I have tried several, in this case the Sylvanias are very good sounding, the front tube in my case must be a GTA or GTB because of the voltage, that is my understanding but overall I think the GTs are the best sounding tubes assuming of course equal quality, if you have an old GT chances of microphony could be higher than a more recent production GTA or GTB YMMV
I tried the 6H8C metal base military spec (3 separate pairs) and they run very hot and are prone to failure, 2 died on me and one is microphonic after use so these in my specific case are a no no, the sound I found it to be not as full as with other tubes but I'm sure this is because of my specific equipment. BTW from the beginning Ralph told me Russian 6SN7 on his amps will consistently fail so I was warned early.
No intend to drive this thread into an amp discussion but it is kind of important as discussing tubes alone without the equipment in which these are used has no real meaning. Current and voltage and type of circuits of these amps and pre amps makes all the difference.
Let me start saying that the amp and preamp comes stock with shuguangs red base clear glass 6SN7s and the sound is very balanced, rolling tubes can indeed provide better sound to your liking but I find myself using the stock tubes as a reference a lot, these amps and pre sound in credibly good with stock, now that said.
On my preamp I am currently using Chinese shuguangs BT CV-181s very balanced sounding and silent tube, I tried Sylvania GT, GTA and GTB, the sound changes and IMO it has some glare, actually I believe the correct word is sibilance (the sssssss on vocals). Tried the Psvane tube and the sound is similar to the shuguangs BT but one tube died after 20 hours of use and I have only one now. Many will differ with me but I have tried and own the rca red base 5962 which everyone loves and I have find it not very special. The best sounding tubes on my preamp are the GTs, I have the Raytheon black glass GTs and love the sound, that is the only tube I prefer over the BTs on my preamp.
Now onto the amps I have tried several, in this case the Sylvanias are very good sounding, the front tube in my case must be a GTA or GTB because of the voltage, that is my understanding but overall I think the GTs are the best sounding tubes assuming of course equal quality, if you have an old GT chances of microphony could be higher than a more recent production GTA or GTB YMMV
I tried the 6H8C metal base military spec (3 separate pairs) and they run very hot and are prone to failure, 2 died on me and one is microphonic after use so these in my specific case are a no no, the sound I found it to be not as full as with other tubes but I'm sure this is because of my specific equipment. BTW from the beginning Ralph told me Russian 6SN7 on his amps will consistently fail so I was warned early.
No intend to drive this thread into an amp discussion but it is kind of important as discussing tubes alone without the equipment in which these are used has no real meaning. Current and voltage and type of circuits of these amps and pre amps makes all the difference.