Is Telefunken on your radar OP.. Tough to beat that valve.. I've used E88C/6922 ECC82/12AU7 and ECC83/12AT7.
Every valve preamp or power amp I've ever used with any of those valves always sounded wonderful. There are a LOT of Tellies branded under other names.. A little research pays big dividends.
Same with Mullard, there are a LOT of other names branded on the valve, but they are 100% Mullard. Amperex for one.
Volvo, Mazda, Hammond, Siemens
Golden Lyon? Serious fan base, good valve for the most part.. The way you're describe valves, GL would be LESS tubey more like a Mullard the way YOUR describing, But Amperex is tubey and it's a Mullard?
There a FEW variance within a brand.. Mullard BIG time..
I mean you are "Rollin on the River"...Might as well run the entire gauntlet.
Have fun |
I believe that BEL tubes were part of the Phillips conglomerate made in India. Here is the Factory Code etched into the glass: V which stand for: Bharat Electronics (Private) Ltd, Bangalore 13, India
You can read about these codes here:
D:\MyFiles\WordPerfect\Philtitle.PDF (pocnet.net)
When I was buying NOS tubes they were not highly regarded, but the only way to know for sure is to try them in your system. |
The only fault I could find with the pair of Amperex USN/CEP 7308, mid 60's, that I tried, was their slightly warm coloration. Other than that: everything was lovely. Seems we may have the same tastes, regarding presentation. Try to find a NOS pair of Siemens CCa, grey shields, external date coded, from the late 50's or early 60's. If you can locate a pair of E188CCs, of the same description, they offer almost the exact presentation. Bet either would suit your aural palate, to a tee!
Some history: https://www.tubemuseum.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SH%5FCCa%5Fsingle I found those later CCas, with the internal date codes and silver shields too bright/zingy, for my tastes. |
my recollection on the bel tubes is the same as @tomcy6
philips/amperex set up a plant in india and these were among their production
i never had these, so cannot comment on their s-q
being old stock tubes made under the auspices of one of the major 1st world producers, i would guess they would sound better than modern day 6dj8 equivalents, which are poor sonically |
Wow thanks guys, much appreciated! Telefunken is on my radar and actually would be top of the list except for cost, now I can add Siemens to the hunt. I had kinda ruled out Gold Lions but maybe I'll reconsider, after all, how do you really know w/o trying? Also the links are much appreciated, they'll help expand my not-so-vast knowledge of tubes and associated vocabulary.
My understanding of the Amperex tubes I have is they were made in USA (White Plains NY?) and were destined for military use, as opposed to the Mullards. But they are not plainly marked to my inexperienced eye.
And most importantly, I can pass on the BELs and my FOMO is out the window.
FYI, my reasons for tube rolling are 1) cheaper than equipment rolling 2) improve listening skills 3) easy to make changes when things start to not quite sound right anymore. Last night I put the Matsushitas back in and was a very happy camper. We'll see how long they last.
Final question - |
Final question - this might be too SF pre specific, but is it worth to put high quality tubes in all six positions? |
Imagine yourself watching an HD video, through three lenses per eye.
How many dirty lenses are you willing to tolerate?
A very subjective question.
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@thosb
Final question - this might be too SF pre specific, but is it worth to put high quality tubes in all six positions?
i will say it again... the search bar above is your FRIEND... https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tubes-for-sonic-frontiers-line-1first post of this gem of a thread from 2005 when the sonic frontier linestages were the cat’s meow ""Chris suggested putting your best tubes in the two back spots, and I ended up with Siemens CCa in those spots and Siemens 6922 nickel pins in the other four spots."" have fun, and good luck rollin’... |
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The best option I found in my system for a 6922 is the Mazda 7308 1960’s French Military tube. Labeled Phillips 7308 PQ. I use them in a Manley Chinook phonostage.
Purchased from Brent Jesse @ Audiotubes.com, search the web sight under the 6DJ8 selection and he has a description of the sound characteristics of each type as a guide as well as a little background info.
They seemed more extended on both ends of the frequency spectrum and were more dynamic and transpatent than others I’ve tried in this phonostage like the Amperex 6922 Orange PQ label and the Phillips 7DJ8 that came stock selected by Manley. |
sonic frontiers is long gone as a going concern, though chris johnson is still in ontario canada, now running parts connexion, the online hifi components seller, and doing some mods on equipment on a limited basis
you could reach out and ask him his findings on the old s-f line1-3 units
andy and brent are good vendors, their prices on the rare and really good stuff are getting sky high (brent even higher than andy), and their advice is usually valuable on tubes’ sonic signatures, but be sure to be specific about what gear is using their tubes... rolling tubes can make or less of a difference in different gear with different circuits |
Thanks again guys, tons of good info, much appreciated.
jjss49 yes I had found that thread, that and a couple others got me on to the tube rollin.
rushfan71 now I have another tube to add to the search list, thanks!
tomcy6, I've seen Andy's and Brent's web sites and Brent's notes have been very helpful, I will certainly call him at some point esp if I dip intot he rare/expensive tubes. |
I just did a side-by-side test of the EHX, JJ, Gold Lions, the new Telefunkens and Siemens. Siemens were by far the best at a relatively modest price. The Gold Lions were second but were awful out of the box and needed some burn-in time. The others were okay but nothing stood out. |
I am currently using Telefunken. Could not be happier. |
Good to know!
verdantaudio, when you say new, does that mean these are new as opposed to NOS? aka current production? Where did you purchase these?
For these tubes, at some point I was told normal burn-in time is 15-25 hours, do y'all agree? |
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wow thanks jjss49, appreciate your additional posts, this is really expanding my tube knowledge! |
@thosb-
Brent Jessee mentions 50 hours or so, of listening/burn-in time, as a norm.
That's been my experience, as well.
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