Driver Tubes 6922

     I've purchased at least 9 NOS matched pair of Siemens, E88CC iterations, over the past 20+ years, from Argentina, Germany (the most), Australia and off eBay. 

     None, in the last 10 years.  

     Mostly: early 60's, grey shields.   Actually: all but 1 pair each of early 70's, silver shield, CCa and E188CCs, which were sold because they seemed a bit too strident, in my system.

     My CDP takes 3 pair and I recently swapped out a sextet of the CCa's (3 different early sixties versions/getters) for 1 pair each of CCa, E88CC and E188CCs, just to see if there was any difference in presentation. 

      I was happy to find everything as excellent and quiet as with the all CCa set.

      I've stuck with Siemens as my go-to valves, because I found the 12AX7s, my previous CD drive and DACs* took, gave me exactly what I preferred, far as presentation (with nary a hiccup/failure), for quite a few years.

                                               Great stuff!

                  * (California Audio Labs Delta, Sigma and then Alpha)

@tomcy6 

They are not new.

OP, Out of curiosity, how old must a tube be before it becomes a NOS tube. I have a stash of old St Petersburg Svetlana (now SED) power tubes which have been out of production for some time. Are they NOS? They sure are good!

FWIW, re NOS v current production 6922/6dj8s after trying/comparing them in a tubed headphone amp, I ended up with JJ's which were very quiet (super important in headphones, you know) and tonally slightly warm. Best of all they are cheap(er) than most other current and NOS tubes. Fairly reliable, I've yet to have one fail. 

@newbee 

I am no expert but I would consider tubes made prior to 1970 and never left the box to be NOS. ive never thought JJ to be very good. I giess it comes down to synergy.

@tonydennison  would you consider a tube as new if has been tested over the years hundreds of times, but never used in any equipment.

@invalid  

why do you ask? Do you have some you are considering purchasing?

@tonydennison  no, but just wondering how you would be able to tell if a tube has never been used? I don't think you can tell, by the boxes or the printing on the tube itself.

@invalid 

If i see a case of tubes wrapped in decades old plastic, I open it to find pristinne boxes with no creases, I open a box to find an unblemeshed tube, I will consider them NOS. If I yank it out of a radio, I would not.

If you sell something that is clearly used  or has a 50/50 chance of being used....you should absolutely not sell it labelled as new.

@tonydennison the problem is you could buy those tubes you consider new and they may not last or test as new.

@pindac

Or the opposite could be true.

So what?

I dont have a problem having used tubes. I just dont think you should sell something used and claim it is new. Its not rocket science and I cant understand anyone having an issue with this. If youre seeling something used, dont call it new. I have zero issue with buying used tubes.

Then I guess all old tubes should be sold as used, because there is no way to tell.

@invalid 

Unless,

""If i see a case of tubes wrapped in decades old plastic, I open it to find pristinne boxes with no creases, I open a box to find an unblemeshed tube, I will consider them NOS.""

Dont you have something better to do? Why can't I have a different opinion than you?

@tonydennison ??? I am not getting why I am addressed by yourself.

@pindac 

Uhhhh, no idea what you're talking about. Did I tag you? If I did, it was an accident.

@pindac 

Whoops, I did. Sorry

I rolled JJ’s, EH’s, Mullards and I finally found some NOS Amperex with the gold pins from the mid 60’s and I have never been happier. Of the others, only the less expensive EH’s sounded bad. The more expensive ones were better, but kinda sterile sounding.  The JJ’s were okay, but we’re just missing something. And for the life of me, I can’t remember why I moved on from the Mullards.

All the best.

I dont know if I mentioned it but Brent has sent the AT7 replacement.

Let us know how it all turns out.

@tomcy6 

Im sure it will be fine.  

Interesting point, the mullard ax7's underwent a significan change after a while, which tells me they went through a breakin process which I assume points to them being New. 😉

Good to hear, Tony.

Tony I wouldn’t worry so much about it if the seller will replace a noisy or bad tube. Your going to get bad tubes it’s just going to happen. I’ve  been buying most of my tubes used from the same brick and mortar tube store for the last 15 years with great luck.
 

Much cheaper, I just bought some used12ax7’s that test new last week. RCA 60’s black plates $45, 60’s Telefunken smooth plates $55, 60’s Mullard Blackburn plant $45. el34 Mullard xf2’s $100 each. 60 day return no questions asked. Thats pretty much half off NOS tubes. 

I've also use Brent for NOS he has always backed up his tube I ended up with a noisy 6922 bugle boy, he had one sent out same day, I do stay away from eBay. Find some good dealers and stick with them they will do you right.

@paulcreed 

So....Does this brick and mortar place have a site or a name? You can DM me if you are worried about a rush. :-)

BTW, the RCA Blackplates I purchased from Brent were $40. The mullards were $50.

Ok, on the replacement tube from Brent and the other AT7.

1st night the new tube (no pun intended) was quite noisy intermittently which I have read is normal on an actual new tube :-), 2nd night the new tube quieted down but intermittently whistled in a very high pitch.

2nd day, the other At7 whistled on startup. I tapped the tube and it is fine now.

Hopefully the whistling will not be a normal occurrence as I woould like to replace the cover on my pre.

Anyway, there we have it. Sounding awesome at the moment.

TD

For any tubeheads on this thread. Things are sounding sublime.

I replaced monoblock input AX7's, and the AT7's in the pre....

Should I even worry about the 6922's in the monoblocks?

Thoughts and experiences as to amp drivers?

I think because of logevity issues, I will stick with modern GLKT77 power tubes.

Thanks

TD

@tonydennison interesting I have not had those kind of noise issues with my many tubes. Any tube noise issue I have had was a sign of a bad tube and didn’t get better with use  …those GL KT 77 are fantastic tubes…no need to replace those until they wear out.  Get some 6922’s first.

Well everything is perfectly quiet now. Brent mentions actual unused tubes from past eras will make noise in the begining.

As to KT77's, yeah, they are great. Im thinking I should buy a couple more sets before the purposely demolished economy makes them unattainable.

TD

The nos tubes have proven to be too unstable for me. Everything will be sublime for an hour then this one will snow or this one will microphonic or this one will high tone ring. Im tired of chasing which one is doing what. Very disappointing. If I knew I could get a couple nos AX7's and a couple nos AT7's  that I could depend on, I would do it, but at this point I just put the GL's in and Im going to not worry about it anymore.

It could be worse.

TD

Darn shame…I have not had issues like yours in several years of tube rolling. Only two noisy ones and a few  that just sounded dull.  I guess I am The Lucky One. 

@tksteingraber 

Well, I've always had a problem quitting and over reacting. :-)

They are back in and Im going to get to the bottom of each and every one scientifically, what it does and when, all before Brent gets back from vacation so I can give him my findings. I'm sure he will be perfectly cool about whatever issues there are.

I always have bad luck though. I had to return my Direct stream jr. because for some reason it wouldn't get along with my pre. That said, everything has been trouble free since then and the H4's have been perfect.

I received a pair of RCA 5960’s NOS from Tubestore Canada as a substitute for 12AT7’s.

Very Very nice.

If you use 12At7’s and NOS, I strongly Suggest you get some of these...NOW.

Anyway just thought I’d put it out there.

TD