Favorite nos tube?

South: I don't know what you are using the Sovteks in but I am using a pair of Svetlana 300B's in an Audion amp that to me also sound better with old production Soviet 6922 equivalents (which are dissed by most tubophiles) because of the same reasons (added dynamics and clarity). I have some of the "cherished" 6922's such as Amperex White label USA PQ's, etc. but find them too soft in the mix. They do however sound nice with a pair of more crisp JJ 300B's that I just picked up. I am not willing to "tell all" about my favorite NOS tubes at this point as I am in the process of scarfing up 50-75,000 hours of them (minimum) to hold me over until I travel on to the other side. I will recommend the Svetlana 300B's from Conus Audio though, as they are specially selected and come with a six month warranty (they are beautiful sounding tubes). I plan on keeping my current amp and just having it rebuilt as needed (I sold some 25 year old amps - Mac 30's - in the 80's that were still going strong due to proper maintenance) and would like to pick up a push/pull amp such as an Audiomat in the future. I like solid state as well, but just cannot afford the stuff that really sounds good. Tubes are a cheaper way to go for me in order to get the sound that I enjoy.

Well, the favorite NOS tube really depends, to a large extent, on the equipment involved, and what it's mated to in the system. For my Jadis JP80 preamp, my favorites are Telefunkens for the 12AX7s and Amperex Bugle Boys for the 6DJ8s in the MC stage, as I prefer a rich, balanced sound. For the JA80 amps, I've liked both Teles and Mullards for the 12AU7 and 12AX7s (the Teles are smoother, the Mullards had a little more punch and energy--can you imagine being obsessive enough to change those tubes depending on the music you were going to play?), and MO Valve KT88s for the output tubes (wonderfully rich in the midrange and upper bass). However, were I running the JA80s into a speaker with a dark or rich midrange/upper bass, like my old Duntech Princesses, I'd probably opt for Tung Sol or the old ARC Phillips 6550s instead, as the KT88s were too much of a good thing in that case. For my Audio Logic DAC, the 6922/6DJ8s don't seem to matter as much to the sound, so I use Sovteks, but the 12AU7s make a big difference. Audio Logic supplies Mullards, I find them lively but with a glare in my system, so I use Telefunkens instead, which seem to have a more balanced frequency response in the unit. I'm curious to see others' favorites, particularly in Jadis equipment.

South,
In my system i found the bugle boys were a poor choice as they sounded a little flat my system is a little dark. The mullard (english not holland) branded RCA provided better dynamics and extension while creating a 3d sound stage and natural tone the sovetechs are not capable of(in my experience.) These tubes however tend to be microphonic and may not work for you however I have substituted many and always return to the mullards.

I'm trying some Bugle Boy Techtronix in my BC3 right now. Do you have any insight on these tubes?

Flash! Just got in some Jan-phillips 6922 and will use them in my pre(Anthem pre2L). The unit comes stock with sovteks. I will keep you informed as to the sound.Hotcorocket I am not familiar with the techtronix tubes-sorry. Keep rolling those tubes!