I changed a Tube and…


I liked it!
 Have a Rogue Audio Cronos mag lll bought it years ago as original Cronos Mag  sent it in last year for the upgrade to lll .  Never changed any of the original tubes .

The amp was lightly used due to my changing amps like regularly. Decided to stick with Cronos and and have really enjoyed it . 
Playing vinyl for the majority of time and seem satisfied with Triode mode .  Amp runs perfectly no noise at all but thought about all the threads regarding tube rolling  especially the center 12au7 . 
pulled out the stock JJ and found a Genalex  Gold Lion ECC82/B749 (12au7)  bought them 7-8 years ago .  
Put the GL into center position and was thinking “am I going to really hear a difference “???   Figured I listen to a few LPs and maybe I’d notice something different good or bad Maybe ? after all it’s just one tiny tube !

Well I was blown away !, 30 seconds in listening to “two of a mind “ Desmond /Muliligan  things just got a whole lot more musical 🎶. Hard to describe everything seemed improved , midrange was wow ! Soundstage was better , etc .

Went to another familiar favorite Grant Green “ Idle Moments “   Oh yes the magic is here too 

Is this even possible or am I under a placebo delusion  lol 

Now I’m really wondering what about the other 2  12au7’s  and even the 2 -12ax7’s

what else am I missing ? 

 

 

 

mfm22

Showing 1 response by macg19

Not trying to rain on your parade, but if you think Russian made GL reissues are good, dive into NOS. Brent Jesse should be your guy. It doesn’t have to be more expensive. Look at Baldwin 12AU7 too to get some lower cost ideas.

He lists every tube he has in detail on his website. Spend some time there, then email him rather than call.

The implementation matters though, so experimentation is required. For example, I have a DAC and a phone stage that both use a pair of 12AX7. $300 Tele’s sound better in the PS than $450 Mullard’s, and vice versa.