2. amps-preamps
  3. 1282804225

I need a lower gain 12au7 for Mastersound

I recently purchased a Mastersound Due Venti. It has 2 JJ ecc82 gold pins in the preamp. I find them to be a little high gain for my tastes. They do sound quite nice though don't get me wrong.

Could anyone recommend a 12au7 or variant that naturally has less gain than the JJ but still retains quite a lot of detail and low noise? New or NOS, doesn't matter to me.

Any responses or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Or if anyone has a Due Venti maybe they could let me know what preamp tubes they prefer?

I'm running it with a pair of La Scala's, they're just a little too efficient maybe...

Thanks for your time!!
ddderek

Showing 3 responses by rrog

rrog
1,958 posts
 
Are you sure those are preamp tubes? Mastersounds claim to fame has always been their passive gain stage. The 12AU7 tubes are drivers for the output tubes. Using one of the low gain alternatives will result in a very dull sound.

Apparently yours is a CD based system. What CD player are you using? Do you know what the output voltage is? If you want to cut back the gain someplace the source may be the best place to do it. The other alternative is a less efficient speaker.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
The 12AU7 is the lowest gain tube in that family of tubes. The problem is not the amp. The problem is between the speaker and the source.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
I believe RFT is what came with my Mastersound amp. Although my amp used different tubes.
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