Jolida 202a Tube Rolling Question 12ax7 12at7


Hi guys, a while back I purchased a jolida 202A to power my desktop speakers. I like the combination very much for accoustic/percussion music as nothing can quite beat it. However my $200 14 watt hong-kong amp is better for rock.
Before testing the other amp I thought it was simply a property of the speakers. But after putting the Jolida in my main setup I'm experiencing the same downfalls.

I don't really know how to pick tubes in order to get the qualities I'm looking for, so I was hoping that you guys could help out.

What I like about the sound now:
-Crisp details throughout the frequency spectrum
-Very speedy attack and decay on accoustic instruments

What I don't like:
-Very dry quality in the upper mids / lower HF
-Not enough tube bloom and warmth, too sterile
-The distortion at high power isn't like my little class A, (which just tends to get more blended and bloomy) but instead sounds rather grating in the high end and loses the bass.

Tubes I'm using right now:
4x JJ E34L's - Power
2x Electro-Harmonix 12ax7's in the preamp circuit
2x PhillipsECG 12AT7's as power drivers

I believe that the amp originally came with 4x 12AT7's though.
robxmccarthy
I'll try out some mullards and see what the result is.

The Teles are very intriguing, but the price range is far from attractive.
Robx - don't know if you saw my post relative to Jolida 502B tube upgrade. It's at the link below...might be of some interest.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1172525591&openmine&zzGhosthouse&4&5#Ghosthouse
Tubes I'm using right now (replacing the stock JJ's):
4x Electro-Harmonix
2x telefunkien 12ax7's
2x GE 12AT7's
power cable - Zu BOK

The sound was all warm until I installed the GE tubes, then everything went a bit brighter on me. The sound surprised me so much that I bought a couple more for back up. I think I'll try some Ei 6CA7 fat bottles next. Thanks for the suggestion Montytx