@audioman58 , thanks for the info. I just ordered a quad set of the new art series, will see how they sound. best.
PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" 2020 production run of small signal/driver tubes
Re-testing year 2020 production run of these tubes. Would like to hear from others who’ve re-tried recent production?
>>PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" small signal/driver tubes made in year 2020"
Background:
After following stories about TJ Full Music’s founder passing, and the son reselling tooling of all of the small signal tubes to PSVANE, and recent luck over the past year with TJ 6SN7 tubes for my preamp, I thought I’d give the new PSVANE small tubes a retry. Checking to see if any designs or manufacturing goodness made it over to PSVANE yet from TJ. Also, took advantage of an opportunity to buy these direct from a major overseas distributor, direct. So far so good. Comparing to other known vintage tubes. Also following AudioNote’s recent use of PSVANE tubes in their preamplifiers, amplifiers, integrated amplifiers.
GOAL:
Find something "close enough" and hoard away all my vintage tubes. An improvement is always great too.
COMPARISONS to vintage, others:
-Currently comparing to my vintage stash of 1960s Mullard "Blackburn", Tungsram, RCA, Sylvania, others.
-Also comparing to prior 2012 versions of these same PSVANE tubes made over eight years ago.
-No need to compare to new re-issue Mullard or JJ or other. Seems these new PSVANE are on a different level.
INITIAL Impression first 20 hours:
-a tad harsh and grainy
-midrange is obvious
-top end not rolled off
-sound stage front row, initially
-decent, interesting
AFTER 72 hours burn-in:
-smoothing out nicely, not there yet, close
-sound stage dropping back to mid-hall
-texture starting to come in
-nice midrange, top end smoothing out more
-tone of piano and guitars shaping up nicely
-Nice, haven’t pulled them yet!
APPLICATION
My mono tube amplifiers
(2) Input tubes; 12AU7s
(2) driver tubes; 12AT7s
Friend testing in his preamp
(2) Input, preamp: 12AX7s
------------------------------
REQUEST:
Would like to hear from others who’ve re-tried recent 2020 production of PSVANE 12AU7 or 12AT7 or 12AX7 ?
What are you hearing, are they better than prior PSVANE versions you tried years ago? Similar findings or ???
>>PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" small signal/driver tubes made in year 2020"
Background:
After following stories about TJ Full Music’s founder passing, and the son reselling tooling of all of the small signal tubes to PSVANE, and recent luck over the past year with TJ 6SN7 tubes for my preamp, I thought I’d give the new PSVANE small tubes a retry. Checking to see if any designs or manufacturing goodness made it over to PSVANE yet from TJ. Also, took advantage of an opportunity to buy these direct from a major overseas distributor, direct. So far so good. Comparing to other known vintage tubes. Also following AudioNote’s recent use of PSVANE tubes in their preamplifiers, amplifiers, integrated amplifiers.
GOAL:
Find something "close enough" and hoard away all my vintage tubes. An improvement is always great too.
COMPARISONS to vintage, others:
-Currently comparing to my vintage stash of 1960s Mullard "Blackburn", Tungsram, RCA, Sylvania, others.
-Also comparing to prior 2012 versions of these same PSVANE tubes made over eight years ago.
-No need to compare to new re-issue Mullard or JJ or other. Seems these new PSVANE are on a different level.
INITIAL Impression first 20 hours:
-a tad harsh and grainy
-midrange is obvious
-top end not rolled off
-sound stage front row, initially
-decent, interesting
AFTER 72 hours burn-in:
-smoothing out nicely, not there yet, close
-sound stage dropping back to mid-hall
-texture starting to come in
-nice midrange, top end smoothing out more
-tone of piano and guitars shaping up nicely
-Nice, haven’t pulled them yet!
APPLICATION
My mono tube amplifiers
(2) Input tubes; 12AU7s
(2) driver tubes; 12AT7s
Friend testing in his preamp
(2) Input, preamp: 12AX7s
------------------------------
REQUEST:
Would like to hear from others who’ve re-tried recent 2020 production of PSVANE 12AU7 or 12AT7 or 12AX7 ?
What are you hearing, are they better than prior PSVANE versions you tried years ago? Similar findings or ???
Showing 9 responses by johnss
Will throw in my 2 cents since I have dumped a lot of coin in TJ Full Music, PSVANE and Shuguang pre and power tubes. When TJ Full Music valve were first released, they were one of the first Chinese tube brands to really look at construction materials inside the valve and how these materials affected the sound. Shuguang and PSVANE have taken that concept much further and looked into more materials and run many experiments on sonic qualities. The latest Shuguang Western Electric KT88 Plus power tubes are now my favorite power tube, very organic sounding without being overly warm.... with regards to input 12A_ _ series, the PSVANE T-IIs were my favorite until Shuguang released their black carbon 12A__ _ series, Both are really good but the nod goes to the shuguang black carbons if I had to choose. PSVANE recently released their own black carbon under the Cossor Brand name. Have not tried them so can't offer any input. as far as reliability, have had no issues with the input tubes. With power tubes have had a couple of KT88s fail on me. Would say the reliability may not be quite as good as the Russian Gold Lion KT88, but the for the improvement in sonics, am willing to buy a few spares on the power tubes to get that sound. The Chinese are also quite proud of their tubes and charge more than similar Russian made valves, so no deals here. Expect to pay considerably more for the Shuguang WE KT88 plus or the latest PSVANE Gray glass power tubes, than you would for a quad set of GL KT88s. |
@decooney I have the TJ 6SN7s, they are nice tubes. If your budget can swing it, opt for the Shuguang WE6SN7 Plus coke bottles with the red bases. They are considerably fatter (much larger glass envelope) than a typical 6sn7, so may need to measure for mechanical fit or clearance, but if they have the clearance, they will audibly outperform the TJ valves as well as sylvania chrome tops, and the famous red base RCAs . so far have had no reliability issues with these input valves. |
@tooblue yes, read your post. Think you will like the WE6SN7s in the Had amp. I have one of Dennis Had's Inspire amps that runs all octal output tubes (not sure what the HP amp uses). The Inspire amp one of my favorite sounding amps, just wish it had a bit more power. I run WE 6SN7 in the input, and WE KT88 Plus for the outputs. The 88s give up a few watts to KT150s, but the sonics improvement is well worth the few watts lost. if your Inspire HP amp has toobe rectifier, you may want to insert the PSVANE 274 HIFI grade rectifier. It peels back another layer of veiling. I used to think there were small to no differences between rectifier tubes, but was wrong on that one. best regards |
Over the last 2 weeks or so, have been listening to the new PSVANE Art series of 12AU7-S and 12AX7-S.Short reply is, the new ART series is a very nice, organic sounding tube. Tried both AX7-S and AU7-S. (AU7s in preamp, AX7s in phono stage. Compared AU7-S series to NOS Telefunken AU7s, PSVANE T-IIs, Shuguang T series, Shuguang TG black carbon series, Mullard Blackburn 12AU7s, RCA black Plate 5814s.. Compared to original 'VANE T-II series, the new Art series has the top end brightness tamed down, still plenty of detail, much more organic midrange, similar bass performance. Very good imaging. Would fit the ART series in between the T-II series and the Shuguang TG series on brightness and midrange qualities. For some, the T-II VANEs were very revealing, but may have been a touch on the lean side. The new ART series is more open sounding than Shuguang T series or TG series, with similar midrange qualities of these two Shuguang tubes. Tried the AU7 brands in two different preamps, with similar results. Would have to say PSVANE has done their homework on materials used in the plate and cathode construction. The new ART series seems to be a well balanced valve all the way around. Ordering several more sets this afternoon. |
I have used all of the ART series up (3 pairs of ART-S). Had one fail at 2 months, one fail at 6 months and the balance were shot at roughly a year. They do sound more musical than the T-II series. Depending on the amp or preamp they are plugged into, ELFs can be a problem with the VANEs. Have now gone back to RCA 5814 Black plates which are a really nice sounding tube and are much more reliable than the PSVANEs. |
Vivatubes is a great seller and does try to filter out the duds. Have bought quite a few dozen tubes from them. Both Chinese and Russian. Some duds still can get through. Not sure if the packaging on the China sourced tubes has much of an effect or not/ My guess is (based on the test results) the super wide variability, and ELFs in manufacturing at the factory coupled with a mile wide test spec at Shuguang and PSVANE. And in China there are tubes scrapped. Everything gets sold. And you really can't use these in any gear that pushes the tube right at the design limits such as VTL or ARC. You will end up with fireworks.
I have tested quite a few new tubes from both mfgrs. in the maximatcher. Test results are all over the map from completely worn out to spectacular. Think a lot of getting a great tube or a dud tube is luck of the draw on which tubes a buyer gets. If a person has a large stash of NOS US and Euro tubes I certainly would not think about dumping the stash in favor of these Chinese tubes. I have a pretty large stash of RCA 5814 black plates so have reverted back to these. For power tubes have switched back to EH or the Tungsol Russian re-issues.
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