Question for Llano owners or others w/similar amps


Have you replaced the tubes supplied w/your Trinity or Phoenix amp? And what have you replaced them with and from where did you get the tubes?

What, if anything, do you hear as improved?

Any recs. on good 12AT7 or 12AX7 tubes?

Thanks.
Ag insider logo xs@2xrblnr
Did a search, but didn't come up w/much specific info. regarding tube choices.

Anyone else out there?
Hello Rbinr. I just bought a 2 month old Llano Phoenix CAS 300 current amp & VA2 voltage amp off of Audiogon & got a good deal. The VA2 voltage amp uses 6SN7, 6SL7 & 12SN7(12 volt version of a 6SN7) tubes. I got 4 pair of tubes with the VA2-Raytheon 6SN7 GTB, Sylvania 6SN7 GT, JAN Sylvania6SL7 WGT & G.E. 12SN7 GTA. I don't know what tubes Randy White of Llano Design Group provided with the VA2 voltage amp. Mark, the guy I bought the Llano amp from has owned 3 amps from Randy White with the Phoenix being his last amp. I used to live in Lubbock, Texas-home of Randy White & Llano Design Group formerly White Labs. Buddy Holly Country has lots of talented musicians from Lubbock-not a whole lot to do in West Texas hencemusicians practice a lot & practice makes perfectas the old saying goes. In my initial email with Mark, the previous owner asking questions about the amp-I mentioned I had lived in Lubbock from 1988-1994. Mark responded that he lived in Lubbock from 1988-1993 while working at Texas Tech University. He met Randy White while living in Lubbock and bought his first Randy White mosfet amp back then. Graduated to a Trinity amp & then a Phoenix amp with each amp having improved sonics. I did not own high end equipment back then. I was using an old 1978 Yamaha CA 810integrated amp that I retired in 1999(that old Yamaha is like a Timex, it still works perfect) when I bought a Mcintosh MC 7150 autoformer amp & C38 preamp. I like the sonics of the 6SN7 octaltriode tube. I own Welborne Labs 2A3 SET Moondogmonoblock amps & Welborne Labs Revellie tube preamp-both use the venerable 6SN7 tube. I know the Phoenix VA1 voltage amp uses 12AT7, 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AY7, 6922 & 6DJ8 family of dual triode tubes-the same tube driver design as the Llano Trinity amp. I have rolled in all 4 pair of tubes with my VA2 voltage amp and the sonics do change with the different sets of tubes used. My favorite is the Sylvania 6SN7 GT followed by G.E. 12SN7 GTA, JAN Sylvania 6SL7 WGT &Raytheon 6SN7 GTB. I am using the Llano Phoenix amp in place of my old Mcintosh MC 7150 amp with a Mcintosh C38 preamp, Mcintosh MR 77 tuner, Pioneer PD 65 cd player & 1983 Klipsch Cornwall speakers in my secondary system. The Llano Phoenix is way overkill in power-300 watts X 2 at 8 ohms but the sonics are superb in my opinion. It is a SET amp on steriods. My main system is a factory assembled Welborne Labs 2A3 SET Moondogs with the ultimate parts upgrade, factory assembl-ed Welborne Labs Revellie tube preamp, Technics ST 8077 tuner, Mcintosh MCD 7009 cd player & 1977 Klipsch Cornwall speakers. I have a collection of 6 other pairs of speakers from 1977 on that I plan on using with Llano Phoenix amp-1979 & 1980New Large Advents, 1991 JBL LX55-large bookshelf size 3 way speaker-10" woofer/5" midrange/1" titanium tweeter. 2000 Yamaha NS 10 Studio Monitors, 1996 Optimus Pro LX5 with dipole Lineumribbon tweeter & a 1978 pair of the original Bose 301's. Back in 1978 when I was 18 I thought Bose was the Cat's Meow, ah the ignorance of youth.Sorry I could not help out with the Phoenix VA1 voltage amp & Trinity tubes. Regards, Mike
WTF, I did not preview my response and the damn thing ran words together that were spaced when I typed my response. Regards, Mike
I have got some real joy with 5751 series. GE black plated extend well for both highs and bass and had a lot of life . They are cheap and the sound good I also tried some raytheon CK5751 but they a bit too transparent for me that.

Two cheap tubes with good sonic characters. Randy had the 5751 series on his old site listed as vintage sounding if that is of any help
The best tubes in my system were duMont labelled made in Holland 12AU7s. The AT and Axs made female vocals too "hard".
I owned a "Trinity", experimented with about (8) different tubes, if you can find them, Mullard "Gold Pin" 6922 -- best of all things, IMO.