Questions from a Tube Preamp newbie


I have my Rogue RP-5 back from warranty repair and I am loving how it sounds. While at Rogue, they installed 4new JJ 12au7-s tubes. Sounds great. I have some questions.

1. with about 2 hours daily playing, how long do typical preamp tubes last (I have heard Rogue's, like CJ, can be hard on tubes)

2. Do new tubes need broken in? if so, what is normal time frame?

3. Does tube rolling really make a difference on a preamp vs power amp?

4. What is the general concensus on JJ tubes for a preamp? Again, I am really happy with the sound, so I probably won't change. However, I will eventually probably get the itch.

Thanks
aberyclark

Showing 1 response by jeffstarr

Unless someone owns the same preamp, recommendations may help, but a different circuit will result in different sound.
I had a preamp that used 12au7 that was meant to stay on 24/7, it has been so long, I can't remember what I was running. But those tubes, in that circuit lasted for years.
I mostly wanted to comment on CJ, the preamps that run 6H30s, I have one a CT5, are easy on these tubes, I just replaced the tubes for the second time, after +7000 hours, and if they had deteriorated, it was so slight as I could not swear to it. The 6H30 is one of those tubes that there are only 3 options. NOS, hard to find, and if you do, a minimum of $250 for a pair, if lucky. The EH gold pins from Cyroset run me about $90, shipping included. I found about 75 hours to settle in. They get a little bright around 50hrs, then by about 75 hrs, they are done.
I used to have a preamp, that used 6CG7/6FQ7, that I rolled at least 10 different tubes through. At that time, almost everyone recommended RCA Cleartops, I found the RCA Blackplates, Toshibas, and the winner to be Mazda. If you can find someone with the same preamp, their advice will be most helpful.
Maybe I am a minority, but after a lot of rolling in two different preamps, I got tired of it. I prefer to listen to music, not tubes. My CT5 makes that easy. No fretting over is there a better choice.