2. amps-preamps
  3. 193791-199096

Suggestions for Preamp Tubes

Friends,

I seek your suggestions for preamp tubes.  My preamp is a Quicksilver remote control line stage preamp that came equipped with two 6DJ8 tubes.  Mike Sanders, who built the preamp, confirmed that I can substitute  the stock tubes with 6N1P, 6AQ8, 6922, or 7308 tubes.  The treble seems a bit bright, although the bass and mids seem lovely to me with the 6DJ8 tubes.  Should I try another option from among these alternatives?

The other components in my system are:

Audiolab CD transport

Cambridge Audio CXN100 Streamer

Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M

The aforementioned Quicksilver preamp

A custom tube amp with four Tung Sol KT150's

and Klipsch Cornwall IV's.

Any suggestions on whether to swap the preamp tubes and, if so, with recommended options will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jay

jksimmons
carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

That is an excellent tube for rolling.  Do some reading and try a lot of different tubes.  there ae lost of options, all with a different sound.  

audition__audio
1,599 posts
 

My favorite 6DJ8 has always been the Amperex early to mid 1960s production. Still reasonably priced. If you can get the tubes guaranteed to be noise and microphonics free. The tubes may not be to blame in regards to your system's bright quality.

jksimmons OP
3 posts
 

Thanks to all of you for these wonderfully helpful responses. I am grateful for the good advice. @bojcak, glad to know that your experience with this unit has been so positive. Thanks again, everyone.

awise1961
82 posts
 

I have have had very good results using Siemens ECC88 (6922) vintage tubes fro both my current CJ GAT preamp and my previous Sonic Frontiers SFL-2. The Siemens CCA is yet another level better, but are rare as hen's teeth and obscenely expensive, My second favorite is the vintage Philips Miniwatt 6922.

newbee
4,794 posts
 

If brightness is a problem and you want a bit of warmth you might try JJ 6922's. They don't get great press (JJ in general). They aren't NOS either, but they are inexpensive. I used them for some years in both a pre-amp and CDP with great success.  FWIW, they aren't noisy either. Of all of the new production tubes they get my vote if 'brightness' is an issue. 

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