Well, I re-tubed my VK-3i with tubes from Upscale just a few months ago. I called, left a message for Kevin and he called me back. I had an idea what I wanted and we discussed the merits of various tubes. He then put me on hold to go and check his notes about another customer who he seemed to recall had problems with a particular tube in my preamp. In short, I seem to get great service from Kevin but maybe you spoke with someone else. Mofi may be right in that whoever you talked to thought you had the SE version. There are other good tube sellers out there too but Kevin is definitely a good one as well. BTW, I didn't buy the BAT from him - this is my second set of tubes from Upscale and he never asked where I bought the preamp.
Upscale audio advice
I have been looking to change the tubes on my BAT VK-30 from the Russian made 6922/6h23 which work fine but am looking into upgrading them. I looked at the Upscale selection and a few options initially caught my eye. These are as follows:
1)Amperex 7308 vintage gold pin
2)Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88 Bugle Boy
3)Ediswan CV2492/6922
4)Mullard 2493/6922 & Mullard E188CC/7308
All of which, if I choose their Platinum grade, range from $70 to $110.00 each which seemed pretty reasonable to me. The problem is, their sales guys tells me that none of these are suitable for my Pre-amp. He goes on to tell me that the only units that will work are the very same 6H23's that I already have. Is this sound advice from them given the fact that I would like to spend some decent coin to upgrade or do they not wish to deal with me? I have seen in other forums that they tend to want to sell to customers who have purchased equipment from them. Is this true? I do want to change my tubes given the fact that they are about 5 yrs old and definately are due for a change. I find it hard to believe that the only option they have that will work with my VK-30 would be these cheaper $35.00 per tube units. Any further comments anybody may want to add to this or advice you may have for me?
1)Amperex 7308 vintage gold pin
2)Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88 Bugle Boy
3)Ediswan CV2492/6922
4)Mullard 2493/6922 & Mullard E188CC/7308
All of which, if I choose their Platinum grade, range from $70 to $110.00 each which seemed pretty reasonable to me. The problem is, their sales guys tells me that none of these are suitable for my Pre-amp. He goes on to tell me that the only units that will work are the very same 6H23's that I already have. Is this sound advice from them given the fact that I would like to spend some decent coin to upgrade or do they not wish to deal with me? I have seen in other forums that they tend to want to sell to customers who have purchased equipment from them. Is this true? I do want to change my tubes given the fact that they are about 5 yrs old and definately are due for a change. I find it hard to believe that the only option they have that will work with my VK-30 would be these cheaper $35.00 per tube units. Any further comments anybody may want to add to this or advice you may have for me?
Showing 3 responses by djohnson54
Vinyl, I got 4 Phillips platinum grade PCC88/7DJ8s (which are a direct replacement for 6922s) for $35 each and 2 Pope 6V6GTs at $49 each. The Pope 6V6GTs were at the suggestion of Kevin rather than the ones I had picked out (can't remember which ones now). The Phillips PCC88/7DJ8s were the ones he had to check his notes on. He thought he remembered a customer complaining they became noisy in their VK-3i but he still believed they would work. I can confirm that they work wonderfully in my preamp and they are NOT noisy. They also are not the high-dollar tubes you were apparently looking at. :) I'm very pleased for not much money ($238 plus shipping)! Dick |
Samhar, Here is Upscale's page concerning the 6922 family of tubes. As I said, the 7DJ8s are working fine in my preamp and have been for the past 5 months. Dick |