What is your favorite tube type?


With so many tubes that do different things and have different sound profiles, what is your favorite? EL34s wonderful PRaT, KT88/6550s smooth and dimensional sound, lush mids of a 300B, detail of a 2A3 or the huge soundstage of an 845? I am curious which is your favorite. What do you like about it?
128x128verdantaudio

Showing 1 response by noromance

Depends on where the tube sits. My favorite tube of all was a black plate CV5042 (of uncertain heritage) which is a military version of the 12BH7A but it was better than those. It had silent blacks and huge soundstage with exceptional detail in a cathode follower circuit.
I also loved my quad of Marconi-Osram GEC KT88s in a Tim deParavicini power amp. Delicate, tonally colorful midrange and sweet highs. Bass not great but...
Currently, my favorites are the @wolf_garcia mentioned TungSol 7581A which are seamlessly tight and clear and powerful in place of 6L6 and EL34/KT77 and, the PSVANE Globe 6SN7 with its unbelievable detail. It needs a lot of burnĀ