What's with BAT?

  Here's hoping it helps, somehow.  Happy listening! 

Hello, slaw- Generally speaking, it seems most that use the term, "musical", are referring to tubes that add warmth to their system. Siemens won’t. The early to mid 60’s, grey shield, internally date coded, CCa is a very neutral/clean tube, with beautiful extension(in both directions) and great sound stage. The later ones(CCa’s), with the silver shield, can be kinda zingy on top(for my tastes), but- most everything else is still there. Mullard and Ediswan made 7308/E188CC tubes that will probably fulfill your desires/tastes, if you’re looking for warmth.  Amperex, a bit less warmth than those two.  Just be certain to ask for tubes graded, "low noise". I bought a number of excellent Siemens tubes(mostly E188CC & CCa) from this guy, back when he had them: (http://www.ebay.com/usr/audiotubes_de?_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2754) I haven’t bought any nine-pins in a few years(thankfully, given the current price of my preferences) and can’t find a link to the other sellers. One was in Argentina and it took the package of CCa’s 6 weeks to get to me. Yeah, I was sweating! Upscale Audio tests and grades their tubes for noise and a plethora of other parameters. (https://www.upscaleaudio.com/collections/preamp-tubes/6922-6dj8-7308-pcc88)

That’s what I thought. I was aware of the tube, but- never saw it used, prior to BAT’s VK-D5SE(et al). I’m with you, when it comes to the most excellent 6SN7, but- I don’t believe anyone made a quieter tube than the Siemens CCa(six, in my VK-D5). From what I hear, the German and Dutch Posts were pretty picky!

Hello Ralph- Do you know of anyone, stateside, that actually incorporated the 6H30 in their designs/products, before BAT('98/'99)?

The Russian 6H30 was actually introduced to the USA by BAT(who has as it’s designer a genuine Russian rocket scientist). The tube is more efficient than the previous 6DJ8/6922, allowing less tubes in circuit, to perform the same job. ie: My VK-D5 uses six 6922s(early sixties, Siemens CCa Grey Shields) vs the VK-D5 SE’s four 6H30s. It’s also an innately quieter design, which makes it attractive for high-gain devices. Nowhere near as many variants/iterations as the manufactured for many decades, by a plethora of providers, with as many sonic signatures, 6DJ8/6922/ECC88/6N23P types.