Why tube?
Showing 5 responses by chakster
@orpheus10 SS makes sounds, Tubes make music; to some people, sounds sound better than music, plus they dote over the lack of sound, which they call "silence", and nothing is quieter than SS, it exceeds in making no sounds, but since it wasn’t making music, the matter is moot. What? You are still in the 70s with such a strange impression of a transistor sound? Discover Pass Labs or First Watt gear, compare them to the best tube gear and you will realize the truth. I’ve been using an expensive tube push-pull amps with some of the rarest NOS tubes, now i’m using single ended class-a amps designed by Nelson Pass, made by Pass Labs and First Watt. His state-of-the-art power transistors (JFETS aka Silicon Carbide, SiC) are very special, some of them are unique Static Induction Transistor (SIT aka VFET). They are much better than tubes of any kind. And tube lovers should love it. Music lovers love tubes, and tubes are cheaper because you can double the quality of a tube phono with NOS tubes. LOL. You can double the budget for a phono stage by adding a pair of NOS tubes. |
@orpheus10 As everyone knows, Audio Research makes nice preamps; I borrowed one of their SS amps, and it was thumbs down immediately, I don't know if they still make SS amps. Nelson Pass discovered some amazing transistors, tube lovers blown away. Read more aboit SIT transistor here. Another one is Silicon Carbide (SiC) JFET here. Personally i am more happy with SS preamp (Pass Labs Aleph L and First Watt B1), SS phono stages (Gold Note PH-10 and JLTi) and SS power amps (First Watt F2J). Some of my rare tubes in my ex WLM amp. It was a great amp and great NOS tubes. I don't use tube amps anymore, but still have some amazing vintage tubes. I bet you can recognize military Telefunken E84L? Ok, how about some of the rarest japanese tubes (the small ones on this picture). Matsushita AMS 12at7WA GOLD PINS, the round logo and seamed top is a dead giveaway. Military contract, I'd bet, based on the gold pins and 3 micas. The top is domed and has gold pins. Is this extremely rare vintage high-end design. Interesting tube! I believe they call that a "pinched waist", and it was done to promote mechanical stability of the internals for low microphonics. Tubes with pinched waists go for serious $$$. Matsushita tube facilities in Japan was made by British Mullard! Tube lovers, imagine how good those military 12at7WA GOLD can be? I haven't seen tubes after 1960 with a pinched waist. Pinched waist tubes have an indented ring around the middle portion of the glass tube. They're quite rare, and thus quite expensive. The most well known pinched waist tubes are from Philips Heerlen and Valvo Hamburg. They were made mid to end 50s and have the glass pinched around the top mica spacer. I assume this was done to fight microphony. |
@orpheus10 Although NOS tubes are expensive, I would never purchase any that were even more expensive as a result of "exclusivity". Any NOS tube from military bunch made by Telefunken or Mullard in the 50s or 60s are exclussive nowadays, but you pay more for the brand. Japanese tubes are no so expensive, as far as i know British Mullard made Matsushita tube factory in Japan. Those japanese tubes are really amazing and highly competitive to the best British made Mullard, but for less $ |
@orpheus10 No, i live in Russia and i don't need Chinese tubes, we still have Soviet Military tubes from the 70's available, some people love them, some Japanese manufacturers (like Luxman) use new Russian tubes in their new made in japan amps. My ex Luxman amp was full of Russian tubes branded Luxman (i'm proud that Japanese manufacturer prefer Russian tubes over Chinese :). However, NOS vintage Telefunken, Sylvania Gold Brand, Matsushita are on another level compared to all new tubes i have tried, not even close, absolutely different experience, really. However, the Soviet military tubes are cheap as chips and amazing for its price. |