My 6922 Tubes Are Too Bright!

@steakster "My experience with EH 6922 tubes is that they were too warm and diffuse sounding. I didn’t care for them."

+1

I generally dislike the 6922, and now do my best to avoid it. In my opinion, it puts forth a hard, glassy, and even shrill sound that can reach the point where I cannot endure it. It takes a back seat to the 12AX7, 12AU7, and 6SN7, in that order.

That said, so much equipment employs this tube, and as you have come with your query, we need to find some variant that produces sound we can live with. I also agree several of the Amperex variants do pretty well, though sometimes not to the required degree. I found the grey / black / smoked glass GE 6DJ8 provides that, without losing resolution or refinement, at very reasonable cost, and recommend you give it a try

I haven't rolled a 6DJ8/equivalent in a while, but found the Mullard to be too warm and smooth, and favored a Telefunken in the particular phono stage I was using at the time. But, the Mullard might be the ticket for you--there are various primers on the general characteristics of the different brands, recognizing that the 'branding' was not always a reflection of who made the tube or where. I do recommend that you rely on a trusted vendor-- too many questionable tubes being offered on the Net. Perhaps some are bargains if you know what to look for but, even having used tubes as long as I have- since the early '70s, I prefer to deal with trusted sources.