TLC - Tube Lovers Club tube amp/preamp/phonostage owners

stevieboy

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If you've got a tube amp, one of the joys is the sheer variety of rolling options to tweak the sound of your amp or preamp or phonostage to just how you like it. So I though I'd start a thread for members to chip in with pics of the tubes they use and experiences with each so it will help others who want to perhaps buy a different pair of tubes or for those thinking of getting a tube amp. I was going through my tube stash to inventory them and found some tubes I forget I had, will be taking pics for my inventory, will post em here soon.


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
Hi stevieboy,

Your impressions on the various tubes will greatly benefit would be tube-pre owners, like me. :licklips:

N.Murali
 
Great thread Stevie boy. As an owner of a tube pre & a DAC with tube output stage, ignorant of tube rolling, it sure would help me in getting some tube gyan.
 
I have only had 2 tube amps.

The Dehavilland in the past for which i used the standard chinese 845 tubes. Never tried any other 845s.

In the present Rethm i replaced the Genalex Gold Lion KT88 with the vintage 1960 Tungsol 6550. I find the Tungsols way superior.
 
Hi,

As an owner of a tube pre & a DAC with tube output stage, ignorant of tube rolling, it sure would help me in getting some tube gyan.

Capt, if you are free next weekend we can try rolling some tubes in your pre and DAC.

I do not know what tubes your Dac uses but if I am not mistaken your pre uses ECC83's.

Regards
Rajiv
 
Capt, if you are free next weekend we can try rolling some tubes in your pre and DAC.

I do not know what tubes your Dac uses but if I am not mistaken your pre uses ECC83's.

Hey Rajiv, that's a great offer. Will touch base next weekend. Both use same tubes.
 
In my SET amp changing the 5687 input tubes made virtually no difference to the sound. Neither did changing the 5687 output buffer tube on the phonostage. The big changes came from the rectifier tubes, the output tubes on the SET amp and the 12ax7 signal tubes on the phonostage. In general the sound of the various 12ax7s are well documented on sites online like Brent Jesse and most people who try out a bunch find roughly the same results. Sound however is circuit dependent so varying degrees of change might be perceptible however a warm Mullard certainly won't sound like an extended neutralish telefunken.

One of the biggest confusion points I faced when starting off was the sheer back and forth among the tube brands. There would be tubes made in the Blackburn Mullard factory labelled philips, amperex and a host of other names and tubes made in holland labelled mulllard. Then I boned up on factory codes and it helped me snag some real bargains on ebay. Captrajesh a walking encyclopedia on tubes is coming over dont miss the opportunity :). Waiting to see if you hear a diff in the tube output buffer.


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
Captrajesh a walking encyclopedia on tubes is coming over dont miss the opportunity :). Waiting to see if you hear a diff in the tube output buffer.

Whoa whoz this and when is he coming? I presume he is coming to Bangalore; Let me know so that I can plan my trip.
 
Capt, I meant the chennai resident who's coming over to your place to roll some tubes, a few posts back :)


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
I have only had 2 tube amps.

The Dehavilland in the past for which i used the standard chinese 845 tubes. Never tried any other 845s.

In the present Rethm i replaced the Genalex Gold Lion KT88 with the vintage 1960 Tungsol 6550. I find the Tungsols way superior.

Those tungsols are supposed to be very good prem!


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
Capt, I meant the chennai resident who's coming over to your place to roll some tubes, a few posts back :)

Hey Stevieboy, having been his place and witnessing the fabulous collection of stuff he has, I was already in know of that information.

I thought there is someone in Bangalore too. Plain greed you see:D
 
Yes Stevieboy. The Tungsols are very good. But they are also very expensive. Wish there was a cheaper alternative.
 
Since there's not much response, I have decided to hive this off into part of a bigger plan I have been mulling over for a while. I have registered a blog www.valvesnvinyl.blogspot.in where I will be showcasing my vinyl journey, mods/things I did to my Garrard, needle drops of vinyl showcasing how different tubes sound, so there would be combos of say a GZ34 with all the ECC83 tubes, different rectifier tubes, different output tubes. The permutations are going to be quite a bit! It's gonna be a fun project and a really long one, but I haven't come across any such resource so it should fill a good gap. Will crosslink on YouTube. Will also aim at capturing needledrops from other vinyl users if they are ok, giving credit as necessary, to capture different setups. Let's see how that goes...
 
dQ Alert:

What's a needle drop?

dQ Alert Over:-)

My earlier setup was tube-FET hybrid. Pre was a single 6922 used in the driver stage. I think this a dual triode tube. Power had 4x 6550s per channel with 6922s acting as drivers. I think rectification is FET.

Current pre has two subminiature tubes (whose number I need to look up) in the analog stage. Power is now SS (crossed over partially to the dark side).
 
Hi,

Last evening Capt,Srini and Sashi,dropped by to listen to the Lyrita DHT pre and also roll some tubes in Captains Dac. Srini brought his Musical Fidelity A3CR pre and Music Hall DAC.

We had a great time listening to music and comparing the different equipment.We even managed to sneak in a listen to the 12 inch Wharfedale full range drivers.

The stock tubes in the DAC are a pair of JJ E88CC. I had some gold pin E88CC tubes by Mullard/Valvo/BEL etc but mostly singles. The only matched pair on hand were the BEL E88CC tubes.

The Acoustic Portrait DAC is very good. We listened to a few tracks with the stock tubes and then plugged in the BEL tubes. Capt and the others were not prepared for the change in sound as this was their first experience with tube rolling.

The BEL tubes tightened up the lower frequencies and overall the clarity and dynamics improved. The JJ tubes sound a little fuzzy to me. The BEL tubes are NOS and they need to break in. This is the first time they are being used,even without any break in period they sound very good.

The plan is for us to meet sometime next week and do some more tube rolling at Sashi's home with his Cayin amp. Will be trying out the Philips and RFT EL 34 power tubes and also the ECC81/ECC82(Mullard,Toshiba) tubes.


@Steven, looking forward to your blog and youtube links.

@Capt,here is the link to the 1000 watt tube amp made by Phillips.Check out those cool mercury vapour rectifier tubes.

Philips EL6471 playing stereo part 3 - YouTube

Bach Toccta D-Moll on 1000W Audio Tube Amplifier EL6471 - YouTube

Regards
Rajiv
 
Hi,

Pre was a single 6922 used in the driver stage. I think this a dual triode tube

It is a dual triode,and is similar to the ECC88/6DJ8/E88CC.

The 6922 is the same as the E88CC.

6DJ8 / ECC88 is the standard grade of this family. They normally have steel pins.

6922 / E88CC is a premium grade version of the 6DJ8. Most have gold pins.

Regards
Rajiv
 
Hi,

Last evening Capt,Srini and Sashi,dropped by to listen to the Lyrita DHT pre and also roll some tubes in Captains Dac. Srini brought his Musical Fidelity A3CR pre and Music Hall DAC.

We had a great time listening to music and comparing the different equipment.We even managed to sneak in a listen to the 12 inch Wharfedale full range drivers.

The stock tubes in the DAC are a pair of JJ E88CC. I had some gold pin E88CC tubes by Mullard/Valvo/BEL etc but mostly singles. The only matched pair on hand were the BEL E88CC tubes.

The Acoustic Portrait DAC is very good. We listened to a few tracks with the stock tubes and then plugged in the BEL tubes. Capt and the others were not prepared for the change in sound as this was their first experience with tube rolling.

The BEL tubes tightened up the lower frequencies and overall the clarity and dynamics improved. The JJ tubes sound a little fuzzy to me. The BEL tubes are NOS and they need to break in. This is the first time they are being used,even without any break in period they sound very good.

The plan is for us to meet sometime next week and do some more tube rolling at Sashi's home with his Cayin amp. Will be trying out the Philips and RFT EL 34 power tubes and also the ECC81/ECC82(Mullard,Toshiba) tubes.


@Steven, looking forward to your blog and youtube links.

@Capt,here is the link to the 1000 watt tube amp made by Phillips.Check out those cool mercury vapour rectifier tubes.

Philips EL6471 playing stereo part 3 - YouTube

Bach Toccta D-Moll on 1000W Audio Tube Amplifier EL6471 - YouTube

Regards
Rajiv

Hi Rajiv,

I really missed the meet as I had an urgent work to attend. :sad:

N.Murali
 
I really missed the meet as I had an urgent work to attend. :sad:

Hey Murali, what you missed was the tube rolling session at my place day before yesterday. Because of the confusion created by toob noob that I am, we ended up with wrong tubes. The tube rolling that took place was at Rajiv's place where, me and my friend Sashi took my DAC braving the tsunami ;) but were truly rewarded with some exquisite music session and equally exquisite hospitality of Rajiv.:D

As Rajiv said, I was caught unawares by the quantum of change that the replacement of the two tubes caused. For me, the resolution and sparkle of the sound was increased a few notches.

We have then replaced Rajiv's pre-amp with the Music Fidelity A3 of Srinisundar. We could immediately notice diminished sparkle and air around the stringed and wind instruments. The rather tight bass of the kick drum loosened a bit but the bass extension got a bit lower and the sound stage improved mightily.

We then replaced the rather heavy and comparatively huge AP DAC with the puny looking Music Hall DAC. It resulted in lean bass that was easily noticeable.

Nevertheless, I have no hesitation in saying that both of them (the pre and DAC of Srini) passed with flying colours.

As for my DAC, it not only passed with distinction but won Gold, literally.:ohyeah: (Rajiv was so happy with the way DAC sounded that he let me retain the Gold pinned EC88CC BEL/Mullad tubes) :yahoo:
 
Last edited:
dQ Alert:

What's a needle drop?

dQ Alert Over:-)

My earlier setup was tube-FET hybrid. Pre was a single 6922 used in the driver stage. I think this a dual triode tube. Power had 4x 6550s per channel with 6922s acting as drivers. I think rectification is FET.

Current pre has two subminiature tubes (whose number I need to look up) in the analog stage. Power is now SS (crossed over partially to the dark side).

A needle drop is a vinyl to digital rip or recording. Drop the needle and record :)

Which amp did you have? Sounds like a huge feller with 4 6550s per channel!

@rajiv,
Those blue glowing tubes look like a light show all by themselves! Mesmerizing sight indeed.


Torque ain't cheap but it sure knocks yer socks off
 
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