Sonic impact of tube used of overall design?
- Thread starter caesar
- Start date
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Only tube rolling will give you the answers. IMO the sky is the limit.
I have played with tube rolling on my amps but not my preamps. For my ears the single best tube to get results (depending which your amp uses) in tube rolling is the 12AX7 or the 12AT7 these are the first tubes the signal sees.
I managed to find an NOS pair of the Holy Grail of 12AX7's, the Telefunken ECC803S with diamond bottom, gold pins and special getter. If you can find an authentic pair of these you will never look for another tube. They give easily 10,000 hours of use so will last a life time
I bought my pair 2 years ago at $750/pair
Here is a pair on eBay, NOS and never used
http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-Telefunken-E...pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item20b4e05aef
I have played with tube rolling on my amps but not my preamps. For my ears the single best tube to get results (depending which your amp uses) in tube rolling is the 12AX7 or the 12AT7 these are the first tubes the signal sees.
I managed to find an NOS pair of the Holy Grail of 12AX7's, the Telefunken ECC803S with diamond bottom, gold pins and special getter. If you can find an authentic pair of these you will never look for another tube. They give easily 10,000 hours of use so will last a life time
I bought my pair 2 years ago at $750/pair
Here is a pair on eBay, NOS and never used
http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-Telefunken-E...pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item20b4e05aef
Specif types of tube have some impact in the sound of the amplifier, but tubes have not a typical sound per se - its effect will always depend on the circuit of the equipment you are using.
I have some experience with tube rolling in VTL's, Jadis and a friends VAC equipment.
The best sounding tubes for one of them are not the best for the other, and our opinion can change with the system. The nice thing about tube rolling is that you can change a little the sound of your equipment, but do not expect to find some tubes that make ARC equipment sound like Lamm's.
When doing tube rolling you have to use aged tubes - otherwise you are not doing a fair test. In equipment without feedback the gain of the stage will vary with the tube trans-conductance and you will be mainly noticing the difference in sound level due the normal difference between parameters of equivalent tubes and associating it with sound quality!
Do not forget to look for the posts about tube rolling in the VTL thread.
I have some experience with tube rolling in VTL's, Jadis and a friends VAC equipment.
The best sounding tubes for one of them are not the best for the other, and our opinion can change with the system. The nice thing about tube rolling is that you can change a little the sound of your equipment, but do not expect to find some tubes that make ARC equipment sound like Lamm's.
When doing tube rolling you have to use aged tubes - otherwise you are not doing a fair test. In equipment without feedback the gain of the stage will vary with the tube trans-conductance and you will be mainly noticing the difference in sound level due the normal difference between parameters of equivalent tubes and associating it with sound quality!
Do not forget to look for the posts about tube rolling in the VTL thread.
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Hi Caesar, I am a BIG believer in tube rolling. With my Cat Sig preamp, prior to rolled in tubes, the unit was good and competed well against most tube pre-amps. Still with the stock tubes, the CAT would suffer in comparison to some of the best BAT preamps for instance. With rolled in tubes, the CAT was lifted to a different plane; now with NOS GE JAN Large plates and Valvos we're talking almost a different preamp
Far more resolving and able to now compete with the best tube preamps, IMHO.
Same with my ARC amp, rolled in tubes are helping greatly there too.
One caveat though, you can roll in tubes and easily make things worse rather than better, so experimentation is the way to go..when it's right you really know it.
Agree with Steve, the sky is the limit
Far more resolving and able to now compete with the best tube preamps, IMHO.
Same with my ARC amp, rolled in tubes are helping greatly there too.
One caveat though
, you can roll in tubes and easily make things worse rather than better, so experimentation is the way to go..when it's right you really know it.Agree with Steve, the sky is the limit
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You and Jim have a lot in common Steve. He's very big on the 803S as well. The countdown continues.........
Agree with Steve. Also changing my stock Jadis KT88 on my late DA50 for Genelec NOS KT88 yielded incredible results.
Thanks. My VTL currently has a tube called Brimar plugged into it.
Are these tubes not available from reputable tube companies that cater to audiophiles that one has to resort to trusting someone on ebay? Thanks
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
IIRC, Brimar was a British made tube in conjunction with Mullard, which BTW, also made a wonderful 12AX7 tube
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