274B choices?

Cellcbern · Oct 18, 2022

retired farmer said:
That was the tube I wondered about the el34. I have another pair of monoblocks that are el 34 based at the moment I have electro harmonix tubes in it now I tried gold lion kt77 s in it didn't like them as much they had more detail less musicality. They are canary ca160 so there are 16 EL34's in those amps. Lol I don't want to make to many mistakes. Thanks for your shared experience. View attachment 99182

Agree with you regarding the Gold Lion KT77's. The other EL34 tube I've used that was competitive with the blue Sophia was the Psvane EL34PH - a modern version of the highly regarded NOS Phillips EL34. The Psvane sounded good but I had issues with quality control and short tube life. And of course Psvane is now out of business.

Note that Shuguang has a new 6CA7 based on a Western Electric design that I have not heard or read any reviews of:

Shuguang WE 6CA7 Plus vacuum tubes (quad or pair) – Premium Vacuum Tubes

premiumvacuumtubes.com

Bbock · Oct 18, 2022

retired farmer said:
That was the tube I wondered about the el34. I have another pair of monoblocks that are el 34 based at the moment I have electro harmonix tubes in it now I tried gold lion kt77 s in it didn't like them as much they had more detail less musicality. They are canary ca160 so there are 16 EL34's in those amps. Lol I don't want to make to many mistakes. Thanks for your shared experience. View attachment 99182

I recently retubed my Manley amps with the Sophia Aqua EL34-st. I needed 20 of them , so no small investment. I was coming off of late 1980’s SED Winged C’s. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Frequency extension, clarity and articulation was noticeably better. After that I decided to try their 274B in my preamp, moving from Philips Miniwatt GZ 34 metal base. Again, the Sophia’s moved the benchmark forward and I heard better frequency extension and clarity in the midrange. The Philips were a little opaque in the midrange.

Lately , I’ve been trying a number of NOS rectifiers in my recently upgraded Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP( engine 11). So far the Sophia 274b takes top honors.

facten · Oct 18, 2022

Cellcbern said:
And of course Psvane is now out of business

Curious, where have you seen that Psvane is out of business?

christoph · Oct 18, 2022

retired farmer said:
I bought a pair of Sophia 274b blue tubes for my line magnetic 124a monoblocks. They are supposed to e delivered today. And yes one on the main suppliers I use recommended the tak 274b tube s but considering this is in a bedroom system I decided that I would try these first. I am hopeful that they will sound old school tube. I am looking for tone and beauty mainly. A really simple system a krell kps20i to a set of long interconnects to the line magnetic monoblocks I use the volume control on the amps driving equation 25 speakers. Waiting for a matched quad of 6l6 tung sol large bottle tubes to come into stock to parts connection and I will order them. Looking forward to having the sohpia 284s getting here later today.

Hello rf

Welcome to the What's Best Forums.

I really liked the Sophia blue EL34 tubes in my Lampi TRP but have no experience with the Sophia blue 274b.
Please let us know about your findings.

Cheers,
Christoph

Cellcbern · Oct 18, 2022

facten said:
Curious, where have you seen that Psvane is out of business?

I was told that a bunch of Psvane engineers left the company to form Linlai Global Vacuum Tubes, and that Psvane would cease production, but that could be wrong.

FYI: https://linlaiglobal.com/

There is also this from Grant Fidelity :

For Immediate News Release: Grant Fidelity will discontinue the entire Psvane line as of 8pm MST, Feb 7th, 2021 – Premium Vacuum Tubes

premiumvacuumtubes.com

Clearly things have changed for Psvane, but maybe they are still in business. I would not buy their tubes again given the QC issues I've experienced.

facten · Oct 18, 2022

Cellcbern said:
I was told that a bunch of Psvane engineers left the company to form Linlai Global Vacuum Tubes, and that Psvane would cease production, but that could be wrong.

FYI: https://linlaiglobal.com/

There is also this from Grant Fidelity :

For Immediate News Release: Grant Fidelity will discontinue the entire Psvane line as of 8pm MST, Feb 7th, 2021 – Premium Vacuum Tubes

premiumvacuumtubes.com

Clearly things have changed for Psvane, but maybe they are still in business. I would not buy their tubes again given the QC issues I've experienced.

Yes, I'm familiar with the above, but Psvane is still in business; a number of venues to obtain them from including VivaTubes in the US. The personnel leaving issue is similar to how Psvane itself got started, some left Shugugang. Understand your QC concern, no reason to keep buying them with other options available.

retired farmer · Oct 18, 2022

Cellcbern said:
Agree with you regarding the Gold Lion KT77's. The other EL34 tube I've used that was competitive with the blue Sophia was the Psvane EL34PH - a modern version of the highly regarded NOS Phillips EL34. The Psvane sounded good but I had issues with quality control and short tube life. And of course Psvane is now out of business.

Note that Shuguang has a new 6CA7 based on a Western Electric design that I have not heard or read any reviews of:

Shuguang WE 6CA7 Plus vacuum tubes (quad or pair) – Premium Vacuum Tubes

premiumvacuumtubes.com

Well they arrived today. In the first few minutes definitely more resolution. The base hits hard down low and tuneful. First of folks like some well spent money. Waiting for a quad of 6l6 to come thinking tomorrow. I am not to hopeful about those but they were not to bad for money I bought a quad of the tad 6l6 tubes for this amp. Finally read a review about them in something other than a guitar amp and it was not good. See what they are like.

retired farmer · Oct 18, 2022

Bbock said:
I recently retubed my Manley amps with the Sophia Aqua EL34-st. I needed 20 of them , so no small investment. I was coming off of late 1980’s SED Winged C’s. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Frequency extension, clarity and articulation was noticeably better. After that I decided to try their 274B in my preamp, moving from Philips Miniwatt GZ 34 metal base. Again, the Sophia’s moved the benchmark forward and I heard better frequency extension and clarity in the midrange. The Philips were a little opaque in the midrange.

Lately , I’ve been trying a number of NOS rectifiers in my recently upgraded Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP( engine 11). So far the Sophia 274b takes top honors.

Yes I gets a bit pricey when the tube numbers go up. And a person doesn't want to make a mistake. Glad to hear that you like them. Lol you have 4 more tubes than I do. Yes it gets a it breath taking the total bill. Regards

retired farmer · Oct 18, 2022

christoph said:
Hello rf

Welcome to the What's Best Forums.

I really liked the Sophia blue EL34 tubes in my Lampi TRP but have no experience with the Sophia blue 274b.
Please let us know about your findings.

Cheers,
Christoph

A other good report on sohpia EL34's. Thank you for sharing. The other thing going on is these amps are lighting fast and I believe they are faster now. Wow in fact I have never heard an amp as fast as these and they just got better. And yes I have both heard and read from people how much better the tak 274b tubes are but that is quote a ig hit going up that high. From 200 a tube to 1500 a tube is a big jump. I wanted to hear for myself one of sohpia electric s products. Happy after the first half hour a few days should be able to know more.

Regards

Willgolf · Oct 21, 2022

I am super happy with the Sophia Electric Aqua 274B. It is 1/5 the cost of the Tak 274B.

retired farmer · Oct 21, 2022

Yes there is definitely a cost/value ratio in hi-fi.

Sablon Audio · Oct 22, 2022

Bbock said:
I recently retubed my Manley amps with the Sophia Aqua EL34-st. I needed 20 of them , so no small investment. I was coming off of late 1980’s SED Winged C’s. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Frequency extension, clarity and articulation was noticeably better. After that I decided to try their 274B in my preamp, moving from Philips Miniwatt GZ 34 metal base. Again, the Sophia’s moved the benchmark forward and I heard better frequency extension and clarity in the midrange. The Philips were a little opaque in the midrange.

Lately , I’ve been trying a number of NOS rectifiers in my recently upgraded Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP( engine 11). So far the Sophia 274b takes top honors.

A friend with a Leben 600 prefers the Aqua el34s to both the Mullard and Philips nos he previously used.

Wrt rectifiers, I have done some rolling in my Baltic which you can read about in post 475 onwards in the link below. Although I haven't tried the Aqua, I do concur with your views about the Philips metal and also recommend trying the cheap Brimar 5z4gy as it is a giant killer for pennies.

LampizatOr Baltic 3

Hello Everyone, Is anyone in this forum using boutique footers on the Baltic 3 ? Just wondering if it makes any sound improvement on it Thank you ! I wrote few pages back (but worth repeating) that I'm using the Graphite Audio IC-35 footers, this is another brand from Poland and LampizatOr...

whatsbestforum.com

retired farmer · Oct 22, 2022

The blue sohpia 274b tubes are coming along beautifully been played about 20 hours now. Very smooth and detailed fast and they go deep and tuneful.

DasguteOhr · Oct 22, 2022

retired farmer said:
Well they arrived today. In the first few minutes definitely more resolution. The base hits hard down low and tuneful. First of folks like some well spent money. Waiting for a quad of 6l6 to come thinking tomorrow. I am not to hopeful about those but they were not to bad for money I bought a quad of the tad 6l6 tubes for this amp. Finally read a review about them in something other than a guitar amp and it was not good. See what they are like.

Good choice 6l6 tube plays finer as el34 more resolution and smoother.Tad tubes most sovtek or svetlana s.
My tip for the next time a 7581 tube tungsol is a killer tube. Have with your tubes.
P.S 5 watt more anode capacity as 6l6

retired farmer · Oct 22, 2022

Is this the tube you are thinking?

DasguteOhr · Oct 22, 2022

retired farmer said:
Is this the tube you are thinking?
View attachment 99316

Yes ..a great sounding tube

retired farmer · Oct 22, 2022

There are two tubes I have been wanting to try. First off was the 6l6 tung sol big bottle tube. The other I wrote to sohpia electric and they said they were making some 6l6 tubes next summer. That was the way I was thinking. The amps are a pair of line magnetic 124a monoblocks. Based on the western electric design. I was told the transformers were new old stock western electric not sure of that I read something that said different. No matter which way there are only two power tubes per amp so not so bad buy a few quads to try. The problem I find is almost all reviews are guitar reviews I think they are looking for different things.

I have three system s with monoblocks in many ways I think these are the best amps I own. As earlier I talked about the canary ca160 s they are very nice I am thinking that there is some tuning needs to be done to get them to there best. Tube changes. They have the power thing going for them and the sense of easy that gives you. I have them set on triod mode I prefer that ro the ultra linear setting. I have a set of recapped mark levinson 33h monoblocks. They are very nice but I am thinking that I prefer tubes to solid state. Lol it has taken me 30 years to discover that. The front end of that system is all tube based so I have incorporated a bit of the tube flavor into the big system. The line magnetic monoblocks are certainly lower powered and the could not run the speakers I had them picked out for but that was just a move around thing. Really enjoying this setup. I was wanting a ser amp either with 811s or 300b s but thought I would try this after I listened to it am much cheaper tubes in it was the final decision and what it was based on.

retired farmer · Oct 22, 2022

DasguteOhr said:
Yes ..a great sounding tube

Thank you I will give the tags a listen when they get here but thinking I made a mistake. Lol already talked to a guitar amo fried and told him I would give him the quad if I didn't like them. Lol so I might order a quad of these fairly soon. The write ups also look good.

Bbock · Oct 22, 2022

Sablon Audio said:
A friend with a Leben 600 prefers the Aqua el34s to both the Mullard and Philips nos he previously used.

Wrt rectifiers, I have done some rolling in my Baltic which you can read about in post 475 onwards in the link below. Although I haven't tried the Aqua, I do concur with your views about the Philips metal and also recommend trying the cheap Brimar 5z4gy as it is a giant killer for pennies.

LampizatOr Baltic 3

Hello Everyone, Is anyone in this forum using boutique footers on the Baltic 3 ? Just wondering if it makes any sound improvement on it Thank you ! I wrote few pages back (but worth repeating) that I'm using the Graphite Audio IC-35 footers, this is another brand from Poland and LampizatOr...

whatsbestforum.com

I will definitely try the Brimar. I’ve also had good luck with a NOS RCA 5U4G. Very reasonably priced. Probably the best bass definition I’ve heard.

retired farmer · Oct 22, 2022

Bbock said:
I will definitely try the Brimar. I’ve also had good luck with a NOS RCA 5U4G. Very reasonably priced. Probably the best bass definition I’ve heard.

Will take be a direct substitute?

274B choices?

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