My experience with Lampizator Pacific echoes this issue. Like many, I went nuts initially with tube rolling and quickly ran into a series of bad tubes that kept blowing. I learned my lesson. I stick to trusted tubes only now. I am using KR RK 242s with the KR 5UG rectifier. I had many problems with reissued Western Electric 300Bs and eventually stopped using them in my Lampi. That said, the tube rolling lust bit me again and I’m waiting to receive a quartet of NOS Western Electric 101Ds. Fingers crossed. If you want peace of mind, stick to trusted tubes. Or get a great tube tester. I use the Amplitrex. Before I insert any tube in my Pacific I test it extensively with my Amplitrex. If you don’t use a good tube tester with Lampi DACs, you’re playing Russian roulette. They are insanely great DACs but it’s not like you can stick anything into it. It’s plug and pray if you don’t use a great tube tester.
Lampizator Horizon360 - Broadening Our Musical Horizons
- Thread starter Steve Williams
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I use the reissued 300B in my air tight. Love them. If these are not considered “trusted tubes” I don’t what are
.If you want really trusted WE 300Bs, go for the original NOS. Yes, they’re considerably more than the reissues. But far far more reliable in my experience. The original WE 300Bs are like Stradivarius violins. No one knows how to make them anymore. The secret is lost. The reissues? I have had too many issues with them in multiple products including SET amplifiers. If you want reasonably priced 300Bs that are reliable, I’d use JJ’s. They’re solid as a rock. As always, YMMV.
I’ve been using NOS WEs for 5 years now, including the ultra rare WE 422a rectifier and the 274B. They’re indestructible. I can’t tell any difference in their lifetime after 5 years. They measure the same. I’m waiting to get NOS WE 101D’s. Their predicted lifetime is over 30,000 hours. I’d like to know which modern tube manufacturer can guarantee their tubes for 30,000 hours. Tube manufacture is a lost art. I had to send back an ultra pricey ARC tube mono block that blew one of its KT150 tubes even though it was an ARC original and ARC measures the heck out of these tubes. They charge more than 2X the regular market price.
Hello All,
I want to take a moment to clarify the message posted by Lukasz, as it seems to have been interpreted beyond its intended context.
Firstly, we are not discouraging tube rolling in our DACs. What we are addressing, however, is the use of exotic tube types that we’ve never encountered, tested, or approved for use in our DACs. These tubes may work perfectly fine, but they also have the potential to cause issues.
Testing the wide range of approved tube permutations is already a significant challenge, as there are literally thousands of them. It is simply impossible to predict, let alone test, tubes that fall far outside the standard parameters—especially those requiring adapters.
While we do have DACs like the Atlantic Tube Roller's Paradise, which is specifically designed for you to enjoy tube rolling, we provide a detailed list of compatible pentodes for you to explore. However, when tube types are completely substituted—for instance, using triodes instead of pentodes in the Atlantic—it becomes difficult for us to anticipate potential issues or support warranty claims.
Even in cases where no damage occurs, problems such as excessive noise can arise from tubes that might appear compatible but aren’t a good match. I hope this illustrates the challenges we face in providing support for such scenarios.
We fully recognize that tube rolling is a big part of Lampi culture, and we’re not trying to restrict this practice. Instead, we encourage everyone to stay closer to the guidelines outlined in our approved tube rolling list to ensure a better experience for all.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Best regards,
Fred A.
I want to take a moment to clarify the message posted by Lukasz, as it seems to have been interpreted beyond its intended context.
Firstly, we are not discouraging tube rolling in our DACs. What we are addressing, however, is the use of exotic tube types that we’ve never encountered, tested, or approved for use in our DACs. These tubes may work perfectly fine, but they also have the potential to cause issues.
Testing the wide range of approved tube permutations is already a significant challenge, as there are literally thousands of them. It is simply impossible to predict, let alone test, tubes that fall far outside the standard parameters—especially those requiring adapters.
While we do have DACs like the Atlantic Tube Roller's Paradise, which is specifically designed for you to enjoy tube rolling, we provide a detailed list of compatible pentodes for you to explore. However, when tube types are completely substituted—for instance, using triodes instead of pentodes in the Atlantic—it becomes difficult for us to anticipate potential issues or support warranty claims.
Even in cases where no damage occurs, problems such as excessive noise can arise from tubes that might appear compatible but aren’t a good match. I hope this illustrates the challenges we face in providing support for such scenarios.
We fully recognize that tube rolling is a big part of Lampi culture, and we’re not trying to restrict this practice. Instead, we encourage everyone to stay closer to the guidelines outlined in our approved tube rolling list to ensure a better experience for all.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Best regards,
Fred A.
As it relates to tube rolling with my Lampi PAC2, my experience "standing on the shoulders of giants" here at WBF has been exceptionally fortuitous. The tubes I have settled on elevated the SQ tremendously beyond what the "stock" tubes provided. High quality adapters provided by @takacs75 have worked flawlessly in enabling semi-exotic tube rolling. And checking in with @LampiNA is always a good idea!
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The issue with exotic tube rolling I my experience is that once you go down that hole you can never go back to stock tubes, so as 2ndLiner says you need to use reliable source and IMHO in our little niche of users there is no one better than @takacs75 for providing the very best of the best boutique tubes and hands down the very best of adapters. I know for a fact that any and all tubes coming from him are thoroughly tested first by Tibor and then independently by @takacs75 in his own Horizon. So yes, caveat emptor but buy with confidence @takacs75 if you're going down that rabbit hole
Great info from one of the aforementioned giants upon who's (or is it whose?) shoulders I have stood
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