Lampizator Valve / Tube Rolling Review Thread

[godofwealth]

Did an initial comparison of two Sophia Electric 274B tubes: their original highly priced mesh plate Western Electric styled models vs. the far cheaper Aqua Blue. Preliminary verdict is the Aqua are no match for the mesh plate WE 274B styled rectifiers. These are the two I compared.

The mesh plates are the ones I’d recommend getting.

Sophia Electric 274B Mesh Plate Tubes

Reviewed by Tone Audio (Issue 2) See User Reviews Pricing: Option 1: $299.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with one year warranty. Option 2: $249.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with 30 days warranty. Feedback from Mr. Fred Volz, Emotive Audio Your Sophia Electric™ mesh plate 274B is...

sophiaelectric.com

 

[Willgolf]

Is this an issue with the Pacific or Horizon? See below.


Sophia Electric Princess mesh plate 274B and rigid plate 274B tubes have been widely praised as the best sounding rectifier tubes ever made. However there is a catch - the first capacitor after the rectifier tube needs to be small. The max value allowed for the Princess 274B mesh plate is 4uf, or 8uf for the Princess 274B rigid plate. But for a typical 300B single ended amplifier, it is usually larger than 8uf. To overcome this limitation, Sophia Electric came out with a newly designed Aqua 274B rectifier tube to raise the limitation from 8uf to 47uf. This Aqua 274B can directly replace 5U4G in most amplifiers with great sonic improvement.

Aqua and WE 274B tubes would deliver 150ma-160ma of current at 430vDC per 274B tube.

 

[Charlie B.]

In my Lampizator Horizon DAC the Sophia Electric 274B Aqua sounded a little harsh and smeared sibilance in comparison to my Psvane Acme 274B. Perhaps 50 hours of use was not enough burn in time for the Aqua. The Psvane has been running for a year and beat the KR Audio RK 5U4G the Horizon came with as well. The Aqua sounds very dynamic and with a clearer bass. (All this is subjective, of course!)

 

[Sablon Audio]

@godofwealth - when you have a spare moment, I would be appreciative of your thoughts on how the sophia mesh (and any other credible options you have tried) compares to your WE274b.

 

[plasmod3]

Im trying some ECC31I got from a fellow WBF member now. SO SO different than my 6SN7–louder, bigger and more full bodied, but also less refined. Could be they need different rest/power. Also more bass, especially mid bass. The gain is about 30% more as well according to amp gauges…. Very interesting sound. Will let them warm up and see more

The ecc31 and 32s were OK but in the 6sn7 class as I have posted before the 6sn7w metal base is still the best. Suggest using it with the bendix 6384. That is a very good combination indeed with the we 274b

 

[Golum]

Suggest using it with the bendix 6384.

So you like them in H? Compared to what?

 

[Bobofei86]

Did an initial comparison of two Sophia Electric 274B tubes: their original highly priced mesh plate Western Electric styled models vs. the far cheaper Aqua Blue. Preliminary verdict is the Aqua are no match for the mesh plate WE 274B styled rectifiers. These are the two I compared.

The mesh plates are the ones I’d recommend getting.

Sophia Electric 274B Mesh Plate Tubes

Reviewed by Tone Audio (Issue 2) See User Reviews Pricing: Option 1: $299.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with one year warranty. Option 2: $249.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with 30 days warranty. Feedback from Mr. Fred Volz, Emotive Audio Your Sophia Electric™ mesh plate 274B is...

sophiaelectric.com

Are you using Pacific or Horizon to compare both SE aqua and mesh 274b?

 

[godofwealth]

Are you using Pacific or Horizon to compare both SE aqua and mesh 274b?

I compared these two rectifiers in my Triode Labs 45M monoblocks. I haven’t compared them to my Uber expensive WE 274B in my Lampi DAC yet.

Here‘s a picture of the two rectifiers side by side. Notice the mesh plate Sophia 274Bs are much larger. The difference in construction quality is obvious when you hold them in your hand. The Aquas are definitely a budget model, good at their price, but outclassed by their much larger mesh plate brethren.

 

[Golum]

Those "mesh" plates are rather "fake" mesh plates vs the ones which are done the old proper way like on the pics below. EML today is still doing them as it was once done..
Not saying those Sofia ones sound bad or whatever btw....never tried them

 

[plasmod3]

So you like them in H? Compared to what?

Everything truly. I have about 4000tubes all up, so very easy for me to roll. All types of 5u4g /274 u52s
etcetc
Kt150 kt 180 el156 all manners of 6550s el84s. All manners of Kt88 gold lion nos etcetc.

In 6sn7 position b749 b759 b65s cv181s etcetc

Am sure I am forgetting more in there... I have most tubes. I don't worry much about the new prodi tion ones though

I own www.nostubes.com.au can't list everything on there though and most I don't want to sell so priced high to discourage buyers.

 

[Rob181]

I own www.nostubes.com.au can't list everything on there though and most I don't want to sell so priced high to discourage buyers.

Geez Louise - your not kidding - if you ever get $4k US for the Genalex Gold Lion U52 PLEASE let me know - I own 2 - both genuine NOS both with original boxes & data sheets - 1 still sealed in its plastic bag. Also have about 8 x brown base U 52's - mix of Brimar/GEC/Mullard stashed away not being used.

 

[plasmod3]

Geez Louise - your not kidding - if you ever get $4k US for the Genalex Gold Lion U52 PLEASE let me know - I own 2 - both genuine NOS both with original boxes & data sheets - 1 still sealed in its plastic bag. Also have about 8 x brown base U 52's - mix of Brimar/GEC/Mullard stashed away not being used.

Exactly not keen to sell! Haha let me know if you want to sell yours.

Am not in this hobby to sell

 

[godofwealth]

Those "mesh" plates are rather "fake" mesh plates vs the ones which are done the old proper way like on the pics below. EML today is still doing them as it was once done..
Not saying those Sofia ones sound bad or whatever btw....never tried them
View attachment 100505
View attachment 100506

View attachment 100507

I haven’t heard these, so I have no reaction. But the Sophia 274B mesh plates are a “poor man’s” WE 274B. Almost as good for one fifth the price. Grab them now before they sell out…

 

[godofwealth]

These are the Triode Labs amplifiers I’m using the Sophia Electric 274B rectifiers in. For what it’s worth, I consider the 45 the perfect power tube there is. It’s considerably better than the 300B, which is lusher, but a bit muddy sounding in comparison. Far far better than the ugly sounding pentodes (KT 120, 88 etc.). The drag is you can only get 2 watts or so. But what a glorious two watts it is. Perfect for my 105 dB efficient La Scalas.

 

[Sablon Audio]

I haven’t heard these, so I have no reaction. But the Sophia 274B mesh plates are a “poor man’s” WE 274B. Almost as good for one fifth the price. Grab them now before they sell out…

This is a very good thing and I would rather prefer a new production tube if comparable in performance to the best NOS options. Avoid the crap run of questionable descriptions / uncertainty about exact versions / speculative pricing / hoarding / fears for future supply that often exists in NOS land. The days of finding nos treasures at reasonable prices are fast receding.

Whilst I haven’t tried the Sophia, the EML274b @Golum mentioned is an excellent tube and its rare (in 5v rectifier land) mesh construction lends a spaciousness to the soundstage which eludes solid plate designs.

Wrt to 45s, I agree that it is a lovely tube and EML once again make some great versions. @Blue58 here has an exceedingly rare example of an EML Globe built with tapped cathode filament. That said, respected ears tell me the 46 is even better than the 45.

 

[Sampajanna]

The ecc31 and 32s were OK but in the 6sn7 class as I have posted before the 6sn7w metal base is still the best. Suggest using it with the bendix 6384. That is a very good combination indeed with the we 274b

thanks so much! Any more information on the Bendix sound?

 

[plasmod3]

thanks so much! Any more information on the Bendix sound?

More presence and bass is cleaner

 

[highstream]

In my Lampizator Horizon DAC the Sophia Electric 274B Aqua sounded a little harsh and smeared sibilance in comparison to my Psvane Acme 274B. Perhaps 50 hours of use was not enough burn in time for the Aqua. The Psvane has been running for a year and beat the KR Audio RK 5U4G the Horizon came with as well. The Aqua sounds very dynamic and with a clearer bass. (All this is subjective, of course!)

50 hours? Try 250. I recently burned in a pair of older Philips Holland Miniwatt tubes that didn’t hit their stride until between 275 and 300 (I keep track). The difference was astonishing — and pleasing. With Sophias, such as the 274B Aqua, I’ve found 200-250 hours are needed before they stabilize.That includes time just being on, nothing playing. Making tube comparisons or evaluations definitely requires patience.

 

[Zero000]

This is a very good thing and I would rather prefer a new production tube if comparable in performance to the best NOS options. Avoid the crap run of questionable descriptions / uncertainty about exact versions / speculative pricing / hoarding / fears for future supply that often exists in NOS land. The days of finding nos treasures at reasonable prices are fast receding.

Whilst I haven’t tried the Sophia, the EML274b @Golum mentioned is an excellent tube and its rare (in 5v rectifier land) mesh construction lends a spaciousness to the soundstage which eludes solid plate designs.

Wrt to 45s, I agree that it is a lovely tube and EML once again make some great versions. @Blue58 here has an exceedingly rare example of an EML Globe built with tapped cathode filament. That said, respected ears tell me the 46 is even better than the 45.

I dumped my EML 274B a few years ago in favour of Chatham potato mashers, which in turn I no longer use.

TBH I am absolutely certain, with out any shadow of a doubt, that KR and EML do not and never have made the best examples of any type.

That said, sure, they are recent, look really pretty and are at least visually apparently nicely made. But not necessarily the best in the parameters that really count from an engineer's point of view. The best example I think of an EML valve is their AD1, which they made for me on UX4 base.

Now that's cool, even if not the best AD1. Encouraging people to even bother with this kind of tech in 2022 isn't in itself a bad thing. Even if they get beat by their forefathers

 

[2ndLiner]

Reading this thread prompted me to take a flyer on a Sophia 274B Mesh Plate in my Lampi Pacific. I have been mostly using a KR 5u4g which I prefer to the Tak 274B. Also, I use a pair of Tak 300B’s which I prefer to the KR Anniversary 242’s that came with the Pacific. I have about 10 hours on the Sophia’s and they produce lovely, textured sound, albeit with less ”snap” at this point than the 5u4g delivers. As I pretty much leave my Pacific on all the time, will burn in occur for the Sophia even when my whole system is not fired up?