I don't trust the flimsy $5 ones on ebay, had one before and gave me incorrect readings. 

 

What do you mean by good middle ground?

yea... I wouldn't trust that...

I think it's the best of both. The Bravo is SUPER modable, the sunrise sounds good and the Indeed in between those two.

 

Still though I'm having a 12-ua7 millet Max hybrid shipped out to me today so... I like my indeed but I still want something well better [the millet comes with some nice tubes and I (once again) got it pretty cheaply. Same price as my indeed]) as I really hate adjusting the bias on the indeed -.-. It's going to b my primary EDM tube. I might look into a better tube for edm. Airy'r highs bigger (but still tight) bass...

 

any suggestions on a bass head tube ;3

 

Amperex, Mullard, RCA or GE's.

What about mids? You'd like more mids alongside more treble and more bass, right?

Anyway, check out an Amperex or British Mullard for a warmer signature, but the difference is going to seem like less than double the "gain" of any one short range of frequencies. Nothing's really going to be "vibrating the trunk" car subwoofer basshead, so I'm just cautioning you to manage expectations.

Also, really, just get a multimeter. Yeah, I got one of those $5 multimeters (a black one on amazon), yeah, maybe I risked getting an inferior product, but mine zeros at zero when the probes don't have contact, and it makes biasing much faster and more accurate than I was able to adjust by ear. I don't intend any other uses for it, so... $5 seems about right.
Edited by Evshrug - 2/21/13 at 5:39pm

 

Indeed G3 I meant in terms of overall quality version cost.

 

Seems like most agree in that regard.

While all valves "color" the audio in some manner (It is called "tube sound."), what an audiophile craves is to hear it as it was recorded. Pure and pristine... Yeah, that being said, we do have our individual tastes in audio. The clear, crispness of a telefunken might make a basshead shelve the tube as defective. All components from the power supply to the type of material the phones are made from affect the final rendering of the audio (including the vagaries of each person's ears).

 

Evshrug is dead on with his assessment about bass levels. I don't know of a "bass tube," but a GOOD audio 10K cap off the PS is a great way to start improving the bass in your setup. My advice is make your setup as clean and detriment free as you can, then buy yourself a set of cans that are marketed to bassheads.

 

My college freshman wanted studio beats for her recent birthday (at ~$285, ain't no way) and though I had NO intentions to buy them, I did demo them. They are the headphone equivalent of subwoofers and mid-bass speakers loaded into a car, albeit cleaner sounding. I only needed about 7 seconds of Alicia Keys singing "No One" to decide that a lot of professional athletes will be deaf before they're 40 and/or suffer from dementia pugilistica. OMG!

 

If your pocketbook says no to beats, there's always skullcandies or stuff with EB attached to it. If you get something else, closed cans boom better IME than open ones. YMMV

 

EDIT: I've been using this MM for over 2 years: 

Cen-Tech 7 Function Digital AC/DC Multimeter 90899

Google it... 

Edited by Judge Buff - 2/22/13 at 8:08am

-.- I'm well aware of that my friend. I own the Dt 880 Pro 250's and THEY DEMAND CLEAN PRINSTINE NON EQ'd TUBE sound. But for my Xb 700s and soon to b my Dt 990s [because I ONLY LIKE Non linear bass when I listen to techno] So yea, for my Techno an Edm cans I'd like a bassier tube. I have a lame ole Harmonix EH6992 in my indeed and I'd like a tighter bassed tube and one with a little more airy highs. And I don't expect a HUGE imporvement just something a little tighter in the bass and airy in the Highs. as my Indeed G3 has a "bass boost" on it so it's my EDM tube hybrid Amp and that being said a better tube would be worth while for it

 

Now Judge Bluff, I'm at 2k posts SO :D I know my bass Head Cans as well as what kind of bass I like. I enjoy Closed and Open Bass, I actually like open bass a little over  closed, since it's a little tighter. But I do have the cans for BASS HEAD. Just not a good cleaner tube [because that is a good point u made] for use with a Bass Boost and Bass BOOSTED eq. An as I mentioned b4 I own an Xb 700 for Closed bass n I'm getting a dt 990 as a open mid bass can <3 [and yea I don't need more "mids" for my EDM as the tube already adds enough. N I like Super V Shaped techno xD]

 

Now I'm getting a 12ua7 Millet Max WhipLash with  5963 RCA 12ua7s, so I'm hoping that will b a big improvement over my current EH6992 Indeed G3. My dt 880 Pro 250's [are as you all know very linear] N since they are not as warm as the 600 ohm they need a great tube! So I'm hoping the RCA 5962 12ua7 will add a little more mids to my dt 880s, in addtion I'm getting an oDac which should help two fold in line with my new Tube

 

I will look into Mullards for my Indeed g3 [which is again my EDM techno only tube hybrid now <3] I was actually going to get a Hifiman Eh2A with Mullards... thankfully I didn't. But... Mullards :D I'll look into it! 

Mshenay,
I normally don't recommend this, but you already have a Sony XB series headphone and are asking for more bass, so...... did you consider a FiiO E07k or E17 as a DAC instead of the ODAC? They can both boost (or cut) bass and treble, and provide a line-out feed to your Indeed G3 for amping. I say I normally don't suggest this because I think you first need headphones suited to your taste, but you already have bassy headphones.

Judge Buff,
Have you ever HEARD a Sony XB500? Let me tell you... My GF's younger sister was having a birthday party, and a pair of her friends were providing amateur DJ-ing for the party. They had an XB500, which I had to try based on what I've read about them here. I HAVE NEVER — woah man. First, the earpads are VERY deep yet squishy, so it was like pressing thick-but-insubstantial pillows wrapped in cheap pleather against your ears. They mush down a LOT. Then I played some high-quality files from my iPod. The distortion was hilarious. Bass was HUGEANDBLOBBEDTOGETHER, somewhere around 3x perceived volume boosted over the rest of the frequency range and the actual song mix, and the treble roll-off started somewhere in the mids. Literally could not hear high notes, vocals were way recessed and hard to distinguish, overall the headphone is undefined and BASS BASS BASS! Take the Beats +18 dB or so bass boost and add another +9 dB (guessing). I got through a song and a half before getting huge headache and forgetting what gravity/equilibrium feels like. I read that the rest of the lineup isn't as bad, but the XB500 boggled my mind that something would be manufactured to sound like that, no holds barred hearing damaging sound garbage. I found the experience educational, but I was glad I played at a relatively low volume.

WELL, I WAS looking for more bass... but I guess I should have mentioned that I wanted a TIGHTER bass, My xb700 is enough bass for me now :D but I'd like it to b a little tighter. The DT 880 pro 250s LINEAR bass has caused a love in me for TIGHTER BASS. So I'm getting a dt 990 FOR that TIGHTER bass... but I still love my xb 700 and will keep it. But again Mullards will be gotten [yea I don't want more bass any more, just tighter and mid bass [hence is why I want the and am getting the dt 990] 

 

n YEA the xb 500 is INSAINITY... I've never heard it thankfully because it's a SUPER MUD CANNON xD

 

Oh gawd, have you guys heard of these hybrids destroying dacs q.q. Some one told me Millet Maxes can destroys dacs q.q

Hello folks, after all the reading about the the v2 bravo tube amp is this: HRT Steamer II DAC + Bravo V2 Tube amp + Audio- Technica ATH-M50 = Thick Juicy Sound!!!!!!!

Wow 2400+ in 8 months! I don't know whether to applaud you or feel badly for you... I've only been around HF for 4 years, but I was buying audio equipment in the 1970s when I was stationed overseas after college. I haven't taken note of your equipment, as it's meh to me. If you like it, that's cool. If you don't, get something else. Anything you have doesn't make you anything... but a consumer.

 

Seriously, you are a culinary student in one of the South's best playgrounds! My Mrs and her best friend have been on vaca in Myrtle Beach and Charleston all week! I really love SC. Just have fun! Turn off the computer and talk with real people in real time! I'm not picking on you, I swear. I tell my students and my two daughters at UGA the same thing on a routine basis (but it's usually geared toward texting). I apologize for the lecture. It's what I do, though, with young people. 

 

Now, you can trade out your EH with anything and it will probably sound better. I almost got one in 09 (I think), but some great folks on this site talked me out of it. Long black plate RCA 12au7s are typically great in the low end. And while we're talking about those tubes, it's not 12ua7s as you have posted. I'm sure you'll get it correct by post 2500 , and I'm B-U-F-F. A b-l-u-f-f is what lemmings run toward... No bluff here.

 

Okay, I love Mullards, but I have many, many Heerlen Amperex/Philips tubes. The bass is very clean and tight on them, while the Mullies typically have a silkiness that affects the ends of the spectrum for me (as in roll-off); but they do produce great honey-toned mids. A lot of this has to do with the synergy in the system. Sometimes those cosmic tumblers just line up and sonic magic happens...

 

But you can't go wrong with a sweet, balanced Amperex A Frame with a dimpled getter from Holland, though. The 6922s are typically smoother than the 6dj8s, but they are way too pricey these days. Enjoy! 

Bluff? I thought poker, and I don't even like poker!

Also, my dad lives (near) charleston! If you think you lecture... Lol I absolutely love my dad, and he's full of so much wisdom it tends to burst out most of the time. Dinner tends to take a long time, but we digest his words with a healthy side of really great food. I joined Head-Fi around the time he moved south... 2009

Ha! Yeah, it's a Dad/Grandad thing... I have three grandkids, too. They call me Buff Daddy. Only law enforcement guys that have known me for a long time call me Judge Buff, though. Anyway,

I just put a new 6n23p-ev in my G2 and even though it's not broken in (by me anyway), it is too good to comment on with all three of my cans. I get accused of hyperbole by the folks that spend $1000s on everything, but my little system loves these Ruskis. This one is wide, deep and stratospheric with great imaging. I also just got a couple of 68 non-ev that I get to ramp up this weekend. I also have a registered pkg at the PO that I suspect is two 80s -ev valves... Yeah, I've been on a spending spree: 6 Soviet tubes, two black plate 12au7, with a couple of 68 orange-globe,Heeren Amperex A-frames also in route. I almost sniped 4 RCA clear tops this afternoon but I talked myself down... The Mrs knows I've been "yard sale(ing)" on the Bay, as she puts it, and she's almost back home from SC. I'm glad this little amp has a lot of gain, as it may get loud in here if she sees my new little menagerie!

It's amazing how adjusting the bias can totally recreate a tube. Gotta do it, y'all! If you can't or don't, don't waste your $$ buying tubes to roll. It's a crap shoot without biasing and I'm not bluffing...
Edited by Judge Buff - 2/22/13 at 3:29pm

Where'd you get the -EVs? I saw tubemaze's listing, but those are from the 90's. Tempted anyway.

Ebay has a few of them. the -ev extensions mean's the tubes were produced against military specs.