Just Bought a Little Dot MK III!

It's fantastic.

I just got my mkiv and it came with mullard 8100's (and others). I'm not sure what the stock tubes were but I'd burn in the stock tubes first and listen to that for a little bit before tube rolling. At least that way you can have a sound to go off on when comparing tubes.

-Cedric

Mullard M8161's are probably going to be your best bet.

Congratulations on your MKIII purchase. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by this little amp! When you get a chance check out the MKIII tube rolling thread. The stock tubes are pretty good, but you can take the amp almost to the level of the MKIVSE by changing out the power and driver tubes.

I enjoy my HD650's with more laid back tubes, to be honest.

What I love about my LD is that it isn't fatiguing my ears. I slept with my cans and music on and no fatigue.

yup. excellent tubes for this amp. that's the one I'm using. I got mine on sale for $30 tho, but you're gonna have to set the jumpers on the ef92 switch. This can be tricky/confusing if it's your first time. I was sweating bullets and using 2 toothpicks to balance out the jumper caps. So much frustration, but i grabbed a beer and laughed about it when it was all done ...thrilling experience

I suggest you let the stock ones burn in;since they are known to be very decent tubes. Although, i was in a hurry to tube roll, so i can't thoroughly compare and contrast.

You should purchase the Ef95 M8100
2x NOS MULLARD CV4010 VALVE EF95 M8100 6AK5 5654 Tubes - eBay (item 270506323434 end time Jan-24-10 13:20:14 PST)


down the road since they are some-what similar to the the m8161 + no need to put jumper caps, just plug and play + only 20 bucks !

then when you have another $50 or so, consider trying out the Sovtek 6H30PI power tubes. incredible tubes that shines with burn in+ makes the music tight, deep and relaxing.

My favorite driver tube so far are the Sylvania Gold Brand 5654s. A true pain in the rear end to find, but sound absolutely amazing. They are definitely on the expensive side though.

The best tubes I tried in my little dot mkIII are 1953 Sylvania JHS-6AK5 (mil-spec). I find them better than GE 5 star or the Mullard.

I looked for a quite a while for the Sylvania Gold Brand 5654 but I was never able to get my hand on those.

Agreed. I find them to be the warmest when compared to the GE stock tubes and the Russian 6ZH1P-EV.