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Amperex 1959 EL84 D-Getter Pair in my MG Head!

post #1 of 26
11/30/03 at 11:32pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, these beauties have arrived. My initial impressions of the cream of the EL84 crop are quite positive. These tubes added a bit to the top end over my old JJ's (which was one of my intentions for buying them, as I felt the OTL jack was too rolled off before), as well as quite a bit of extra detail throughout the spectrum. I wish I still had the loaner Max here to see just how close these tubes put the MG Head to the Max in terms of detail retreival. Much of the bass bloat is gone too (probably a little of the impact as well, but I previously thought it was overdone a bit). Overall the sound is more accurate, and quite a bit more detailed. Very pleased so far!

-dd3mon
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post #2 of 26
12/1/03 at 8:45am
Thread Starter 
Wow, after a full-day's use these bad boys (or rather bugle boys) are seriously changing my opinion of the MG Head. These tubes are truly spectacular. Clarity, detail, balanced sound - all of these areas were previously weaknesses of the OTL jack (compared to amps like the loaner Max I had, and even the transformer jack). Now the OTL jack sounds extremely detailed, with tight bass (still powerful) and a very detailed, extended treble. These tubes are worth their skyrocketing price as much or more than the Sylvania's are - these are significantly better than the JJ's - the difference is no different than you'd see from a signal tube upgrade!

These tubes are uber-quiet also -- full volume, zero hum, hiss, static or anything else. Yeah, that's f*ing loud on the MG Head. The VD Reference help with noise too (dead silent cables - full volume on MG Head will reveal lots of noise in almost every other cable I've tried, including canare starquad).

BTW - these are Holland made as well (to add to the lengthy list of adjectives involved in these "king of el84" tubes).

-dd3mon
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post #3 of 26
12/1/03 at 3:28pm
I agree the old Amperex are spectacular tubes. I wish I could justify paying the price for a backup pair. I'm a little paranoid that some day mine will go poof and leave me with inferior and now unlistenable by comparison output tubes. Enjoy them while you can!
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post #4 of 26
12/1/03 at 5:47pm
Are these available anywhere?! Sounds like a winner. I'll have to try these.
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post #5 of 26
12/1/03 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by timoteus
I agree the old Amperex are spectacular tubes. I wish I could justify paying the price for a backup pair. I'm a little paranoid that some day mine will go poof and leave me with inferior and now unlistenable by comparison output tubes. Enjoy them while you can!
I feel the same way! By the time mine die, these tubes might be outrageously expensive, or impossible to find at all!

Quote:
Originally posted by Nefarion
Are these available anywhere?! Sounds like a winner. I'll have to try these.
I got my pair on AudioGon from "Lantern Audio" at a very good price. (Although they are missing alot of paint, it's obvious from internal construction and the sound of the guys that they are the real thing!)

-dd3mon
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post #6 of 26
12/1/03 at 10:59pm
just out of pure curiosity (I no longer have my mg head): how much do these guys run?
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post #7 of 26
12/1/03 at 11:21pm
How much can they cost or how much did he pay?

Did you see the pair of Amperex 12AX7's that went for $151 on Ebay recently?

OUCH!

Everyday that goes by there's less of these.


Mitch
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post #8 of 26
12/1/03 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
They run on average $150+ for a pair. Many dealers with good quality pairs will charge $200-300 for these. My pair is used (but still strong) with most of the paint gone, they only ran me $80.

-dd3mon
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post #9 of 26
12/1/03 at 11:49pm
Are they really worth that much?!?!

I have at least 4 or 5 Amperex 12AX7's here for the MG Head!! And a couple of them have a Bugle Boy on them...!!!

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post #10 of 26
12/10/03 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Followup on this thread:

These tubes have really completed my system. Before I received these, I had always planned to upgrade my amp at some point. Now, I feel done. The only thing on my mind as a possibility is the 650's.. My source, amp and cables all just feel right now. The MG Head was always a little slow, a little blurry, a little rolled off, and a little fat in the bass (OTL Jack). These tubes have really changed my opinion of the amp - everything is tightened up incredibly. I can no longer find faults in this amp (even after a 2 week audition with a max).

The best part, is the tube "magic" which left me connected to my MG Head in the first place (over solid state designs) - is still present. Midrange is still spectacular, soundstage is better than ever. Detail is approaching the best of solid state amps, bass is tight, musical and impactful when necessary. These tubes IMO made a far bigger difference in this amp than the signal tube ever did. The difference between my best Sylvania 5751's and the stock 12AX7 JJ tube is smaller than the difference between these Bugle Boy EL84's and the JJ's (which were decently better than the stock chinese tubes and a pair of Ei's I have).

-dd3mon
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post #11 of 26
12/10/03 at 7:04pm
In a recent purchase of some PCC88's I made, the tube lot happened to have a GE 5751, a Mullard 12AX7 and a matched pair of GE EL84's. Interesting potential for an MG Head, which is an amp I've never owned. Most people buy tubes for their amps. I'm actually thinking about buying an amp to try out my tubes.
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post #12 of 26
12/10/03 at 8:00pm
Not a bad idea actually...

lemme know if you are interested - I have a MG head OTL MK-2 offer for $265 shipped and i'll put you onto the seller to do the deal.

cheers!!
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post #13 of 26
12/10/03 at 10:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Hirsch
In a recent purchase of some PCC88's I made, the tube lot happened to have a GE 5751, a Mullard 12AX7 and a matched pair of GE EL84's. Interesting potential for an MG Head, which is an amp I've never owned. Most people buy tubes for their amps. I'm actually thinking about buying an amp to try out my tubes.
Go for it I can easily see why lextek has re-bought this amp about 250 times.



-dd3mon
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post #14 of 26
12/10/03 at 11:37pm
What does the lettering on the bottom of these tubes mean? Is it a serial number? Batch number? dd3mon, what do yours read? (note, if you don't want to uninstall them for this, I understand.)
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post #15 of 26
12/12/03 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Guild
What does the lettering on the bottom of these tubes mean? Is it a serial number? Batch number? dd3mon, what do yours read? (note, if you don't want to uninstall them for this, I understand.)
Both of mine read:

rX3
X9D

no clue as to it's meaning. Although if I had to guess, I'd say date codes / batch numbers.

-dd3mon
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