[ardilla]

I feel the 22 has a more pronounced upper midrange which makes it more forward.

 

[Norway]

Dubstepgirl, what would you say about WA6-SE vs WA22?
 
I hope you'll find some tubes that'll make you happy. Not sure if you recall this, but I got WA2 after I had owned WA6-SE for a while, and I was completely let down until I started rolling tubes – stock sucked. I even PM'ed you for advice on the matter and you helped me a lot. Now WA2 gives great joy.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

  Dubstepgirl, what would you say about WA6-SE vs WA22?
 
I hope you'll find some tubes that'll make you happy. Not sure if you recall this, but I got WA2 after I had owned WA6-SE for a while, and I was completely let down until I started rolling tubes – stock sucked. I even PM'ed you for advice on the matter and you helped me a lot. Now WA2 gives great joy.

WA2 sucks stock, more than WA6-SE, but after tube rolling, i personally think it becomes better, especially with high impedance. more transparent, sweeter, better tone and timbre, etc.
 
haven't listened long enough, but even though WA22 and WA6-SE are more closely related than WA6-SE and WA2, they're nothing alike. the WA22 is much more lush and tube sounding, soundstage even larger than WA6-SE and alot more tube-like in its presentation. 
 
the WA6-SE is more SS like, even when tube rolling, you still hear its dynamics and energy. out of all of them WA6-SE is still the most dynamic and tends to be more neutral as well, especially with tubes like the 596 and 6FD7. u can get some nice tube warmth out of WA6-SE but nothing like the other amps, not as laidback.
 
 
 
 
Quote:

I feel the 22 has a more pronounced upper midrange which makes it more forward.

 
this also seems to unfortunately recess the lower midrange on some recordings, just depending on how they're done. its not huge, but its there. i see the WA22 with its midrange being very good for rock music as well as older recordings that could use more midrange presence. its almost grado-ish in a way, i can see this being a very good amp for that type of music. just a very lively midrange, much more than the Wa2

 

[Dubstep Girl]

just tried brimar 5R4GY on Wa22, yup, made it too warm for me, i think even the GEC 6AS7G are borderline too lush on WA22 whereas they where just right on the WA2. i actually feel like the power tubes sound better on WA2 than on WA22.
 
contrary to what other people are finding, i think 5998 still sounds better than tung sol 7236, on both WA2 and WA22. 

 

[ardilla]

just tried brimar 5R4GY on Wa22, yup, made it too warm for me, i think even the GEC 6AS7G are borderline too lush on WA22 whereas they where just right on the WA2. i actually feel like the power tubes sound better on WA2 than on WA22.

contrary to what other people are finding, i think 5998 still sounds better than tung sol 7236, on both WA2 and WA22. 

It is interesting that someone who knows her tubes so well finds them to sound so different these amps.

 

[ardilla]

@DG: Are you trying to make the wa22 sound like a wa2? Maybe you are analyzing too much to appreciate the good that wa22 brings. Interesting reading, though

 

[Dubstep Girl]

@DG: Are you trying to make the wa22 sound like a wa2? Maybe you are analyzing too much to appreciate the good that wa22 brings. Interesting reading, though

 
nope. but im trying to make WA22 have a little more punch in the bass and slightly less warm in the mids. it seems its easier for the WA22 to sound tubey than the WA2 or WA6-SE.
 
right now i have 6F8G TS, GEC 6AS7G , and EML 274B with HD 800. it seems like the EML 274B is actually a tube that has the sound im looking for.... warm but not too much, punchy, great soundstage

 

[Dubstep Girl]

It is interesting that someone who knows her tubes so well finds them to sound so different these amps.

 
they do!!
 
the 596 really surprised me on WA22, not as dry and aggressive as on WA6-SE.

 

[Norway]

Great read from you as usual Dubbie!
 
Currently using Mytek 192 DSD with FireWire and doing DSD through foobar to WA2 with TS 5998, driving HD 650. Seems like these tubes have burned in, as they were very harsh earlier, but now they are becoming less edgy. Have been a big fan of 6AS7G with HD 650 for their utter lush smoothlyness – which at times can become too much, especially for HD 650.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I found the GEC 6SN7GT (B65 type) with metal base gave a nice alternative in rolling taming the bass richness and made it lighter and more delicate. They paired well with GEC A1834s. Currently running some 7N7s, had good results with 5692 also which kept a tight grip on the sound.

 

[ru4music]

  Great read from you as usual Dubbie!
 
Currently using Mytek 192 DSD with FireWire and doing DSD through foobar to WA2 with TS 5998, driving HD 650. Seems like these tubes have burned in, as they were very harsh earlier, but now they are becoming less edgy. Have been a big fan of 6AS7G with HD 650 for their utter lush smoothlyness – which at times can become too much, especially for HD 650.

Yes, the WA 2 and 5998's need time to burn in.  I am running foobar (DSD formats and standard Red Book 44.1khz 16 bit) /USB/ Matrix X Sabre DAC/ WA 2/ HD 800 and the sound on good/ great recordings is sensational.  The HD 800 will bring even more detail and sonic traits than the HD 650 (of which I own two pair.)
 
I recall when I first got my WA 2 and burned it in for the first 100 hours or so I thought that I had made a big mistake even comparing it to my legacy WA 3, I have now totally change my mind!

 

[Dubstep Girl]

  I found the GEC 6SN7GT (B65 type) with metal base gave a nice alternative in rolling taming the bass richness and made it lighter and more delicate. They paired well with GEC A1834s. Currently running some 7N7s, had good results with 5692 also which kept a tight grip on the sound.

 
 
are the metal base B65 like really expensive and hard to find?

 

[Dubstep Girl]

  Great read from you as usual Dubbie!
 
Currently using Mytek 192 DSD with FireWire and doing DSD through foobar to WA2 with TS 5998, driving HD 650. Seems like these tubes have burned in, as they were very harsh earlier, but now they are becoming less edgy. Have been a big fan of 6AS7G with HD 650 for their utter lush smoothlyness – which at times can become too much, especially for HD 650.

 

  Yes, the WA 2 and 5998's need time to burn in.  I am running foobar (DSD formats and standard Red Book 44.1khz 16 bit) /USB/ Matrix X Sabre DAC/ WA 2/ HD 800 and the sound on good/ great recordings is sensational.  The HD 800 will bring even more detail and sonic traits than the HD 650 (of which I own two pair.)
 
I recall when I first got my WA 2 and burned it in for the first 100 hours or so I thought that I had made a big mistake even comparing it to my legacy WA 3, I have now totally change my mind!

 
 
thanks. i hated 5998 when i first got them, but now i love them alot and they're one of the best 6AS7G tube type along with the GEC A1834 and 7236.

 

[Norway]

Dubstepgirl, have you tried setting the internal jumpers of Mytek to reduce it with 6dB?
 
Mytek is pretty hot, with 7Vrms max for single ended and 15Vrms for balanced, but by setting the internal jumpers you can reduce the outputs to 3.5V and 7.5V respectively.
 
You could check the input sensitivity of WA22 as I'm not sure of this, but I know that a mismatch here can bring forth harshness.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Yes jumpers are -6db

Havent necessarily noticed any harshness on wa22 per se...