Tony and his Leak TL50 Plus, TL25 plus and TL12 Plus. How a man can have so many Leak amplifiers made in England is indecent. He should sell me one. I marvel that they are still in mint condition. This is the guy who sold me most of my power tubes. A private collector. He has 8 pairs of new GEC...

The best power tubes I've heard in Super Ultimate and Odyssey regardless of price. Technical capabilities, tonal excellence, smoothness and colour. If Tony Nyugen had sold me the GEC KT77, there might be a trio but he clung onto his quad GEC KT77 for his Leak amplifiers. GEC KT88 and Philips...

STC 5A-152M with Philips Miniwatt EL34 metal base. These with GEC KT88 are the best sounding power tubes after a few years of rolling pentodes and beam tetrodes. Better than EL12 spez, EL39, EL38, GEC 807, EL11, etc. It's another level of brilliance.

After the sunrise and sunset experience, I had an angelic visitation with STC 5A-152M and GEC KT88. Can it get any better? I left the RFT EZ81 in there.

There is a difference between 5A-152M with EL11 (morning sunrise intensity) and 5A-152M with EL12 (evening sunset glow) Sunrise or sunset, which is more beautiful? Now that is a tough choice.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mcchanson-amps-tube-rolling-thread.972576/

The first time I heard EL11 as power tubes in Super Ultimate more than a year ago, I was literally stunned by the energy and vibrancy of tone. With 5a-152m as drivers now, it is a step up. This is what I love about Ultimate. The ability to use such combination. I could not use EL11 as power...

There has never been a more perfect pair of EL11. Got this 3 years ago with the help of @rollinbr because the seller won't send to Australia.

Very nice but this should go in the tube rolling thread. :relaxed:

How is this combination? I haven't try STC 5A-152M with Siemens EL11. Will do so in a minute.

The significant difference between Super Ultimate and Junior or Mini Ultimate is soundstage. That is enough reason to want to get the Super Ultimate. However if you haven't heard the Super Ultimate then the lesser you know the better it is. :relaxed: The expression "what you don't know can't...

I am just thinking @Deleeh that had you gotten the Super Ultimate, you wouldn't be sleeping for a month, maybe a year. There's a potential buyer for either a Super Ultimate or Supreme. He can't decide which one.

That's the EL12N, the lowest of the 3. Very good is relative when you have all 3 of them. I spend the most time with these EL12 series. I collected all of them just to have Odyssey build and that's 3 years ago.

What exactly did he send you? EL12, EL12 spez or EL12N? My ranking for them... EL12 spez > EL12 > EL12N. Once you've heard the EL12 spez, you won't bother with EL12N. EL12 isn't too bad but EL12 spez is just special.

@Deleeh you said @albertmuc send you EL12 spez and EL39 tubes but I don't hear you talking about them? Those are better than EL38 imo.

Back in Euforia days when the EL38 and EL39 became popular because of @hypnos1, those tubes were cheap. Folks were buying 3 or 4 pairs. They are no longer cheap now but still cheaper than GEC KT88 or EL34 metal base. EL39 cost about the price of GEC 807 now.

If the driver and rectifier remain the same and the EL38 can sometimes sound neutral, sometimes too neutral and sometimes too warm, then you've a visitation from the gremlins. :relaxed: Comparing Philips (Mullard) EL38 with GEC 807 and RT EL39:- (driver and rectifier remain the same and caps...

Ultimate as preamp to Oblivion. Never tried this before and I am in for a very nice surprise. :relaxed: Very simple tube combination in Super Ultimate - Sylvania 6SL7gt, Visseaux 6k6gt and RFT EZ81. Oblivion has Marconi 6av6 and Siemens EL81. This combination inherits Oblivion wide soundstage...

The next Super Ultimate has everything. It is a hamburger with the lot. I am excited for Matt and that's not me. It's the other Matt. :wink: However I will be testing, auditioning and posting my impressions of this wonder amp. The specs for the build:- The things that stands out in this build...

It's been a blast with 5a/152m for the last 2 weeks. I wish it's call an easier name like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean. In the quietness of my own time, I was able to put it through with a lot of power tubes and frankly it's hard to pick a favourite combination. What makes Super Ultimate so...

I've heard my son's V281 many times. It's a good ss amp with a slight warmth but it is not the level of my Super Ultimate. I would have given up a lot more capable tube amps for Super Ultimate - such as Wa22, GOTL and Studio Six.

It's very likely that 300 ohms headphones are a perfect match with Ultimate. That means almost all of ZMF headphones and most Sennheiser.

Higher gain drivers will do the KT170 a lot of good. C3G, 5A/152M and ECC35 are all good candidates. On the McChanson KT170 amp, 6EM7 were used as drivers and those are powerful drivers.

All avid Ultimate tube rollers should have a pair of these but I don't. :relaxed: Kind of got to the stage where I just stop buying tubes. Just 3 weeks ago I was listening to the KT170 tubes in McChanson KT170 amp and Odyssey. It's a life changing moment.

I have had STC 5A/152M for close to 2 weeks now and have run it with a variety of power tubes. Compared to c3g, the treble is a bit rounded off and it's a little less transparent but that's a good thing imo. C3G and 5A/152M as drivers in Super Ultimate takes the amp up another level. There has...