[AudioPowerHead]

Sorry about that, as I bought them all.

Yeah guilty as charged esp. the Japanese black plates LOL. But of course, early bird catches the worms (tubes) !

Meanwhile, I just pulled the trigger on a pair of Mullard ECC82/CV491 50’s long plate 17mm. Eager to hear how they sound vs my current pair of ‘64 Mullard ECC82 short plates on the 6A. Digging deeper into the tubes rabbit hole..

 

[Renexx]

Sorry about that, as I bought them all.

And I snacked all the remaining tubes

Yeah guilty as charged esp. the Japanese black plates LOL. But of course, early bird catches the worms (tubes) !

Meanwhile, I just pulled the trigger on a pair of Mullard ECC82/CV491 50’s long plate 17mm. Eager to hear how they sound vs my current pair of ‘64 Mullard ECC82 short plates on the 6A. Digging deeper into the tubes rabbit hole..

I pulled the trigger on pairs of Mullard and Philips ecc82 long welded plates. Very cool, never saw those constructions before.

 

[AudioPowerHead]

And I snacked all the remaining tubes


I pulled the trigger on pairs of Mullard and Philips ecc82 long welded plates. Very cool, never saw those constructions before.

Think we bought from same source. Mine is also Mullard welded plates. It went out of stocks within a day !

 

[Renexx]

Think we bought from same source. Mine is also Mullard welded plates. It went out of stocks within a day !

Yea sadly I check many tube shops regularly

Already have mullard boxed plates, short and long plates, so those welded plates catched my attention. Collecting is an addiction...

 

[AudioPowerHead]

Yea sadly I check many tube shops regularly

Already have mullard boxed plates, short and long plates, so those welded plates catched my attention. Collecting is an addiction...

Looks like you have a huge collections of Mullards. What a great place to be !

You may like to consider upgrading to the 6A at some point for slightly fuller sound and better imaging and separations. I think one of the underrated feature of 6A is the TR/UL mode. While I bought it more for the mids and staging over my SS amp and the ability to use EL34/KT88 tubes, I am always amazed by this feature enabling me to toggle and do A/B instantaneously for different music genre. I don’t see many tube amps having this flexibility function to complement the tube rolling experience.

 

[dthong]

All the talk of 12AU7s I thought I'd share my opinion on the stack that I've rolled lately, almost more than I paid for the 6A second-hand . This is all with SE KT88s in UL mode with ZMF Calderas on Low impedance.

So far:

• Amperex 7316 - probably my favourite (and most expensive) of the lot, insanely musical, punchy, best staging out of all the other tubes, good extension and clean treble up top, if a little rolled off. Pretty hard to find though and it cost a lot! The best balanced tube out of the lot and I simply leave them in without rolling anymore.
• Tesla ECC802S - a good foil to the Amperex for a more neutral sound. It's how I felt the TF ECC82 should have sounded with better PRAT. They're meant to be a Czech copy of the TF ECC802S which are too rare to buy nowadays.
• Philips E80CC - similar to the 7316, but a bit darker and doesn't do the technicals as well
• Amperex (Valvo) 12AU7 - similar to the 7316, but I found them a bit too lean and felt the mids sounded a little odd. 7316 were better in every way.
• Mullard CV491 (14mm short plates) - random find from Langrex for pretty good $, I don't have CV4003s to compare with anymore. Personally a bit too rich and warm for me, but the mids were glorious and I can see how it would work in some setups and tastes.
• Telefunken ECC82 - I felt they were bland and boring, never really lifted me
• Siemens ECC82 - too bright for my setup, but the technicals were good

I've got some Tungsram ECC82s coming shortly.

 

[krude]

All the talk of 12AU7s I thought I'd share my opinion on the stack that I've rolled lately, almost more than I paid for the 6A second-hand . This is all with SE KT88s in UL mode with ZMF Calderas on Low impedance.

So far:

• Amperex 7316 - probably my favourite (and most expensive) of the lot, insanely musical, punchy, best staging out of all the other tubes, good extension and clean treble up top, if a little rolled off. Pretty hard to find though and it cost a lot! The best balanced tube out of the lot and I simply leave them in without rolling anymore.
• Tesla ECC802S - a good foil to the Amperex for a more neutral sound. It's how I felt the TF ECC82 should have sounded with better PRAT. They're meant to be a Czech copy of the TF ECC802S which are too rare to buy nowadays.
• Philips E80CC - similar to the 7316, but a bit darker and doesn't do the technicals as well
• Amperex (Valvo) 12AU7 - similar to the 7316, but I found them a bit too lean and felt the mids sounded a little odd. 7316 were better in every way.
• Mullard CV491 (14mm short plates) - random find from Langrex for pretty good $, I don't have CV4003s to compare with anymore. Personally a bit too rich and warm for me, but the mids were glorious and I can see how it would work in some setups and tastes.
• Telefunken ECC82 - I felt they were bland and boring, never really lifted me
• Siemens ECC82 - too bright for my setup, but the technicals were good

I've got some Tungsram ECC82s coming shortly.

Very nice writeup. It's interesting TFK didn't sound good for you. Love both smooth plate and ribbed plate in my system. But it's all about synergy and preference.

 

[dthong]

Very nice writeup. It's interesting TFK didn't sound good for you. Love both smooth plate and ribbed plate in my system. But it's all about synergy and preference.

And I was perfectly happy with the TFK (ribbed) when I first had PSVane KT88s but everything got thrown out when I put in the Sophia Electrics which are more linear than the PSVanes. That made me start rolling the lesser known tubes.

It's also worth giving the Tesla ECC802S a go if you like the TFKs. Similar balance but I felt it did micro-dynamics and PRAT better.

 

[Renexx]

Looks like you have a huge collections of Mullards. What a great place to be !

You may like to consider upgrading to the 6A at some point for slightly fuller sound and better imaging and separations. I think one of the underrated feature of 6A is the TR/UL mode. While I bought it more for the mids and staging over my SS amp and the ability to use EL34/KT88 tubes, I am always amazed by this feature enabling me to toggle and do A/B instantaneously for different music genre. I don’t see many tube amps having this flexibility function to complement the tube rolling experience.

Yes I had an eye on the HA-6A. Right now I don't have the deskspace for it. Also I got a big collection of 6v6 tubes now. There is really a lot of tubes to choose from.
The new rectifier tubes that Cayin plans to use is a big downside for me. I got quads of most 22de4 ready for upgrading my amp....

Technically the 6A would be an upgrade for sure. The TR/UL would be a cool feature to play with. Maybe I have the chance to audition the amp or the 300b some day to get an impression.

 

[Renexx]

All the talk of 12AU7s I thought I'd share my opinion on the stack that I've rolled lately, almost more than I paid for the 6A second-hand . This is all with SE KT88s in UL mode with ZMF Calderas on Low impedance.

So far:

• Amperex 7316 - probably my favourite (and most expensive) of the lot, insanely musical, punchy, best staging out of all the other tubes, good extension and clean treble up top, if a little rolled off. Pretty hard to find though and it cost a lot! The best balanced tube out of the lot and I simply leave them in without rolling anymore.
• Tesla ECC802S - a good foil to the Amperex for a more neutral sound. It's how I felt the TF ECC82 should have sounded with better PRAT. They're meant to be a Czech copy of the TF ECC802S which are too rare to buy nowadays.
• Philips E80CC - similar to the 7316, but a bit darker and doesn't do the technicals as well
• Amperex (Valvo) 12AU7 - similar to the 7316, but I found them a bit too lean and felt the mids sounded a little odd. 7316 were better in every way.
• Mullard CV491 (14mm short plates) - random find from Langrex for pretty good $, I don't have CV4003s to compare with anymore. Personally a bit too rich and warm for me, but the mids were glorious and I can see how it would work in some setups and tastes.
• Telefunken ECC82 - I felt they were bland and boring, never really lifted me
• Siemens ECC82 - too bright for my setup, but the technicals were good

I've got some Tungsram ECC82s coming shortly.

Great summary!
Try RFT Ecc82. Really nice tonality similar to Philips ecc82 and cheap to come by. Amperex are rebranded Philips tubes for American market.

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/ecc82-rft-valve-tube-nos-military-spec/
I have this military version and a pair with foil getter incoming.

 

[AnyDave]

Great summary!
Try RFT Ecc82. Really nice tonality similar to Philips ecc82 and cheap to come by. Amperex are rebranded Philips tubes for American market.

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/ecc82-rft-valve-tube-nos-military-spec/
I have this military version and a pair with foil getter incoming.

Have you tried any of the Brimar tubes from Langrex?

I'm tempted to try some out, but I'm curious if they will be too similar in voicing to the Mullards I've got. While I can appreciate the strength of the Mullards, I find I prefer the more even-handed sound of Amperex so far.

 

[Renexx]

Have you tried any of the Brimar tubes from Langrex?

I'm tempted to try some out, but I'm curious if they will be too similar in voicing to the Mullards I've got. While I can appreciate the strength of the Mullards, I find I prefer the more even-handed sound of Amperex so far.

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/13d5-ecc82-vintage-brimar-nos-valve-tube/
I have these and they are very good. Not sure if they are any different than the other Brimar variants available at Langrex.
Compared to the Mullards I would say both have that typical british warm sound. I dont dare to compare them in detail.

If you like your Amperex/Philips tubes I can strongly recommend the RFT tubes. Similar flavor aswell.

For some more variance in your collection try some GE/kenrad pewter plates (great low-end), Tungsol black glass (mid forward) and RT ecc82 (linear and very dynamic). Those are the harder to get variants tho.
Maybe a Sylvania black plates gives you a different American warm flavor and is easier to come by:
https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/12au7-sylvania-black-plate-nos/

 

[AnyDave]

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/13d5-ecc82-vintage-brimar-nos-valve-tube/
I have these and they are very good. Not sure if they are any different than the other Brimar variants available at Langrex.
Compared to the Mullards I would say both have that typical british warm sound. I dont dare to compare them in detail.

If you like your Amperex/Philips tubes I can strongly recommend the RFT tubes. Similar flavor aswell.

For some more variance in your collection try some GE/kenrad pewter plates (great low-end), Tungsol black glass (mid forward) and RT ecc82 (linear and very dynamic). Those are the harder to get variants tho.
Maybe a Sylvania black plates gives you a different American warm flavor and is easier to come by:
https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/12au7-sylvania-black-plate-nos/

Yeah, I need to build up my stash of 12au7 tubes. I use 12ax7s and 6DJ8/6922 in other things, so I have quite a few of those, but the 6A is my only 12au7 amp.

 

[shafat777]

Yeah, I need to build up my stash of 12au7 tubes. I use 12ax7s and 6DJ8/6922 in other things, so I have quite a few of those, but the 6A is my only 12au7 amp.

Hit me up if you wanna try some magical Telefunken 12au7s. These were my daily drivers until I switched to e80cc variants

 

[AnyDave]

Hit me up if you wanna try some magical Telefunken 12au7s. These were my daily drivers until I switched to e80cc variants

I appreciate the offer, but I actually have some Telefunkens and they don't really work for me in my rig.