[cmander10]

I didn't know the name before so I said curved tube, but what it is called is an ST shape power tube. I'm looking at Amperex Buggle Boy or 7119 for the input since they seem to be around $35, which is great. Are there any suggestions as far as pairing the power and input. Should they be similar in sound or opposite?

 

[Loquah]

  I didn't know the name before so I said curved tube, but what it is called is an ST shape power tube. I'm looking at Amperex Buggle Boy or 7119 for the input since they seem to be around $35, which is great. Are there any suggestions as far as pairing the power and input. Should they be similar in sound or opposite?

 
Can't answer about good pairings with those models, but as for having same sound or opposite it all depends on you. For example, my old Mullard + Mullard combo was too warm for my tastes and headphones (HD650) so I used a cleartop RCA 12AU7 to offset the Mullard 6080. If I'd been using something brighter like DT990s though I might have loved the Mullards together though so it's all about synergies and preferences.

 

[JamieMcC]

  I didn't know the name before so I said curved tube, but what it is called is an ST shape power tube. I'm looking at Amperex Buggle Boy or 7119 for the input since they seem to be around $35, which is great. Are there any suggestions as far as pairing the power and input. Should they be similar in sound or opposite?

 
Generally you will be looking to choose a combination of tubes that have good synergy both with your headphones and with the genre of music you will be listening to.
 
12au7 rca clear top for example is a great choice if you are listening with the Senn HD650's as the clear top has a quiet a bright treble signature to it which complement the slightly darker top end of the Senn 650's.
 
If your using different cans like some of the beyers which all ready have a clean top end then using the clear top tube they might/will sound overly bright. So not such a good pairing with music that has a more top end focus brass percussion, female soprano, choral music as they might sound a little to fatiguing.   

 

[kothganesh]

Generally you will be looking to choose a combination of tubes that have good synergy both with your headphones and with the genre of music you will be listening to.

12au7 rca clear top for example is a great choice if you are listening with the Senn HD650's as the clear top has a quiet a bright treble signature to it which complement the slightly darker top end of the Senn 650's.

If your using different cans like some of the beyers which all ready have a clean top end then using the clear top tube they might/will sound overly bright. So not such a good pairing with music that has a more top end focus brass percussion, female soprano, choral music as they might sound a little to fatiguing.   

Jamie, what tube do you recommend for the HD 800? Thanks

 

[cmander10]

I'm thinking 12AU7 Amperex Bugle Boy or RCA Cleartop.
 
The only good ST power tubes I could find are the 5998 Tung-Sol and the 6AS7G Tung-Sol or RCA. Anyone ever paired one of these with Bugle or Cleartop? If not, any suggestion as to which power would pair best for rich/warm natural sound with good bass. Listening to psyc/blues rock, classical, jazz.
 
Also, looking into the Mullard 6080 since it seems to fit my needs despite it being a straight tube.

 

[JamieMcC]

Jamie, what tube do you recommend for the HD 800? Thanks

 
The HD800 would defiantly benefit from using premium tubes as they can bring whole extra dimension to the presentation that the HD800's have the ability to reveal. Tubes like the Tung-sol 5998, GEC brown base and WE421a  would be top of the list. I would suggest you consider switching to the E80cc for you input tube and consider the switchable resistor mod on the bottlehead forum to operate it at a optimum voltage. its a great inexpensive mod only costing a couple bucks.
 
If your Crack is stock then consider looking at some of the popular mods for it with the HD800s the difference is going to be quiet noticeable.
Film output caps, stepped attenuator at a minimum these will help you get the best out of the premium tubes. 
 
If you have not seen it Nick Tams multi 6080 6as7g review its a excellent post on the merits of the different driver tubes available the original full review was corrupted when Bottlehead changed servers but can still be found here. I find his evaluation of the tubes to be very accurate.
 
http://the-key.enix.org/~krystal/review-tube-bottlehead.html
 
 

   
The only good ST power tubes I could find are the 5998 Tung-Sol and the 6AS7G Tung-Sol or RCA. Anyone ever paired one of these with Bugle or Cleartop? If not, any suggestion as to which power would pair best for rich/warm natural sound with good bass. Listening to psyc/blues rock, classical, jazz.
 
Also, looking into the Mullard 6080 since it seems to fit my needs despite it being a straight tube.

 
The Mullard 6080 and GEC 6080 are very nice sounding tubes
 
If anyone is on a tight budget then don't over look the Svetlana Winged "C" 6H13C its inexpensive and a new tested ones can be found for around $10 on ebay they offer excellent value and are on par with the more well known American brands.  

 

[liamstrain]

  If your Crack is stock then consider looking at some of the popular mods for it with the HD800s the difference is going to be quiet noticeable.
Film output caps, stepped attenuator at a minimum these will help you get the best out of the premium tubes. 
 
 

 
FWIW - this has not been my experience. Tubes have made some minor subjective differences, but the only time output caps did was when they were mis-specced, not doing their job properly. (e.g. not an improvement in sound). No audible difference with stepped attenuators. 
 
I am running a vintage duMont 12AU7A, and RCA silver top/black base 6AS7G - those perform nicely without obvious distortions to the sound regardless of headphone paired (and yes, that includes the Senn 800)
 
 
If you want different sound, spend your money on different headphones, or a parametric eq, not mods to your amp. 

 

[bigfatpaulie]

   
FWIW - this has not been my experience. Tubes have made some minor subjective differences, but the only time output caps did was when they were mis-specced, not doing their job properly. (e.g. not an improvement in sound). No audible difference with stepped attenuators. 
 
I am running a vintage duMont 12AU7A, and RCA silver top/black base 6AS7G - those perform nicely without obvious distortions to the sound regardless of headphone paired (and yes, that includes the Senn 800)
 
 
If you want different sound, spend your money on different headphones, or a parametric eq, not mods to your amp. 

 
I had very different results than you and I agree with Jamie.  Different caps and a new attenuator made a big difference for me.  I also found that difference tubes had a significant effect on the sound.  And all of those changes are far less expensive then a new pair of headphones.

 

[cmander10]

   
FWIW - this has not been my experience. Tubes have made some minor subjective differences, but the only time output caps did was when they were mis-specced, not doing their job properly. (e.g. not an improvement in sound). No audible difference with stepped attenuators. 
 
I am running a vintage duMont 12AU7A, and RCA silver top/black base 6AS7G - those perform nicely without obvious distortions to the sound regardless of headphone paired (and yes, that includes the Senn 800)
 
 
If you want different sound, spend your money on different headphones, or a parametric eq, not mods to your amp. 

Have you tried the Tung-Sol 5998? I'm trying to decide between that and the RCA 6AS7G.

 

[olegausany]

TungSol / Chatham 5998 should be on everybody's short list

 

[cmander10]

If you had to pick the better of the two, would you pick vintage or 1962.

 

[mcandmar]

The vintage one is better balanced at 2110/2010 vs 2100/2575 for the 1962 one.  I would pick the vintage.

 

[Klots]

Have you looked the CBS 5814A? Also very nice tube and I read that it pairs with 5998 very well. Im using that tube with my GE 6as7ga at the moment, but my 5998 should arrive next week. 

 

[cmander10]

  Have you looked the CBS 5814A? Also very nice tube and I read that it pairs with 5998 very well. Im using that tube with my GE 6as7ga at the moment, but my 5998 should arrive next week. 

Have to try it another time along with E80CC. Already bought the Bugle Boy and Cleartop. Leaning towards the RCA 6AS7G as well since the only Tung sol 5998 I can find is on vacuumtubes.net for $85.

 

[Klots]

  Have to try it another time along with E80CC. Already bought the Bugle Boy and Cleartop. Leaning towards the RCA 6AS7G as well since the only Tung sol 5998 I can find is on vacuumtubes.net for $85.

I got my 5998 for 75$+10$ shipping to europe (http://www.ebay.com/itm/321501241195). He had 6 tubes + 6 pairs of 5998 for sale, and they went out fast. But some crazy italian is selling one for 194 usd