Oh man such posts should come with a warning attached the temptation for us newbie crack addicts is damn near irresistible. Its taken me all my will power and resilience so far to hold off from buying any tubes until after my Crack kit arrives and then you go and post the above! It must seem like Christmas has come early in your house
It would be great if you could give some feed back on the different combos when you try them.
In the meantime I will just have to satisfy myself by keeping an eye out on ebay and checking on a few dealers sites as I would like to have a couple of spares to hand.
Hi Jamie,
Indeed, I could not be happier my Crack. But as everyone else would say, if your Crack doesn't have the Speedball yet, get one first. There is no doubt that it is the best upgrade for the Crack. But the speedball will reduce the effect of tubes you try. That means you will not experience huge change in sound when you roll tubes if your Crack have the speedball installed.
In my own experience, the 5998 and the famous GEC Brown base are truly among the best power tubes you can try with your Crack. They have different sound characteristics. I actually can't decide which is 'better', all I can say that I slightly prefer the GEC over the 5998, because it gives my Crack a more 'tubey' sound - sweet, warm, liquid but still with a lot of details and clarity.
Enjoy building your Crack and happy listening!
Cheers,
Kratos.
So after quick audition I clearly hear that GEC 6AS7G gives improved clarity of details and bass control. Remember that all these with not recommended HD700
Nice! Glad you like it. I assume your Crack does not have the Speedball installed yet?
I saw this post together and got excited as I was also waiting for some tubes from W0lfd0g.
When I got home I had a pretty box waiting for me
Put in the Tung Sol 7236 and RCA clear top first. Listening right now and it sounds great although A/B comparison at this point will be to hard. I'm still on my honeymoon with my BH Crack
I'm saving the famous Brown Base for later. W0lfd0g recommended the 7236 for my HD650s but I was too curious to pass up a good price for the BB.
I also have a few input tubes for later, GE and Sylvania 5936, RCA clear top and a Baldwin (12UA7, not one of the actors)
Oh and good news / bad news, no smoke... So my crack is still go but I'm bit bummed about not getting to try the 2399/5998. Most likely the tube got damaged in shipment
Big thanks to Nathan for the tubes.
Steph
As far as I know, the 7236s are pretty similar with the 5998s ( not equivalent I think ). I have not tried a 7236, but I've tried several 5998s with my HD650 and it sounded fantastic, thanks to their transparency, clarity and some nice sparkling treble, they added perfectly with the dark, 'veil' and muddy sound of the HD650s, I think the 7236s would also do the same thing to the HD650.
I have to admit that I initially thought the GEC Brown base is just the tweak of sound when compared with the 5998s, but after several hours of listening, the most noticeable improvement was the microphonics, the GEC did not cause ANY microphonics AT ALL. It made the Crack even more 'dead silent', one of the darkest and cleanest background I've ever heard. The bass control although was not as tight as the 5998, but it gave the bass more body, depth and make it fuller. The mid-range was sweet, liquid and neutral.
I also have a not-Alec-Baldwin-actor 12AU7 ( actually it is a Toshiba 12AU7 ), a RCA Clear-top, GE 5936, a RCA Smoked-glass 6SN7 from Nathan. And I liked the RCA the most among those, but my favorite input tube so far is still the Tungsram E80CC.
Thanks again, Nathan. I'm sorry to hear that you sold your Crack, hope you'll be back
