Darkvoice 336i & 336SE Tuberolling PartII
Jun 29, 2018 at 9:52 PM Post #1,592 of 14,501
While I do not recommend it to anyone else, I have used the 6F8G as a power tube in the place of a 6AS7 in my Crack without Speedball. For some reason in the other Crack I have with Speedball, it does not perform very well. As a power tube it really runs much cooler than for instance the 6080. I believe both the 6F8G and 6C8G are underutilized tubes. I have about 30 of these tubes. I do not expect to live long enough to fully use them.

Your amp looks quite good.

Best, John
 
Jun 30, 2018 at 4:06 AM Post #1,593 of 14,501
@UntilThen - Beautiful amp!

Thanks. I started my head-fi journey with a Darkvoice 336se. Bought it 2nd hand and love it with HD650. In those days I love a warm and lush sound. Those were early days.

Here my Darkvoice 336se were shod with Tung Sols - 6sn7 and 5998. The 5998s were some of the best power tubes. Don't let anyone tell you it's garbage or junk. It's pictured besides a Feliks Audio Elise with NAD d1050.

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Jun 30, 2018 at 10:11 AM Post #1,596 of 14,501
You're welcome Jim. When I first came to this thread, there was no one around. After a couple of posts, the OP (HeatFan12) appeared and then we became friends and were the only ones posting. :)

Anyhoo, after La Figaro, came the Schitt gear and I meant it in a good way. These were seriously good. Oh I did hear a Crack with Speedball at a meet and I was quite impressed but I have already heard much better by then. IMO though. I always have to state this because you will find people making claims like it's a universal truth. So it's always in someone's opinion. :)

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Jun 30, 2018 at 10:17 AM Post #1,597 of 14,501
After Yggdrasil and Ragnarok, came Glenn Super 9 OTL amp. At that point, I had La Figaro 339, Glenn OTL and the Schitt stack on my table and it's pretty full on. So from a Darkvoice 336se, it became this.... oh I had HD800 and Eikon in the picture. LCD-2f and Atticus were not shown but by then I had those 4 headphones, including the forgotten child - HD650.

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Jun 30, 2018 at 10:29 AM Post #1,598 of 14,501
And for 2 weeks in April or May of this year... can't remember now. Too much happen... anyhoo for 2 weeks I has these 2 on my desk and it was quite a sick moment in time. Those were Takatsuki 300b tubes and Emission Labs 5u4g(s) on the WA5 LE.

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Jun 30, 2018 at 6:28 PM Post #1,600 of 14,501
UntilThen-
You have Awesome Amps!!!

Here is my favorite combo for the Darkvoice:
Western Electric 421 A.jpg

NOS USA Tung-Sol 6SN7 Driver and NIB Western Electric 421 A Power
 
Jun 30, 2018 at 10:48 PM Post #1,601 of 14,501
@UntilThen - I feel as though I'm following in your foot steps, alas...the Darkvoice is 'Doing it right' for me with the 650's!

I will be looking at rolling some power tubes next, so thanks for the tip!
 
Jul 1, 2018 at 3:11 AM Post #1,603 of 14,501
@UntilThen - I feel as though I'm following in your foot steps, alas...the Darkvoice is 'Doing it right' for me with the 650's!

I will be looking at rolling some power tubes next, so thanks for the tip!

Yes DV336se is pretty good with the HD650. Especially with some of the better tubes. @dobigstuff use the expensive but brilliant sounding WE421A. Alas the tube itself will cost as much as the amp.

I've the full set of good power tubes in pairs which I use on La Figaro 339 and Elise, Euforia. I didn't have WE421A though. I'll be moving on to 2A3 for the Stratus.

L to R - Tung Sol 5998, GEC 6as7g, GE 6BX7gt, Bendix 6080w slotted graphic tubes, GEC 6080, Cetron 6336b (you cannot use this on DV336se)
20180226_184011.jpg
 
Jul 21, 2018 at 6:49 AM Post #1,604 of 14,501
Just realised i posted this in pt1 of the thread without realising there was a pt2...schoolboy error. Anyway, firstly, thanks to everyone that's contributed in these threads. I've been slowly working my way through since i first ordered by 336SE and you guys (especially the tube guru's...you know who you are) have the addictive world of tubes slightly less intimidating.

So i'm currently still on my first run of replacements from stock, a GE 6SN7GTB paired with a Svetlana 6H13C and am really enjoying the upgrade from the Chinese placeholders it came with. This is my first tube amp but even I, with no experience thought it sounded almost SS as standard. I've also got a Sylvania JAN VT-231 (not a bad boy sadly) sitting patiently waiting its turn...i want to get a real feel for the current setup before switching, plus the Svet is a recent addition so am still learning how it sounds. I already have a list of tubes to hunt down and try...feels like i've opened pandora's box getting into tubes!

Anyway, enough rambling and back story. I've got a two part question to ask if you don't mind. I'm close to picking up a dirt cheap RCA 6SN7GT but can't work out the code on it. See pic below



Does the 35 represent the third week of 1950?
Also, is this a grey glass 6SN7? I've read info on one of the tube sites that said the 'grey' starts just up from the bottom and end just below the top.

Lastly, the reason its going dirt cheap is that its untested. I know that's probably a bit of a no no, but could it hurt the amp or is the worst that can happen that it's simply a dud?

Thanks again for a great and informative thread people
 
Jul 21, 2018 at 9:00 AM Post #1,605 of 14,501
You don't know yet what journey you have started. I got my Darvoice 7 months ago. Have been buying various tubes, and have now ordered a Primaluna power amp for my main system :). I don't know what it is with tubes, but you get bitten by them.
 

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