[MichaelFranks]

Due to my insatiable (and ridiculous) tube lust, I purchased these power tubes to roll in my mg head. Markings aside, they appear to be identical to amperex's bugle boys. Can anyone tell me anything else about them?

They have an atomic logo with a symbol inside of it, and say "made by amperex", also say they are "made in holland" and were perhaps rebadged with the "packard bell electronics" emblem as well.

Thanks for looking!

Bugle Boys?

 

[Sean H]

I did some Google and Audio Asylum searches just now and can't find a whole lot of info. Looks like it was obviously made by Amperex for HP and was likely for use in an old HP console of some sort. From the tiny bits of info I found it looked like there's a very good chance they are in fact Bugle Boys. Hope that helps a little. How do they sound?

 

[MichaelFranks]

Dead quiet thus far after about an hour of listening, fine as far as I can tell, I know the power tubes don't affect the overall sound as much as the 12ax7 derivative, I was happy to find out they all test ~40/50 on my emc 213 with no shorts, and give off no annoying buzz, etc. The item description didn't give much info (or any promises of any sort) so this was good news indeed!

A bit of dusty soot on the outside, but I don't want to try to wipe it off with cleaner for fear of messing with the labeling.

 

[braillediver]

Look at the side towards the base of the tube for acid etched codes. If there the acid etched codes will identify the tube type, manufacturer, location of manufacture and date. I think.

The single tube in the lower left picturehas what appears to be a triangle on it's right hand side looking at the picture which looks like an indication of the Amperex Neerleen plant. Which would be good.

This link describes how to read the codes.

http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/oheinone...vm-coding.html


Good Luck Mitch

 

[MichaelFranks]

Ah ha!

Thanks for the link BD, reference r4 (one of the few I could open) definitely pinpoints the triangle as coming from the Heerlen, Holland plant. The full code is:

rx4
<triangle> 2J3

the rx label apparently means the type is cch35, not sure what this means (not exactly a reference to el84?).... none of the links to the factory code (the 4) worked.

2 for 1962 or perhaps 52?

3rd week of october.

What of these indicators really tells me that these are bugle boys, or is that the only type of tube amperex produced during these time period/in this region?

Thanks again!

 

[braillediver]

small r, Big X = EL84

rX

http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/erikputz/electr03.htm#ms

You got me confused there for a monemt.

Nice score. I'd like to get a couple more of those myself. I like the sound of the Valvo EL84's also.


Mitch

 

[MichaelFranks]

Found another similar pair on ebay, 12au7's this time:

I was the only person to bid on these, which makes me wonder what could be wrong with them! They were a little too cheap to believe.

I wonder what the difference is between these and standard bugle boy tubes, if they are all from the same factory. Is that little whistle really worth the extra money for some reason? Going to roll some bugle boy 12au7's for comparison sake.

The el84's sound great, I can report on these new ones in a week or so when they and otl-32 arrive. I even purchased an amperex 5y3-GT regulator tube for consistency sake!

If these don't have a name yet, I lovingly dub the line "Atomic Amperex".

 

[GlowWorm]

Just out of curiousity, what did you pay for those 4 EL84's?

 

[braillediver]

GlowWorm do an advanced search on Ebay and look at completed auctions for 6BQ5, EL84 and 7189's.

You really have to view every auction, look at the tubes closely, ask the seller questions and sometimes take a chance.

Learn what the etched codes mean and try your luck.


Good Luck

Mitch

 

[MichaelFranks]

around 30$ shipped, the ad was a bit shady though, didn't say much but the seller had good feedback. i was taking a risk, but hoped that at least two of them would be good, turned out all 4 are solid.

this was a much better deal than some shoddily labeled allegedly "matched" tubes I got from a different seller for alot more money. they were border line good but came at a premium price. I think some people just throw the word "matched" around because it obviously sells tubes at a more premium price. Better deals on tubes seem to come from people who are more clueless about them.

the ebay crap shoot, go figure.

 

[GlowWorm]

Great deal Michael! If you want to sell a couple down the road, let me know.

 

[MichaelFranks]

if I ever get rid of them it will be with the otl-32, if I ever move on to something even more gratuitous! I got rid of my last 3 bugle boys when I sold my mg head, and I think the buyer was very happy with them