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Little Dot Tube Amps: Vacuum Tube Rolling Guide
Aug 15, 2013 at 9:17 AM Post #2,402 of 13,434
Quote:
oskari said:
About Yen Audio: http://www.head-fi.org/t/563884/little-dot-tube-amps-vacuum-tube-rolling-guide/2235#post_9687523
 
"I wouldn't buy from them in the first place. Overpriced and a sketchy history."
 
I'll have to agree.
 
P.S. It's Voskhod, not Voshkod.
Click to expand...

I bought from this guy once had no problem would i pay $36.00 + shipping again for 2 tubes no way but thats me.Just paid $24.50 including shipping for 5  6AV6 tubes, that i like. As for the spelling your right heard that before i guess Yen doesnt know either !
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 10:32 AM Post #2,404 of 13,434
Quote:
foreign said:
Lol they are the same as the stock power tubes guess you can't change the power tubes on the little dot mk3 oh well.
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Quote:
foreign said:
Lol they are the same as the stock power tubes guess you can't change the power tubes on the little dot mk3 oh well.
Click to expand...

You can upgrade to these
6H30Pi gold pins
or some prefer these 6N6P-IR
 or the way more expensive 6H30P-DR
super tube
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM Post #2,405 of 13,434
Hi Foreign,
 
There is another alternative that I have happily used for the last year and a half - 6N6P gold grid tubes. To me these sound better than the stock 6N6P-i. The sound is more mellow and they have a beneficial effect on driver tubes that are skewed towards treble by toning them down a little. (BTW, the gold grid was invented by GE and used in their 5 Star extra long life tubes. However, nobody bothers to mention this.)
 
The best deals on Ebay for the Russian tubes seem to be 4 tubes for $18 including shipping ($17 for 2 tubes). The general consensus  is to avoid Russian tubes made after 1983 since it seems that the quality started to decline. Ask the vendor what year the tubes were made. This does not apply to the Electro Harmonix tubes which are currently in production and not NOS.
 
I finally caved in a bought a pair of 6N6P-IR tubes, but they have not arrived yet. Shipping from Russia can take four weeks or more. I do not have experience with Electro Harmonix and DR tubes.
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 1:13 PM Post #2,406 of 13,434
Anybody heard about this brand?
 
 
image.php

 
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 1:49 PM Post #2,409 of 13,434
Quote:
mordy said:
Hi Foreign,
 
There is another alternative that I have happily used for the last year and a half - 6N6P gold grid tubes. To me these sound better than the stock 6N6P-i. The sound is more mellow and they have a beneficial effect on driver tubes that are skewed towards treble by toning them down a little. (BTW, the gold grid was invented by GE and used in their 5 Star extra long life tubes. However, nobody bothers to mention this.)
 
The best deals on Ebay for the Russian tubes seem to be 4 tubes for $18 including shipping ($17 for 2 tubes). The general consensus  is to avoid Russian tubes made after 1983 since it seems that the quality started to decline. Ask the vendor what year the tubes were made. This does not apply to the Electro Harmonix tubes which are currently in production and not NOS.
 
I finally caved in a bought a pair of 6N6P-IR tubes, but they have not arrived yet. Shipping from Russia can take four weeks or more. I do not have experience with Electro Harmonix and DR tubes.
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i know how ya feel on the wait mordy, i'm not only waiting for my 6n6p-ir's to arrive from russia but my mkiv se as well from china! hope they will blow my mind
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 3:44 PM Post #2,410 of 13,434
Hi Siles 1991,
 
When I bought my MKIII it had just been written up in Stereophile magazine. Suddenly there was a lot of interest in it, and I had to wait around five months for my unit to arrive.
Then you have wait around 100 hours to burn in the amp, and then for every pair of tubes you need some 50 hours burn in. Patience, patience.
 
So I am used to waiting, and since I have what to listen to it does not bother me to wait a month or so for tubes. But I do remember how it felt to wait for the original delivery.
 
 
I had absolutely no background with tubes and tube amps. The first time I decided to roll a set of tubes I did not even know how to do it. The sockets were of course all new, and very tight. Finally I took a deep breath and yanked out the first tube which wasn't so easy. (All you dentists out there, do you remember the first extraction?)
Anyhow, now I know to use one of those rubber fingers which makes it much easier. And after rolling numerous tubes the sockets are not tight any more. It's just like plugging in a plug in the wall...
 
Have fun!
 
PS: The mailman just rang the bell and asked me to sign for the 6N6P-IR tubes. Took 18 days - last time it took more than 4 weeks to get a package from the Ural mountains....
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 5:39 PM Post #2,411 of 13,434
mikelap said:
You can upgrade to these


6H30Pi gold pins
or some prefer these 6N6P-IR


 or the way more expensive 6H30P-DR


super tube
Click to expand...

Thanks I got s little carried away and bought a whole heap of new tubes to try and power tubes :). Should keep me busy the next few months especially working to pay them off lol. But hey that's why I bought the tube amp for to try different sounds and experiment and enjoy the music along the way.
Bought
voshkod 6zh1p-ev
Hytron jhy6ak5w
Power tubes
6n6pi Novosibirsk
6h30pi sovtek
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 6:13 PM Post #2,412 of 13,434
Quote:
mordy said:
PS: The mailman just rang the bell and asked me to sign for the 6N6P-IR tubes. Took 18 days - last time it took more than 4 weeks to get a package from the Ural mountains....
Click to expand...

 
Hi Mordy,
I'd be really interested to hear a comparison between the 6N6P-IR and the 6N6P Gold grid (I think you are using these ones right now, correct ?).
By the way, which month/year are the 6N6P-IR that you received ?
Thanks
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 6:39 PM Post #2,413 of 13,434
Received a pair of Lorenz EH90 in the mail today:
 

 
As you can see, these look nothing like the Philips/Blackburn Lorenz that Mordy recently received. There are what look like 6 little vertical spot-welds on the plates, and "Lorenz" and "Made in Germany" etched into the glass, but no visible factory date codes. And most interestingly, these have a Telefunken-like diamond impressed in the glass between the pins. However, these look nothing like the Ulm-made Telefunken EH90 that a number of us have. Another mystery tube from Germany... lol :)
 
Aug 15, 2013 at 6:51 PM Post #2,415 of 13,434
Hi vic2vic,
 
You are right, just plugged in the IR tubes. Got these from El-Rayder in Ulyanovsk, Russia. The date is 02/1983.  I had asked for older ones, but he couldn't get them.
 
The older gold grid ones were from X/78 (oct 1978).
$%28KGrHqFHJE4FHciL+c%280BR5EPNh9Gg%7E%7E60_57.JPG

 
It is hard to get an impression right away after a few minutes, but initial impression is more punch in the bass ("bouncy Tung Sol punch")  and brighter glow than the previous tubes.
 
Did anybody ever solve the mystery of the OTK ratings? These new ones say OTK 5. Maybe it is just a quality control stamp like "passed" on the Chinese stuff with an inspector's number.
 
A true evaluation has to wait for a while.....
 
 
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