[manbear]

  New and different ??? I bought some Russian 6N5P tubes I just came across them surfing ebay 2x triodes. Similar values to 6FG7 .
They are really nice tubey sounding tubes meaning sweet and fat not unlike the 12BH7 another favorite of mine. My understanding is the gain is like the12AU7s

Cool. Do you need the supercharger to make them work?

 

[J&J]

I have the sc but really don't know depends on current needed for filament. Mentioned them to Jeremy and he was not familiar with them. If similar to  6n6p the amp would need sc

 

[J&J]

Jeremy just checked and a 6n5p requires a SC for higher heater current

 

[richard51]

I had try a bugle boy 12au7 ecc82... Wow.... better than the amperex globe orange and better than the 12bh7a...2 very good tubes...Bugle boy 12au7 is the holy grail for me ...The sound is more 3d and has more body than the orange globe....

 

[Stillhart]

Hi all,
 
I just picked up a used Ember (with SC) that came with 4 tubes.  I got it to use with the HE-4, but I also just grabbed an HD650 on super sale just to hear it.
 
Well tried all the tubes I had with the HE-4 and none of them really impressed me.  I kept my favorite one in and tried the HD650 (which didn't impress me from the SS amp) and holy cow!!  HD650 with Amperex 6DJ8 is really something!  I'm starting to get an inkling of what people mean when they talk about synergy in your components.
 
Anyways, I'm still looking for a good tube to go with my HE-4.  I'm looking for something that will tame the highs a bit without really ruining the planar bass.  So far, I haven't found that sound.  Can anyone maybe suggest something, preferably in a sane price range?  Someone suggested a Philips Miniwatt, which turned out to be a $200+ tube.  :-/
 
Oh, for the record, the tubes I tried were the Amperex 6DJ8, generic 6H1n (which is a P in Russian, I guess), generic 6N6P, RCA 12BH7A.
 
I'm hoping that the SC will give me access to some nice tubes that are maybe less in demand, and therefore cheaper.
 
Thx!
 
EDIT - Read the last 6 pages of this thread and my head is spinning.

 

[ericr]

Try this:

http://www.tubemaze.info/westinghouse-12au7-carbon-plates/

You get them reasonably on eBay. Just make sure you follow the tips he gives on how to identify the original tubes (before they were farmed out to RCA). FWIW, Mine are labeled Conn.

They are towards the warm side, have excellent bass, and yet still deliver good detail in the mids and highs. They are lower gain tubes so high gain mode on the Ember may be in order.

My best tube purchase out of 30-35. I would love it if someone else tried these out to verify (or not) my impression!

 

[connieflyer]

I bought one from him last year and like it quite well.  Tried lots of 12au7's and while they sound very good with the Ember, so far the ones I like the best are the bugleboy 12ax7's.  I have a pair of the Conn's as well and did not care for them as much as the westinghouse.  Also tried the 12bh7's,12av7, 6dj8,6gu7, 7dj8,E80cc,6922,telefunken 12at7,mullard 12ax7, tungsol 12ax7 5751(second best), amperex, bugle boy6dj8,ECC00 6h6n,sylvania 12axwa, slvania 6dj8 black,cv4024 Mullard, ECC83 S,12au7 westinghouse, but as of now the BB12ax7, are at the top of my list.  Don't use most of these anymore, probably1/3 will rotate in, so I better put some back on the sale list.  I am using the Sennheiser HD650, running thru and Emotiva XDR-2 for dac.

 

[Stillhart]

Try this:

http://www.tubemaze.info/westinghouse-12au7-carbon-plates/

You get them reasonably on eBay. Just make sure you follow the tips he gives on how to identify the original tubes (before they were farmed out to RCA). FWIW, Mine are labeled Conn.

They are towards the warm side, have excellent bass, and yet still deliver good detail in the mids and highs. They are lower gain tubes so high gain mode on the Ember may be in order.

My best tube purchase out of 30-35. I would love it if someone else tried these out to verify (or not) my impression!

 
Thanks, I read the page and the hit up ebay and then scratched my head bewildered as I realized that I had no idea how to tell what was real or fake.  I don't understand what 3/4 of the words on that page mean, and I spent hours reading up on tube rolling.  I'm going ot have to do more research...

 

[fortunate son]

I've tried most of the tubes connieflyer listed.

You can put lipstick on a pig but . . .

 

[J&J]

In general I've prefered the Amp BB to OG in both 6 and 12V The BB are my default 6dj8 in Lyr

 

[Amish]

BB tubes are among my favs as well. 12AT and 12AX but my favorite tubes to date are: 1959 Telefunken 12AT7 &
1960 Telefunken 12AT7 Tektronix
 
These two tubes sound dreamy to me.

 

[ericr]

Thanks, I read the page and the hit up ebay and then scratched my head bewildered as I realized that I had no idea how to tell what was real or fake.  I don't understand what 3/4 of the words on that page mean, and I spent hours reading up on tube rolling.  I'm going ot have to do more research...

Sorry to be so slow in getting back with you. Here are a few listings for these from the eBay seller I bought mine from:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=spin4cards&_armrs=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313&_nkw=Westinghouse+12AU7A&_sacat=0

I bought the Silver grade and they work great. I don't fully understand his gradings, but he has dropped the price on the Gold grade and for just a couple dollars more I would buy those now.

 

[Stillhart]

Sorry to be so slow in getting back with you. Here are a few listings for these from the eBay seller I bought mine from:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=spin4cards&_armrs=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313&_nkw=Westinghouse+12AU7A&_sacat=0

I bought the Silver grade and they work great. I don't fully understand his gradings, but he has dropped the price on the Gold grade and for just a couple dollars more I would buy those now.

Thanks!  From the description, it sounds like the grading is only indicating how well the tube pairs match eachother.  Since I'm just going to be using one at a time in the Ember, I think I should be fine with a silver grade.
 
I just got a new headphone that's coming in tomorrow.  I'm going to wait and see how that pairs with the Ember before deciding whether to buy new tubes or not.  But these are going to be first on my list, I think.  

 

[dpump]

Sorry to be so slow in getting back with you. Here are a few listings for these from the eBay seller I bought mine from:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=&_ssn=spin4cards&_armrs=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313&_nkw=Westinghouse+12AU7A&_sacat=0

I bought the Silver grade and they work great. I don't fully understand his gradings, but he has dropped the price on the Gold grade and for just a couple dollars more I would buy those now.

Stillhart,
 
Look at the pictures of the tubes on eBay. Look at the 4th picture and notice that the 12AU7 writing has a rectangle with cut corners around it. Whenever you see this rectangle around the tube number it means the tube was manufactured by RCA. Now look at the last picture and you can see the 12AU7 does not have a rectangle around it and you can see one dot below the 12AU7. This is the tube that was made by Westinghouse and is the one that the reviews say is the best one. If you decide to buy from this seller email him to see if any of his tubes have the dots above and below the 12AU7. I purchased some of these tubes from him before I knew the difference and ended up with 3 that have the dots, the rest are the RCA's.
 
 
Other than the dots around the 12AU7 and the vertical numbers below the 12AU7, the two types of tubes appear to be identical, and the RCA's are still a good tube and a good buy at his prices. I think the Westinghouse sounds a little better, but it could be because I wanted it to! 

 

[Stillhart]

Thanks, that's super helpful!