[RoyGB]

Alright. So these are first impressions of everything that I have tested so far.

Testing methodology:

Testing running USB from my PC to a Monolith THX 788 DAC+AMP pre-out to the Ember. Ember is set to high gain (WO/AM), going through the input caps (BP-R), low impedance setting. Testing using my Denon D9200 (Flagship, TOTL headphones, biodynamic, very slightly V-shaped, strong detail retrieval in all ranges, fantastic soundstaging, elevated treble, 24 ohm, easy to drive) and HD6XX/650 (Warm, rolled off bass and treble, midrange/vocalst focused, alright you probably already know what these sound like). I am mainly after tubes that work well with my 9200's. 6XX are a secondary consideration.


The playlist that I was using is this. It should be noted that I was searching out certain points in most of these songs, or utilizing them for certain frequency ranges or instruments.
I let each tube warm up for about 3-5 minutes. Not ideal, but then again most tubes normalize after like 60 seconds and I am trying to retain some memory of what things sound like. Because I cannot do direct tube comparisons, I used my Solid state as an intermediate step. Jumping back and forth between tube and solid state to compare the relative differences.

I had the choice of going low gain and playing with the volume every time switching between my Monolith and Ember. This would have lowered the tubes noise floor but would have resulted in likely volume mismatch, or I could match the volumes and have a slightly higher noisefloor which could impact my impressions due to percieved distortion just being noise. This is the option that I opted for. Volpot was set to noon-ish, and volume matched to the 788. It should be noted that the Monolith has a digital volume control for the DAC pre-out and anytime volume was adjusted it was done with the DAC and not the Ember.

My main interest in a tube amp is 'tubeyness' namely harmonic distortion, slower decay, 'holographic' sound, euphonic sound, etc... . I am not in the tube games to elevate my headphones detail or clarity, or to use it as an expensive EQ, or something that is going to sound like solid state. If I want clean accurate performance or coloration, I have solid state, and a couple of different headphones for that. I write this so you know what my biases are and what I am looking to get out of tubes. Many other reviews on this thread don't really go into what gear they are using, what they are using for comparison, and what they are after in their music. As such, sometimes it can be hard to really know what you are getting yourself into. This is with my ears, and my tubes so YMMV.

Once again these are first impressions. More in depth impressions to come later:

Tubes I like:

• Sylvania 6SN7 GTB Coin Base- I think that this tube has potential. Reminds me of my EH 12BH7. Not the tubiest tube, but unnofensive and still nice to listen to. More testing is needed. Also, this thing is literally impossible to get in and out of the adapter. To the point where I am only able to do so with a screwdriver acting as a pry tool. This is the tube that Jeremy sent with the adapter.
• Tung Sol 6SN7 GT Black 3 hole T plate- This tube seems the tubiest of all the tubes I have tested so far. Noisefloor is one of the quietest of the 6SN7's as well. Overall this tube is a clear frontrunner for me.
• Silvertone 6SN7GTB- One of these does more tubey things than the other and to be frank I forgot which one was which. So now I need to go back and test both to see if my initial impressions were correct.
• Electro Harmonix 12BH7AEH (normal not gold)- Favorite 9 pin that I have tried for the same reason. Does tube things to the sound. Although not as much as some of the 6SN7's. But a very nice warm tube. Unoffensive and enjoyable. This was my main tube before I got these 6SN7's

Tubes that were meh:

These tubes sounded too close to solid state for me. I'll likely give them another go, but they were just kinda meh during my initial impressions. I have a cable for my D9200's that I feel does more for my music than some of these tubes. These will likely be sold if you have your eye on any of them unless something crazy happens in my second listening session.

• Crossley (sylvania) 6SN7GT Imitation 2 hole bad boy: DOA, strong buzzing in left channel. Refunding this one.
• Magnavox (?Sylvania?)6SN7 GT: Didn't do enough that made it special. Also had some microphonics that made it sound like a spring was being flicked. Was not audible when not touching the amp though. Only when unplugging/plugging and intentional tapping.
• Silvertone 6SN7GTB- One of these felt like it did more than the other. This one sounded a bit hollow and treble elevated.
• Sylvania VT-231 6SN7W GT Brown Base bad boy 3 hole T plates (213 date stamp)- I had big hopes for this tube. It literally checked all the boxes of every 6SN7 fetishizer. Tested over 100%, strongly matched triodes. 1942 3-hole Bad Boy T-Plates, brown base, 6SN7W. And I got this tube on a steal for like $25. This is like an $80+ tube. But alas, it was just meh. I didn't really feel like it did anything special for me. If I had to take a guess this tube probably does stellar on some OTL tube amps where they are feeding it more than 48 V in a plate starved hybrid design like the Ember. I almost want to build an output transformer coupled tube amp just so I can actually use this tube to it's potential (and have a balanced output). I hate to get rid of it, but it is likely going unless my next listening session or two completely changes up the story with this guy.
• Russian 6N6P: I have 2 of these, came with the unit when I purchased it. They do nothing for me. And to be truthful, I don't really even hear the 'elevated bass' that these are known for. I'll give it another listen but I have not been the most impressed with these. Jeremy likes to reccomend these though based on my conversations with him, so I may be in the minority here.
• CONN (RCA) Cleartop 12AU7A- I don't get this tube at all. Just not good IMO. It is also very noisy and did not pair well with my low impedance Denons, which leaves the Sennheisers, and I like what the EH 9-pin does better than this tube.

I'm still waiting for my 6J5 and 76 adapters to arrive. I am really excited to try out the Zeniths. Others have commented that they are a more euphonic tube. Which if that means what I think it means, then I will probably like it. Then again the same thing was said about Sylvania Brown Bases earlier in this thread. I also have some deoxit which I am going to be applying to all the tube pins at some point. That may change things up but I am not too hopeful.

I'm open to recommendations. Once these tubes go out the door, new ones are likely going to be replacing them.

 

[RoyGB]

Anyone know any solutions for audio cutting out on one side (it gets to crosstalk levels of quiet and you can still hear equal noise out of both channels). I'm really hoping that this is not a bad triode on my Tung Sol because it is my favorite tube and I don't want to go tube hunting for another one and hope it sounds the same. Usually if I reseat the tube in the 6SN7 adapter the issue goes away for a bit. Alternatively sometimes a powercycle resolves it. The test readings are E: 77/86 G: 86/88 it is the left side that cuts out. (to be honest I have no idea what those letters mean and what they correspond to. I'm just reading what is on the sticker on the tube. I have maybe 10 hours on it since then).

I have already used deoxit on the pins.

 

[RoyGB]

Impressions coming soon of the 6J5 and 76 series tubes.

Also a correction to my earlier posting. The 76 adapters only support 76 and 37 tubes. All others require far to much amperage for the Ember to provide. So the 2 pairs of 56 tubes I bought are not going to work. Woe is me I suppose. Hopefully I will be able to recoup the ~$50-80 I spent on these 2 pairs.

The 76 and 37 are both 6.3V 0.3A the 56 and tube series that share the 76 pinout all require in excess of 1A per tube.

As a sneak peak:
76's have incredibly low noisefloor. Interesting sound. Still trying to wrap my head around what is happening.
Having some issues with my 6j5 pairs. More to come.
The 37 bulb tubes are some of the sexiest things that I have seen on my ember. Really taking to the looks of these. Even with the franken adapters going on.

 

[RoyGB]

PART 1 Single Triodes:
Alright Here we go. Gonna break this up into two parts. I intend to release part two tomorrow. Not that it really matters it seems. Thread is kinda dead. Mainly been talking to myself here recently.

Testing methodology and gear used is detailed above. With the inclusion of my stereo system (788 DAC preout -> Ember tube buffer -> Denon PMA 800NE -> SVS Ultra Bookshelf + SVS SB12 NSD with its own preamp used to independently control subwoofer volume.)

Some context to some of the phraseology that I am using:

• Detail: Actually detail. Articulation and clarity. Not just treble like some people seem to confuse detail for.
• Dynamics: Delta between the quietest and loudest parts of a song. This partly ties into detail because at normal volumes if dynamic range is reduced, details that are only apparent at louder volumes may be lost.
• Smooth: Loss of some detail and texture presenting a less analytical but more... well smooth sound. I guess a good analogy would be applying a soft filter to a photo.
• Tubeyness/Distingushable from Solid State: Tubes are such an amalgamation soup of different things going on that to pin this to one characteristic would be wrong. I perceive tubeyness as a mixture between several characteristics that I would describe as euphonic, warm, and smooth. The biggest factor is that is is easily distinguishable from solid state in a way that does not just nerf detail or dynamics. You will also see this
• Tube treble: Pretty much all tubes I tried had some sort of rolloff of the upper treble. As well as a loss of detail. I am sure that this helps contribute to the warmth that most tubes have. That being said tube treble does not mean the tube will provide a warm characteristic.
• Noisefloor: tube hiss or hum. I am mainly rating this with my Denon D9200's. Which are a 24 ohm headphone.

Arcturus (National Union) 76:
Coolest Boxes Award

See below for the audio characteristic but with a coke bottle shape. And dead quiet noisefloor. Blue lettering is also cool.
RCA 37:
Æ S T H E T H I C C Award

Sexiest tube. For some reason I really dig the look of these things. Photos don’t really do it justice. The bulb tube towers just have something about it that I adore looking at. Bulb tube towers >>>>>>> Coke bottle tube tower. And I went into this thinking that the coke bottles were going to look the best.

I just really wish the adapter had a black PCB. In fact, I would pay decent money to get a black PCB 6J5 adapter. The green is a big eyesore imo.

Soundwise. They kill detail everywhere and do not have the greatest dynamic range. They are also susceptible to noise if your hand or other electronics get close to them. An interesting listen if you really want to emulate a ‘old music experience’ for lack of better phrasing. Comparable to the Arcturus (National Union) 76 tubes.

Easily distinguishable from SS (but for all the wrong reasons).
Average noisefloor

Sylvania 76:
Quietest Award

Midrange dynamics and detail suffer. Don’t really do anything remarkable. Not really tubey.

Their redeeming factor is near solid state levels of noise floor. Seriously. I paired these with some IEM’s and my 24ohm Denon’s and noisefloor was very quiet.

Not easily distinguishable from SS
Not Tubey
Almost SS levels of noisefloor

Zenith 6J5:
Technical Achievement award

I can see why people like these tubes. They have great bass dynamics and overall retain much of the microdetail that is lost on other tubes. They are a very good technical performer, that being said, they were not ‘tubey’ moreso they were really good at reproducing audio. Their defining characteristics are an elevated bass slam and elevated vocal midrange this is done without necessarily sounding warm. Very neutral. Typical tube treble. Would say about 90-95% of the detail and cleanliness of solidstate.

Noisefloor is just shy of 50th percentile for tubes I tried. Not crazy noisy, but this tube is just below average for noisefloor.
Not easily distinguishable from SS.

Hytron 6C5:
GALILEO galileo Award

Took a gamble on these tubes. Seller listed them as NIB. But they were previously tested and likely used. There was a ‘good 1/17/70’ on one of the flaps on the original boxes that these came with. These had a channel imbalance, so I was not able to accurately assess these tubes. These had a noise issue as well.

From what I was able to glean, these were warm and pleasant. But outside of that, I don’t want to speak in absolutes for such a poor testing experience.

Tung Sol 76 Top mica fins
1st Place award

Lush, good bass dynamics, retains a good amount of detail while still providing a fair bit of tube character. More smooth than warm, but is on the warmer side of neutral. The defining characteristics are definitely the tube character that these provide. These tubes sounded wonderful on everything. My first impression were that I liked the Tung Sol 6SN7 better but after several back and fourths my appreciation of these continuously grew. These will become my default tubes and will have a permanent home in my ember.

Low noisefloor
Easily distinguishable from SS

Part Two on Double triodes coming tomorrow

 

[Astral Abyss]

PART 1 Single Triodes:
Alright Here we go. Gonna break this up into two parts. I intend to release part two tomorrow. Not that it really matters it seems. Thread is kinda dead. Mainly been talking to myself here recently.

Testing methodology and gear used is detailed above. With the inclusion of my stereo system (788 DAC preout -> Ember tube buffer -> Denon PMA 800NE -> SVS Ultra Bookshelf + SVS SB12 NSD with its own preamp used to independently control subwoofer volume.)

Some context to some of the phraseology that I am using:

• Detail: Actually detail. Articulation and clarity. Not just treble like some people seem to confuse detail for.
• Dynamics: Delta between the quietest and loudest parts of a song. This partly ties into detail because at normal volumes if dynamic range is reduced, details that are only apparent at louder volumes may be lost.
• Smooth: Loss of some detail and texture presenting a less analytical but more... well smooth sound. I guess a good analogy would be applying a soft filter to a photo.
• Tubeyness/Distingushable from Solid State: Tubes are such an amalgamation soup of different things going on that to pin this to one characteristic would be wrong. I perceive tubeyness as a mixture between several characteristics that I would describe as euphonic, warm, and smooth. The biggest factor is that is is easily distinguishable from solid state in a way that does not just nerf detail or dynamics. You will also see this
• Tube treble: Pretty much all tubes I tried had some sort of rolloff of the upper treble. As well as a loss of detail. I am sure that this helps contribute to the warmth that most tubes have. That being said tube treble does not mean the tube will provide a warm characteristic.
• Noisefloor: tube hiss or hum. I am mainly rating this with my Denon D9200's. Which are a 24 ohm headphone.

Arcturus (National Union) 76:
Coolest Boxes Award


See above for the audio characteristic but with a coke bottle shape. And dead quiet noisefloor. Blue lettering is also cool.
RCA 37:
Æ S T H E T H I C C Award


Sexiest tube. For some reason I really dig the look of these things. Photos don’t really do it justice. The bulb tube towers just have something about it that I adore looking at. Bulb tube towers >>>>>>> Coke bottle tube tower. And I went into this thinking that the coke bottles were going to look the best.

I just really wish the adapter had a black PCB. In fact, I would pay decent money to get a black PCB 6J5 adapter. The green is a big eyesore imo.

Soundwise. They kill detail everywhere and do not have the greatest dynamic range. They are also susceptible to noise if your hand or other electronics get close to them. An interesting listen if you really want to emulate a ‘old music experience’ for lack of better phrasing. Comparable to the Arcturus (National Union) 76 tubes.

Easily distinguishable from SS (but for all the wrong reasons).
Average noisefloor

Sylvania 76:
Quietest Award

Midrange dynamics and detail suffer. Don’t really do anything remarkable. Not really tubey.

Their redeeming factor is near solid state levels of noise floor. Seriously. I paired these with some IEM’s and my 24ohm Denon’s and noisefloor was very quiet.

Not easily distinguishable from SS
Not Tubey
Almost SS levels of noisefloor

Zenith 6J5:
Technical Achievement award



I can see why people like these tubes. They have great bass dynamics and overall retain much of the microdetail that is lost on other tubes. They are a very good technical performer, that being said, they were not ‘tubey’ moreso they were really good at reproducing audio. Their defining characteristics are an elevated bass slam and elevated vocal midrange this is done without necessarily sounding warm. Very neutral. Typical tube treble. Would say about 90-95% of the detail and cleanliness of solidstate.

Noisefloor is just shy of 50th percentile for tubes I tried. Not crazy noisy, but this tube is just below average for noisefloor.
Not easily distinguishable from SS.

Hytron 6C5:
GALILEO galileo Award


Took a gamble on these tubes. Seller listed them as NIB. But they were previously tested and likely used. There was a ‘good 1/17/70’ on one of the flaps on the original boxes that these came with. These had a channel imbalance, so I was not able to accurately assess these tubes. These had a noise issue as well.

From what I was able to glean, these were warm and pleasant. But outside of that, I don’t want to speak in absolutes for such a poor testing experience.

Tung Sol 76 Top mica fins
1st Place award

Lush, good bass dynamics, retains a good amount of detail while still providing a fair bit of tube character. More smooth than warm, but is on the warmer side of neutral. The defining characteristics are definitely the tube character that these provide. These tubes sounded wonderful on everything. My first impression were that I liked the Tung Sol 6SN7 better but after several back and fourths my appreciation of these continuously grew. These will become my default tubes and will have a permanent home in my ember.

Low noisefloor
Easily distinguishable from SS

Part Two on Double triodes coming tomorrow

Very cool review.

You may be the first person to try these tubes in Ember. That being said, I am a 6J5G lover. I've got a few pairs of National Unions and they are a permanent staple for me in the Ember. They just do everything right. Your comments on them mirror my own.

 

[RoyGB]

I'll have to try those out if I can find a pair. I also want to try another pair of Hytron 6C5's because they seemed to have a lot of potential. But it seems that there is not another matched pair on the market right now and I cant find an individual tube that matches my pair. Maybe if @HOWIE13 might be willing to sell his Hytrons. That is the only other person I know who has a pair.

I feel like there is so many tubes to try. The ability to roll just about any preamp tube is a curse.

 

[RoyGB]

PART 2 Dual Triodes:

Testing methodology and everything else was laid out in part 1. Just to clarify as well. Above average noisefloor means it is nosier than what my brain defines as 'average tube noisefloor'. Below average means it is quieter. Super arbitrary system but it is only for refrence


Sylvania 6SN7GTB Coin Base angled T plates:
I heard that award

Sylvania sound signature. Recessed bass with loss of detail and dynamics good mids and highs with less ‘tube treble’ character than most. This tube does sound different from the Silvertone but I cant quite pinpoint it*. Likely just a change in tube character messing with the FR a bit.
*see Silvertone review.

Distinguishable from SS (less so than most)
Below Average noisefloor, sensitive to electronic noise. I can hear whines anytime I move my mouse with this tube. Likewise I can hear noise from my DAC+AMP whenever I have it set to headphone out and have my cans plugged into my tube amp.

Silvertone (Sylvania) 6SN7GTB Grey angled T plates top O getter:
Box of chocolates award

Classic Sylvania sound signature with a bit more bass than the Coin base. This tube sounds tubeier. Better dynamics overall. Retains the sylvania treble with a slightly elevated amount of bass. It has some tube character to it as well. I feel like every time I listen to this tube I get a different impression of it. The last time I used this tube, I swear that it had less than SS bass dynamics and comparable sound to the coin base with some FR differences. Now it feels like a really strong performer with elevated bass solid midrange and trebles and some tube warmth to boot. And other times I was just completely underwhelmed. And to make it worse I have two of these. Yea, IDK just get one of these I suppose and you will have the entire gamut of tube experiences at your disposal on a random basis. I think it might be track dependent but TBH I have no idea. Might also be a characteristic of the tube warming up and changing its FR.

Distinguishable from SS (track dependent)
Tubey???
above average noisefloor

Tung Sol 6SN7 3 hole black T plate, top getter rectangular micas-
Tubey Award

I like this tube a lot it is 2nd only to the Tung Sol 76's. The only downside that I can find is that it has worse than most SS dynamics. In fact the dynamics and detail retrieval are just a bit worse everywhere relative to . But this is by far the smoothest and most pleasant tube to listen to out of everything that I have tried. It has a lot of tube character and is a really good if you just want to relax and not go detail hunting. It is noticeably warm, very smooth, and pleasant overall. I would say it is 'tubier' than the Tung Sol 76's but it comes at the price of audio performance. Both are fantastic though.

Easily distinguishable from SS
Noisefloor is slightly above average.

Sylvania Brown Base 6SN7W GT VT-231 213 date code 3 hole T plate (bad boy year):
Biggest Disappointment award

Very good technical performer. Nothing to really complain about other than it just kinda sounds like solid state. Recesses sub bass relative to solid state but seems to do something with upper bass.IDK if it is a result of the subbass rolloff or something else. Also seems to excite the treble in a couple of frequencies but not in a ‘shelf eq’ way. Very good performer if you are after something close to solid state and neutral.

Not easily distinguishable from SS
Not really tubey
Average noisefloor

Magnavox 6SN7GTB:
Worlds okayest tube award

Okay dynamics, okay detail, typical tube treble. Microphonic as well

Not really tubey,
not really all that discernible from SS.
Okay noisefloor. 6/10.

Electro Harmonix 12BH7AEH
Starter Tube Award

Not a bad tube in any capacity. If you want something with some of that tube character to it without breaking the bank, this tube gets my recommendation. Sounded great on my 6XX’s and my D9200’s.

Does just enough to the sound to distinguish it from SS. This tube has a very subtle tube character, but it is definitely there. The best part is you can buy this tube straight from Jeremy. Out of the 1 new production starter tubes that I have tried I can say this is my favorite new production tube. I felt this does more to the 6XX's than to my D9200's. As for what they do to the sound. It very subtly pushes the sound into being 'different'. From my best interpretation, it adds more color and vividness to some of the midrange. Things sounded relatively flat and dry on solidstate compared to this tube almost like extracting extra detail. It is very subtle though and it is something you are going to need some back and forth to discover or a really really good ear for finding differences. Once you know it is there you are able to appreciate it a bit better.

above average noisefloor
Borderline tubey
borderline distinguishable from SS

Conn (RCA) Clear top 12AU7A:
Last Place Award

Did not like this tube at all. messed with sound in all the wrong ways and had one of the worst noise floors out of all the tubes I tried. It made solid state sound tubey. Going back to solidstate, I was immediately greeted with warmth and fullness that was missing from this tubes presentation. Soooo. Yea.

Not really tubey
Distinguishable from Solid State
Worst noise floor

Russian 6N6P
This tube somehow only plays Russian Hardbass award.

My amp came with two of these when I purchased it, both sounded identical to my ears.

Meh. People say this tube is a good tube for bass. I kinda see where they are coming from. My first impression was that these only seem like they have elevated bass because they dampen the mids and highs.

My longer impression was that was almost the story. These have several things going for them. 1 is a certain frequency range just feels like it is gone. IDK exactly what it is, but if I had to take a wild guess it sounds like someone may have taken a giant scoop out of the midrange and those frequencies are just gone. Now what is actually happening is likely something completely different but this is how I am going to describe it. Once again tubes are a soup sandwich of sound. They mess things up in so many ways that just saying definitively it is 1 thing that is causing everything to happen would be wrong.

So outside of that scoop. Feels like these kill everything past 10k along with having typical tube treble. Now what I just described is essentially a harman curve, but I don’t think that these have a harman curve sound signature. So I really don’t know what is going on or how to describe it other than it feels like a chunk of audio is dampened tremendously. This does create a very soundstagey presentation so it might be worth considering if you are into that. I felt that these did a decent job at linearizing the 6XX/650’s if that is something you may be after as well.

Distinguishable from SS
Not really tubey
Below average noisefloor.

Crossley 6SN7 Imitation bad boy:
borked award

Couldn't test. One side either cut out or put out a tremendous amount of noise.

At the end of the day I will be keeping:
Keep:
Tung Sol 76's (Default tube)
Tung Sol 6SN7 (For relaxed sessions)
RCA 37's (I just like to look at them. Unless a good sounding pair of globe tubes cross my desk at some point)
Hytron 6C5 (These have potential and I want to try them if I can get a matched pair/ matched single.)

Keep for now maybe sell:
EH 12BH7 (I want to keep at least 1 noval)
Zenith 6J5 (Why not)
Silvertone 6SN7 (Keep 1 sell 1)
Russian 6N6P (Keep 1 sell 1)

Selling:
RCA Clear Top
Sylvania 76
Russian 6N6P
Sylvania Coin Base 6SN7
Magnavox 6SN7
The pairs of 56's that I bought and cant use (I only recall purchasing two pairs but somehow have three)
Sylvania 6SN7W brown base
Arcturus 76's
Silvertone 6SN7

 

[RoyGB]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/vali-2-tube-rolling.793982/post-15600939

Well @oakparkmusicguy there it is.


The bottom plug can rotate in order to fit the layout of the amp.

Over on the Vali tube rolling thread user @Deyan is making custom 7A4 adapters. He is also making a 7N7 adapter as well from the looks of it.
I don't know if anyone has tried the 7N7 or 7A4 tubes in the ember. A quick search yeilds nothing. I just bought 3 more pairs of 6J5 + 76 tubes so I really don't have the cash to go experimenting with a whole new adapter and type of tube right now but figured I would drop this here. It also looks like you can buy them on ebay from xulingmrs who sells pretty much all the tube adapters.

Likewise 6A6 and 6N7 family is fairly untested at this point as well. It seems like Howie13 was the only one to really test these tubes out.

 

[Deyan]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/vali-2-tube-rolling.793982/post-15600939



Over on the Vali tube rolling thread user @Deyan is making custom 7A4 adapter. He is also making a 7N7 adapter as well from the looks of it.
I don't know if anyone has tried the 7N7 or 7A4 tubes in the ember. A quick search yeilds nothing. I just bought 3 more pairs of 6J5 + 76 tubes so I really don't have the cash to go experimenting with a whole new adapter and type of tube right now but figured I would drop this here. It also looks like you can buy them on ebay from xulingmrs who sells pretty much all the tube adapters.

Likewise 6A6 and 6N7 family is fairly untested at this point as well. It seems like Howie13 was the only one to really test these tubes out.

" custom" is the key word here. So I'm also making all the tube adapters.

 

[Makiah S]

Love to see some action still present here!

Sadly tho despite having DOVE right into the Deep end of the GE 6072 12AY7 pool, and yes I got the holy grail 58/59 Triple Mica with 100%/100% matched triodes [because what else is there?]

Anyways, 3 GE 6072[a]s later and honestly I still prefer my Psvanne CT181-T II. It's staging is really top notch and while a few of the tubes had a touch more air and better bass texture they just lacked that big cohesive staging I liked about my Psvanne

I will say the GE 5 Star tho was my favorite in Ember, an yea I run the amp with all bypass on and the input attenuation removed. Output Z was set to Low and I did my listening with my Aeon 2 Closed [solid silver cable]

 

[RoyGB]

Love to see some action still present here!

Sadly tho despite having DOVE right into the Deep end of the GE 6072 12AY7 pool, and yes I got the holy grail 58/59 Triple Mica with 100%/100% matched triodes [because what else is there?]

Anyways, 3 GE 6072[a]s later and honestly I still prefer my Psvanne CT181-T II. It's staging is really top notch and while a few of the tubes had a touch more air and better bass texture they just lacked that big cohesive staging I liked about my Psvanne

I will say the GE 5 Star tho was my favorite in Ember, an yea I run the amp with all bypass on and the input attenuation removed. Output Z was set to Low and I did my listening with my Aeon 2 Closed [solid silver cable]

What would you say the defining characteristics of those tubes were that you were going for? I have a GE 3 mica 5 star 6201 12at7 coming in along with an Amperex holland 6DJ8. I wanted to try a couple more novals before I opt for another buying round of 6SN7 equivalents.

I've been wanting to try a Psvanne as well. But I am concerned it is not going to be what I am after in terms of tube character.

I also noticed that you had a pair of Hytron 6C5's at one point. Do you know if the person you sold it to is active or might be willing to sell them at all? I'm on a hunt for a good matched pair of those at the moment.

 

[Makiah S]

What would you say the defining characteristics of those tubes were that you were going for? I have a GE 3 mica 5 star 6201 12at7 coming in along with an Amperex holland 6DJ8. I wanted to try a couple more novals before I opt for another buying round of 6SN7 equivalents.

I've been wanting to try a Psvanne as well. But I am concerned it is not going to be what I am after in terms of tube character.

I also noticed that you had a pair of Hytron 6C5's at one point. Do you know if the person you sold it to is active or might be willing to sell them at all? I'm on a hunt for a good matched pair of those at the moment.

I did... yikes must not have been too memorable

The GE 6072/12ay7s are airy with a lean tonality and not harsh,

The Psvannge ct181 Tii on the other hand has a nice tonality and a BIG stage, bass is detailed with a little bloom and heft. The Sylvania 6sn7s and GE 6072s I got have the same airy lean presentation imo, The GE 5 Star has a nice touch of bloom and body in the Ember it's a lot like the Psvanne CT181 tho without as much clarity

 

[RoyGB]

Just a heads up. There is a very new and very alive (at the time of posting) 6J5 thread here. I just stumbled upon it and figured I would share considering Embers relationship with the 6J5.

That being said most of the guys over there seem to be coming from the other end of the tube audio spectrum. Expensive OTC stuff. Regardless, might as well share this with everyone over here. Might be a nice resource at some point in time.

On another note expect Part 3 later this month. I have 5-6 more pairs of tubes coming in including some novals...

Yea I really need to start selling some of these tubes. I am pretty much at my limit at this point until I can get some of these out the door.

 

[RoyGB]

@Mshenay

You seem to have dealt with a lot of audio gear. What makes you stick with the Ember over the other tube gear you have tried?

A lot of people seem not to like tube hybrids or plate starved designs, and instead tend to gravitate towards OTC or OTL stuff. Does the Ember compete with other stuff you have heard or is it just a price thing?

 

[RoyGB]

More tubes incoming. I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks for work so I wont be able to post impressions of any of these tubes until I get back.

Expect part 3 to drop close to the end of the month. You can also catch a sneak peak of some of them over in the 6J5 thread.