[abvolt]

I was just on the Langrex ebay store wow your right great price on the vintage Brimar's  think I'll give them a try..

 

[Jeb Listens]

Nice one abvolt! Let us know how they turn out - Thanks for taking one for the team!  I hope they sound great.
 
Of course there's also the Siemens ECC82 Silver plates too......and the Telefunkens.....  just joking.  Sort of. 

 

[bouch24]

What's a good source for tubes such as the JAN 5814A's?  I apologize in advance if I'm asking in the wrong place 

 

[Jeb Listens]

  What's a good source for tubes such as the JAN 5814A's?  I apologize in advance if I'm asking in the wrong place 

 
 
Hi bouch24..
 
I got mine from eBay with no problem , but  other people seem to be having some trouble and inconsistency with eBay tubes (especially with the more expensive tubes like the Mullards) so you might like to check out some "proper" online stores like Upscale or Langrex , which would be more expensive but could potentially mitigate some of the inherent risk of buying NOS tubes.  Watford Valves if you are UK based is reputable too.
 
The  JAN 5814a I used were branded Sylvania.  It's quite likely you'll come across those branded Philips instead.  I haven't tried these but they all seem to be well regarded from the research I did so if you can get them for a good price they could be worth a go too.   5814a are the industrial equivalent of the 12AU7s and those branded "JAN" (joint army and navy) were those made for the military and made to a different, possibly more exacting spec than the domestic tubes. 
 
I just checked and it seems like these are getting scarcer and more expensive too! Good luck in your searching! A google search for JAN 5814a should get you on the right path to glory. 
 
Ideally I would hope to find these for £10-20 each maximum. 

 

[bouch24]

Thanks Jeb, and thanks again for the great review.

 

[abvolt]

Lol some of us do spend too much on our tubes i'm certainly guilty of this one many times over..

 

[Jeb Listens]

Yes... yes we do. 
 
In fact, there will soon be a Tube-Rolling PT.2 with 4 new pretenders to the throne.  Similar format as before:  An airy detailed tube, a warmer one, a new production tube, and a legendary all-rounder, that might be able to challenge the Mullard.
 
 After that, though, I'm done. I swear it!

 

[DefDwg]

awesome review and tube guide!  Thanks!!!

 

[abvolt]

  Yes... yes we do. 
 
In fact, there will soon be a Tube-Rolling PT.2 with 4 new pretenders to the throne.  Similar format as before:  An airy detailed tube, a warmer one, a new production tube, and a legendary all-rounder, that might be able to challenge the Mullard.
 
 After that, though, I'm done. I swear it!

 
cool looking forward to those impressions..

 

[HiFiGuy528]

this thread is bad for my wallet.  

 

[MarioD]

As soon as I put the Sovteks back in something sounded very different this time. At this point I was still willing to put it down to mind-games.  However, further tests started to convince me that this gut instinct of there being a difference was indeed correct.  The EHs have slightly more air, sparkle, separation and clarity.  Although each of these improvements are individually very slight, when taken together they contribute to much more of an ethereal quality than the Sovteks which now seem “blunt” and “bloated” in their delivery.

 
Unfortunately the current day production of Russian tubes in general is only a far cry from the high quality tubes manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 70's and the 80's. The tubes manufactured nowadays in Russia are sonically appalling.
 
Thanks for putting the effort in reviewing these. This was a very interesting read.
 
Regards,
Mario

 

[Jeb Listens]

Thanks a lot Mario and for taking the time to read it.  I'd love to try some of the famous tubes from the heyday of Russian tubes! 
 
With the WA7 Amp's tubes Russian is the only choice since it's 6C45 only, unless you can get hold of the mythical WE437A.   But I do think the 6C45 is a very very cool tube. 
 
 it's also possible to get 6C45s that are branded 'Reflektor' - these apparently have the same measurements/specs as the modern Electro Harmonix/Sovtek reboot versions, and all came from the same factory but the 'Reflector' branded ones were being manufactured in the 70s/80s era you mentioned.  It was suggested that although the tubes from that era might have the same specs and measurements as the latest versions they could be of a better quality construction and use different materials (therefore sound different). 
 
To make it more complicated I read one older article where the author said many of his Sovteks were rebranded NOS with 70s data codes.   Using up old stock I presume - but who knows!  My EHs are 2011s and my Sovteks 2001s, if I'm reading the code correctly. 
 
A few people said they felt the cold war era Reflektors sounded better than the new Sovteks while others said there was no difference.  I should give them a try sometime.
 
Thanks again, 
 
 Jeb. 

 

[MarioD]

Jeb, I think you should purchase a pair of Soviet made 6C45 from eBay and give them a try. It would cost you 20-30 bucks. Unfortunately even though the tubes were produced for military use, that doesn't guarantee consistent quality across different batches or even manufactured by a certain plant. For example, far from all of the famous Ulyanovsk GM-70 tubes sound better than the same tubes from other plants. I think the only clue I can give you is that tubes manufactured in the summer tend to (but not always) sound better than the same tubes manufactured in winter months. I'm guessing they just manage to achieve better vacuum during the summer... who knows
 
I haven't experimented with 6C45 myself and I don't think I will. I remember someone from the local community built a single stage amp with this tube but wasn't very happy with it. However, I don't think he spent much time refining the design. There are quite a very negative impressions of that tube on the Russian audiophile forums. However, here's an article from a guy who knows a thing or two that doesn't necessarily agree: http://musatoffcv.narod.ru/Docs/6S45P.htm . It's in Russian so you'll have to use Google translate.
 
Regardless of which Soviet 6C45 tubes you get from eBay, as long as they're from Soviet times, i'm 90% certain they will sound better than any modern day iteration.
 
Regards,
Mario

 

[headnail]

Great guide indeed! Being an avid tube fanatic as well I can only commend you on the exerted effort!
I have not had any experience with this particular tube either, however I can strongly confirm MarioD's statements regarding Russian tubes, and perhaps add that while you should aim for production during USSR days.....you should avoid going way back for some tubes. Some I've tried that where manufactured in the 60's (NOS) sounded dreadful! Late 70's to mid/late 80's are usually a good bet, as mentioned for some reason summer months do indeed tend to yield better sonic results.
 
Also as a general rule of thumb "EV" ("ЕВ" in Cyrillic) branded tubes tend to sound better, as they are more ruggedized (better spec tolerance) than the "vanilla" ones. "Е" ones are quite good as well usually......"И" series of certain tubes sometimes yield very interesting results...

 

[Jeb Listens]

@MarioD @headnail ,
 
Thank you very very much for this  - it's great information!  
 
On the back of both of your advice I'm definitely going to give a Soviet era 6C45 a go  - and I will try and pinpoint it to the 70s/80s sweet-spot and with a summer month production code too... if possible! -  fascinating that there would be a variation in this area.  My first thought that came to my mind was that perhaps in the winter months the factory workers were too busy freezing their asses off and so produced sub-standard tubes.  But I'm sure its more nuanced than that...as you say, vacuums and such!   
 
I'm finding the journey into tubes to be thoroughly enjoyable - not just for the beautiful sound they produce but for the history and story behind each one, which is just as enjoyable in its own way. Then the sound somehow ends up being quite evocative of that era.  I romanticise, I think.  
 
Thanks again for taking the time to pass on this knowledge and thanks for reading the tube-guide. There'll be more to come, shortly.  
 
All the best, 
 
Jeb.