MWSVette
Headphoneus Supremus
As far as harder to find Miniwatt stamped tubes go, I have a pair of E88CC D-getter Miniwatt's (non-pinched waist) that I enjoy more than most of my E188CC's. They don't have the E188CC treble clarity, but they somehow manage an immensely wide presentation. It sounds to me like sitting in the sweet spot with a good speaker system... beautiful midrange, and thoroughly enjoyable. Not as clean up top as the E188CC's, but still fairly refined sounding, and linear throughout.
I find the Holland pinched waist tubes tend to really flesh out detail in spades. It's a different presentation than the Siemens CCa, which are also very good at presenting atmospheric detail, but in my opinion, at the cost of doing some weird exaggeration of treble. The CCa's seem to me to pull off their detailed sound in the way the HD-800's bring some added energy up top... the very good ones sounding airy and detailed... yet from what I've experienced, most tend to sound a bit etched (this is for me the E88CC vs E188CC difference, and makes sense since the CCa's are E88CC tubes).
Going back to what the pinched waist tubes do well; I think it's overall tonality, timbre, and body. As a nitpick, they don't have the attack/decay as precise as the Telefunken tubes, but I tend to prefer the PW presentation for most genres. I also rank the sound of the PW's above any/all E188CC tubes I've heard. For me, the PW tubes absolutely sound different and preferable to the others. Bill has described them as an E188CC Miniwatt on steroids, and I absolutely agree.
Nice review and impressions Mike, thanks...