[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hey, Bcowen! I actually think the 6201’s are kinda nice, for an average day to day listen! Better than current production tubes I’ve tried. I ended up leaving ‘special’ for later. Rolledin some Phillips 7062 SQ’s for now, just a random pic from my ‘tall boys’! Need a few hours burn in on them before evaluating. Ended up having a late night of listening! Might need to take it easy for a day, let ears rest.

You still listening to your Folkvangr? I need to visit that thread just to see what’s up. Seen a few of them for sale on the used market, again, out of my league, but they sure look beautiful.

I think I’m finally at the point where I need to stop buying tubes. I’ve got stock for years of rolling, I was trying to build up before NOS availability and price became outrageous. Yep, I think we’re there, so enough’s enough. I’ve got a good and varied supply of tubes, with a few outstanding examples, and my Mjolnir is revealing enough to take best advantage of them.

Really wish I had a few thousand to get a pair of Caldera’s, but that ain’t happening anytime soon. Next Audio things to work on are my power conditioner and getting the Unison USB upgrade for my Gungnir.

Have a great day!

 

[bcowen]

Hey, Bcowen! I actually think the 6201’s are kinda nice, for an average day to day listen! Better than current production tubes I’ve tried. I ended up leaving ‘special’ for later. Rolledin some Phillips 7062 SQ’s for now, just a random pic from my ‘tall boys’! Need a few hours burn in on them before evaluating. Ended up having a late night of listening! Might need to take it easy for a day, let ears rest.

You still listening to your Folkvangr? I need to visit that thread just to see what’s up. Seen a few of them for sale on the used market, again, out of my league, but they sure look beautiful.

I think I’m finally at the point where I need to stop buying tubes. I’ve got stock for years of rolling, I was trying to build up before NOS availability and price became outrageous. Yep, I think we’re there, so enough’s enough. I’ve got a good and varied supply of tubes, with a few outstanding examples, and my Mjolnir is revealing enough to take best advantage of them.

Really wish I had a few thousand to get a pair of Caldera’s, but that ain’t happening anytime soon. Next Audio things to work on are my power conditioner and getting the Unison USB upgrade for my Gungnir.

Have a great day!

Yes, still listening to Folkvangr. Just received a 2nd 6922 -> 12A*7 adapter I needed, so today I'll roll in the Brimar Footscray CV4033's and see how they do (hopefully the higher gain won't be an issue). Differences in tube sound are pretty pronounced with Folkvangr, and more so than many other amps I've tried. I wasn't at all impressed with the stock 6N1P's. My first roll was a pair of '74 SWGP 6N23P's, and man they took things to an entirely different level. Have some early '60's Tungsram 6922's in there right now which sound different (but not necessarily 'better' than the 6N23P's) so I'm eager to see what the Footscray's do. That tube is the pinnacle of my rolling adventures in the Vali 2.

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Seems to me I haven’t listened to my 2 pairs of Brimars in a while, may need to rotate them in. Last time I checked, shortly after mod 1, the cv455’s did not sound good at all, but I also have the cv4033’s, probably not the Footscrays, but worth a retry.

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hey Bcowen, glad you reminded me of the CV-4033's! Dug them out of the closet, had forgotten what a wonderful warm tube that is! Nora Jones is wonderful on 'em! Great tune, lounge lizard crooner goodness, Michael Buble and Nelly Furtado doing "Quando, Quando, Quando", what fun! Even does Creedence well! Missing maybe just a touch when the mix gets loud, as compared to a good Siemens. Nice enough that I ordered another pair before they're gone. Thanks!!!

 

[bcowen]

Hey Bcowen, glad you reminded me of the CV-4033's! Dug them out of the closet, had forgotten what a wonderful warm tube that is! Nora Jones is wonderful on 'em! Great tune, lounge lizard crooner goodness, Michael Buble and Nelly Furtado doing "Quando, Quando, Quando", what fun! Even does Creedence well! Missing maybe just a touch when the mix gets loud, as compared to a good Siemens. Nice enough that I ordered another pair before they're gone. Thanks!!!

Cool! Credit where it's due though: @jonathan c is the one that turned me on to them.

Got to listen a bit to them in Folkvangr last night, but not as long as I wanted. One of the tubes has several hundred hours on it as I was using it as a single in Vali 2, but the other tube was unused. Tried to allow some play time to get that one up to speed, but I have a patience problem. Initially they sound very good in Folkvangr, but missing some bass heft and impact. Good extension there, just lacking the visceral feel. Mids are to die for, and the treble is sweet and clean. Gonna allow some more play time to see if the bass will improve, and if so they might be a truly killer pick for Folkvangr.

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

In that case, thanks Jonathan! What are you rolling these days?

 

[jonathan c]

In that case, thanks Jonathan! What are you rolling these days?

For 12AT7 / ECC81 tubes: Brimar CV455 KB/FB, RFT ECC81 (foil getter), Tungsram ECC81 (foil getter), Mullard 6201 (gold pin), GEC / M-O-V A2900… EDIT: these are rolled in Icon Audio HP8, Linear Tube Audio MZ3, Woo Audio WA3, Woo Audio WA6.

 

[shafat777]

For 12AT7 / ECC81 tubes: Brimar CV455 KB/FB, RFT ECC81 (foil getter), Tungsram ECC81 (foil getter), Mullard 6201 (gold pin), GEC / M-O-V A2900…

Yepp those are exactly what i use to roll with my MJ2. I was torn between the CV455 vs the 4033 foootscray but i loved the Rft foil getters. I think those have the best Air/sparkle out of all the tubes mentioned above, IMHO. I loved these so much that i use a set of them in my elise OTL w/ adapters. These give the sylvania vt231 a run for its money in the top end. Unforutnately, never got to own or listen to the GECs though.

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hey Shafat777! Did you end up selling your Footscrays or RFT FG spares?

 

[shafat777]

Hey Shafat777! Did you end up selling your Footscrays or RFT FG spares?

Nope i still got those

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hey Gang!

So, I did about 8 hrs of burn in yesterday, set up my Grado clones at half volume and put 4 albums on repeat thoughout the day. Made a real difference in loosening up these caps after Mods. Currently subbed in the CV-4033's, MAN, my system is sounding good! Vocals are finally at that throat presence level, background and enviromental sounds coming from all around, and scads of tone and detail, including hearing instruments masked by the noise floor before. Was listening to Hall and Oates, of all things, was cherry-picking "She's Gone" from the album , a track I liketo evaluate with, and ended up listening to the whole album, something I've never done. I think the mod's are done for me, this is a Keeper!!! It even sounds good with stock tubes!

If I had any doubts before, they are finally resolved. Had thought about stage 3 mod (external heater supply), just don't see the need now. Have a bunch of tubes on the way, will post picks and impressions.

Only thing left is making a bottom and standoffs to protect hands from those exposed lower caps. I'll start looking into that this week.

Ya'll have a great tommorow!!!

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hi ALL!

2 packages arrived today, will have some fun this weekend! Still have to run them up and make sure all is good. Will do that tonight, but probably won't get much listening done.

First package was from Dbtubes, the smaller tubes in the middle are RCA 5965's and 5965A's (not sure if there is a difference), they were on sale for $10 and $19 apiece, figure I can't go wrong for casual listening and burn in purposes.

2nd package is from Shafat777, thanks Shafat!!! I look forward to extended listening on both!

2 more tube sets on the way, and then I really do need to chain up my impulse buying persona, I really do have a problem!!!

Anyway, Ya'll have a great night!

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hi again! SO, I tested all the tubes that came in, I have one pair that's very slightly microphonic (GE JAN 6414W's), otherwise the rest are all working great. Couple of observations, it seems all the 'Tall Boy's' (7062, E180CC, 6414,6829) seem to be similar construction, halo single post getter, 2 mica black plates. I would assume them to be of very similar sound. Of the two short pairs from Dbtubes (5965,5965A), one is an oddball I've never seen. It's a side getter!!! Never seen that before, very strange. If the getter was spaced evenly at the side but between the plates, or aligned with the plates, I might view it as a competant engineered tube, but these getters seem to bisect one of the edges of the plate, and the getter is bent as if a halo was then wrapped half way around a rod to give it a curve, bizarre! Almost like it was tacked on as an afterthought.
I can't say I have extensive knowledge about tubes, but this seems strange to me.

Edit: Forgot to mention, Shaffat's pair of Footscrays confirmed to me that mine are Footscrays as well, no wonder I thought they sounded excellent!

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hi All! first of the last two packages arrived today! here we have a BEL ECC88 70's Halo getter Indian tube, another Pulse Tube store purchase. He's had these listed for a while on his site, and always wanted to try them out. Other package I'm waiting on is some Siemens E88CC Gold Pin's from a fellow Head Fi'er. This looks to be a good weekend for listening, as weather outside will likely be terrible, several family members flights have been cancelled, so a very low key but extended weekend. Have a great night, and Happy Holidays!!!

 

[ShortBtwnHdset]

Hi All! Just wanted to give a little update. It's been about two weeks, finally recalibrated Peace EQ to my current hearing. The prognosis isn't as bad as I thought, but I did loose a little after that incident(s). It will take a few days of playing with levels while listening before I finally settle on a good all around curve. Trying to get it to the point where it sounds very good at a slightly lower level than I used to listen to. I have it close, might be a hair bright.

The 2nd stage mods have settled in nicely, but I am still considering a stage 3 mod, mainly consisting of bypassing those eight 10,000 uF caps. I'm pretty sure that's whats powering the FET's. It would be a shame not to take this amp as far as I can, it just sounds so good already that i want to max it. I know that many of you are likely waiting on the Mjolnir 3's debut, I'd be curious to pit my Mjolnir 2 against it!

Not sure if I already posted this here, but I'm waiting on a used Wywires Platinum copper HP cable I impulse bought New Years Day. And I'm still waiting on some Siemens E88CC's, been stuck at US customs for a week. Other than that, I'm just enjoying listening! Hope all of Ya'll have a great night!

Edit: By the way, maybe now would be a good time to start a Mjonir 3 thread, or start posting about it here.Just a thought!!!