[JollyGreen]

Grab a pair of these first.
https://pulsetubestore.com/products/12axx-to-ecc88-adapter-plug-play-novib-©-1960s-nos-british-mcmurdo-phenolic-socket-on-top-plus-vibration-reduction-base-9-pin-b9a-noval-not-made-in-china

I have a pair of O getter Brimar CV4033 Footscray triple mica that I'll let go for an insane price. PM me if you're interested.

You guys can confirm that using an adapter works without creating any hardware or power issues with the Valhalla 2 amp?

 

[JollyGreen]

I don't have a Valhalla anymore (I had the 1 years ago), but I follow this thread to get ideas for rolling my in Vali 2+. I have the opinion that the 6922/6DJ8/E88CC is a deeply flawed family of tubes. The treble is splashy and the bass is weak. Plus, many of them are extremely microphonic. You need a holy grail that costs three figures to get it right.

In the Vali 2+, the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV is the best by far. Good warmth, texture, layering, and timbre.

Which 6N1P came with your Valhalla? Most of the others are brighter and more aggressive than the Voskhod.

The ones that came with the amp have the same symbol as the link you posted and also have a pentagon with CCCP in it on them.

 

[hodgjy]

The ones that came with the amp have the same symbol as the link you posted and also have a pentagon with CCCP in it on them.

I'm confused because I didn't post a link.

I think your 6N1P are from the Novosibirsk factory, which aren't as good as the Voskhod. The differences aren't huge, though. If you don't like the 6N1P to begin with, rolling another one won't help much. But if you're just itching to roll for rolling sake, you can do a lot worse than the 6N1P. I agree with what as said earlier--avoid new production tubes if you can. They can sound almost as good, but they just don't have the reliability as NOS.

 

[MacMan31]

I don't have a Valhalla anymore (I had the 1 years ago), but I follow this thread to get ideas for rolling my in Vali 2+. I have the opinion that the 6922/6DJ8/E88CC is a deeply flawed family of tubes. The treble is splashy and the bass is weak. Plus, many of them are extremely microphonic. You need a holy grail that costs three figures to get it right.

In the Vali 2+, the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV is the best by far. Good warmth, texture, layering, and timbre.

Which 6N1P came with your Valhalla? Most of the others are brighter and more aggressive than the Voskhod.

I'm not hearing any of that splashy treble or weak bass you speak of. But I just looked up that tube you mentioned. I believe it's in this list here. https://valvesnmore.com/?product=6fj8-tubes. I see the Vali 2+ is cheaper than the Valhalla 2. Wouldn't the Valhalla 2 be an overall better amp?

 

[hodgjy]

Wouldn't the Valhalla 2 be an overall better amp?

Based on my ears and headphones, no. But we all have different preferences. They are totally different designs with different intentions.

 

[JollyGreen]

I'm confused because I didn't post a link.

I think your 6N1P are from the Novosibirsk factory, which aren't as good as the Voskhod. The differences aren't huge, though. If you don't like the 6N1P to begin with, rolling another one won't help much. But if you're just itching to roll for rolling sake, you can do a lot worse than the 6N1P. I agree with what as said earlier--avoid new production tubes if you can. They can sound almost as good, but they just don't have the reliability as NOS.

Sorry, I meant the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV . I looked them up, they look the same.

 

[hodgjy]

Sorry, I meant the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV . I looked them up, they look the same.

One maker has a pentagon and the other maker has the rocket logo. The rocket logo is the better tube, but not by much.

 

[MacMan31]

Based on my ears and headphones, no. But we all have different preferences. They are totally different designs with different intentions.

True. The Vali 2+ is a hybrid amp. Perhaps I'll look into that one.

 

[Guidostrunk]

You guys can confirm that using an adapter works without creating any hardware or power issues with the Valhalla 2 amp?

I'm sure @jonathan c will chime in at some point. I wouldn't have recommended what I did if it didn't work. Lol

 

[Guidostrunk]

I don't have a Valhalla anymore (I had the 1 years ago), but I follow this thread to get ideas for rolling my in Vali 2+. I have the opinion that the 6922/6DJ8/E88CC is a deeply flawed family of tubes. The treble is splashy and the bass is weak. Plus, many of them are extremely microphonic. You need a holy grail that costs three figures to get it right.

In the Vali 2+, the Voskhod rocket 6N1P-EV is the best by far. Good warmth, texture, layering, and timbre.

Which 6N1P came with your Valhalla? Most of the others are brighter and more aggressive than the Voskhod.

3 figures can be $100 or $999 lol. For around $160 you can end your search quite quickly. Everything beyond is miniscule preference.

 

[JollyGreen]

3 figures can be $100 or $999 lol. For around $160 you can end your search quite quickly. Everything beyond is miniscule preference.

So from what i'm hearing it may be best to roll other tubes with an adapter than to stick with the stock setup in the Valhalla 2? I'm not complaining about the sound currently, I'm enjoying it actually. I don't know about tube break-in, the stock Russian tubes that came with it sounded good, these Golden Lions also sound ok, I'm a little underwhelmed, they may just need to be broken in. I was enjoying my Electro-Harmonix as well but seemed to have less low end than the Golden Lions do. Lions just sound a little murky or like they have a thin blanket thrown over them. Again, I don't understand break-in, so it may be a break-in issue.

Not to sound facetious here, but is there a reason people keep recommending "old stock" tubes from the 50s and seem to hate new tubes? Is this based in statistics, build quality, QC issues, or is this just a bane for anything new because people seems to think "older is better" for no real reason? lol

 

[hodgjy]

So from what i'm hearing it may be best to roll other tubes with an adapter than to stick with the stock setup in the Valhalla 2? I'm not complaining about the sound currently, I'm enjoying it actually. I don't know about tube break-in, the stock Russian tubes that came with it sounded good, these Golden Lions also sound ok, I'm a little underwhelmed, they may just need to be broken in. I was enjoying my Electro-Harmonix as well but seemed to have less low end than the Golden Lions do. Lions just sound a little murky or like they have a thin blanket thrown over them. Again, I don't understand break-in, so it may be a break-in issue.

Not to sound facetious here, but is there a reason people keep recommending "old stock" tubes from the 50s and seem to hate new tubes? Is this based in statistics, build quality, QC issues, or is this just a bane for anything new because people seems to think "older is better" for no real reason? lol

There's many hypotheses I've read about why NOS sound better than new production.
1) It's all placebo and snobbery.
2) They didn't have the same environmental laws back then so they could use different materials and processes.
3) Tube making was a career. A worker could work 30+ years as a tube maker and had it down to a perfected science. A master crafter.
4) More urgency back then. A poor tube back then could crash a plane or miss an enemy bogey on radar, but a bad tube today means someone's bass guitar has a bit more distortion at a Saturday night gig.

I really think there's some truth in there, though. Different materials and master crafters could make for more reliable tubes.

As far as tube burn in, as usual, there's some truth there but also a lot of legend/myth. Tubes do need a little time to burn off trace gases and any impurities from the manufacturing process. This can change the sound and reduce some noise and humming. But I don't think burn in drastically changes the sound of the tube, and even if it did, why do people always think it sounds better? I think tubes stabilize in a few hours at most, and any drastic changes in sound is brain burn in.

 

[Lvivske]

Am I crazy for wanting to introduce a pre-amp to the chain?

 

[jonathan c]

You guys can confirm that using an adapter works without creating any hardware or power issues with the Valhalla 2 amp?

~ The adapters recommended by Guidostrunk are fine. The adapters in effect “rewire” a 12-volt tube for use in a 6-volt circuit.
~ Another consideration is the ‘filament (heater) current’ draw of the tube. For a 12A*7 tube in a Valhalla II, you should be OK.
~ I use the Pulse Tube / Tubemonger adapters with the Brimar CV455 KB/FB (Footscray 1956). Result: …

 

[Lvivske]

we're all using em, I think we'd be dropping like flies if there was an issue