[lokerola]

These suckers are transformative allowing the Freya + to flex with air and sweetness very hard to find in balance across many amplifiers. I may go as far to say my favorite audio purchase since the dawn of the DIY T2 with an appreciable step up in musical enjoyment. I recommend pairing with either RCA smoke or the VT231 to maintain a bit more body.

Those are good looking tubes. Uh...what are they? I can't make out the make and model from the Russian paperwork.

 

[Ripper2860]

Those are Russian Melz 1578 perforated plates tubes. And they are something else.

 

[cgb3]

LOL! Nope, not for me. We got maybe 1/2" of snow that has pretty much all melted off now. But as per usual, the grocery stores were stripped clean last night with everyone preparing to be snowed in for 3 months. The local news showed a Food Lion with checkout lines wrapping all the way down and around the aisles. I find it rather amusing.

Slightly farther south than Bill (eastern Carolina),... just a dusting. Snow gone by mid-morning.

Very cold (for us, 19F) tonight.

Made a fantastic pot of chili using pulled pork, with a smoked pork picnik shoulder, slow cooked, and pulled for the meat. Very good with a fresh loaf of machine made bread and a nice arugula salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

Bad times almost everywhere. Having some of the best times of my life.

 

[Paladin79]

Slightly farther south than Bill (eastern Carolina),... just a dusting. Snow gone by mid-morning.

Very cold (for us, 19F) tonight.

Made a fantastic pot of chili using pulled pork, with a smoked pork picnik shoulder, slow cooked, and pulled for the meat. Very good with a fresh loaf of machine made bread and a nice arugula salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

Bad times almost everywhere. Having some of the best times of my life.

Sounds like interesting chili. I grew up with a traditional chili, then there is chili con carne, and chili con carne with beans. When I got to Indiana a lot of the locals added spaghetti or other pasta which I grew up knowing as chili mac.

I cannot make out the dates on the aforementioned Melz 1578's but if those are 1959's or so that is an excellent year. The sound varies a lot with date of manufacture, they were manufactured for over four decades. The early ones are well balanced across the entire sound spectrum and are my favorites, those from the seventies and eighties have very pronounced midrange IMHO. No sense going into the variations if some of you are just now discovering the normal internals.

 

[paradoxper]

Sounds like interesting chili. I grew up with a traditional chili, then there is chili con carne, and chili con carne with beans. When I got to Indiana a lot of the locals added spaghetti or other pasta which I grew up knowing as chili mac.

I cannot make out the dates on the aforementioned Melz 1578's but if those are 1959's or so that is an excellent year. The sound varies a lot with date of manufacture, they were manufactured for over four decades. The early ones are well balanced across the entire sound spectrum and are my favorites, those from the seventies and eighties have very pronounced midrange IMHO. No sense going into the variations if some of you are just now discovering the normal internals.

They are indeed 1959 and I am indeed scorching the internet looking for another pair. And flailing about.

 

[bcowen]

They are indeed 1959 and I am indeed scorching the internet looking for another pair. And flailing about.

The only known stockpile that remains of the 1959's is in Indiana.

 

[paradoxper]

The only known stockpile that remains of the 1959's is in Indiana.

You give me a time, I'll cache up to him!

 

[Paladin79]

They are indeed 1959 and I am indeed scorching the internet looking for another pair. And flailing about.

I do not have any extras on those but if my Russian contacts find any I will grab some. I was lucky enough to order parts before some of the current developments and shipping was very costly.

One of my favorites of the standard 1578 perforated plates is the 1961. I have found one to complete my series but have never seen another in a few years of searching lol.



Here are a couple variations, on the left is a perforated plate with oval micas, then a 1578 solid plate, no perforations. These are hard to find and may have been an aberration. On the right is a standard 1578 from 1961. Notice all have shiny black plates. I also have dull grey plate variations. As far as rankings from left to right I rate these 3,1,2. The solid plate in the center has a slightly better top end than the standard 1578. That is not just my opinion, but the opinion of seven other friends who rated 1500 tubes with me, That center solid plate rated as good or better than all tubes tested, blind, using a scoring system we developed. I have also sent that center tube type to friends on here, @bcowen,@Ripper2860, and @sam6550a know the sound. One of the local folks doing testing with us is a fairly well known audio engineer, another is from the school of music that helped form the likes of Joshua Bell.

 

[paradoxper]

I do not have any extras on those but if my Russian contacts find any I will grab some. I was lucky enough to order parts before some of the current developments and shipping was very costly.

One of my favorites of the standard 1578 perforated plates is the 1961. I have found one to complete my series but have never seen another in a few years of searching lol.

Just date codes, no structural changes to indicate between-year-production?

 

[Paladin79]

Just date codes, no structural changes to indicate between-year-production?

There are structural changes in the same year tubes. I have the three tubes shown from 1954, I also have plenty of 1958 solid as well as perforated plate 1578's. I do own the perforated plate 1578 from 1954 to something like 1987 and there are difference in the sound of what look like identical tubes. In my testing, using amps I designed. The three guys on here I just mentioned all own that very same amp with slight variations.

I get the impression the Melz factory may have run out of perforated plates and made a few solid plate variations since that is an earlier plate design.

Some of these years are becoming really hard to find and often go for $150 up so figure about $6,000 retail to match my collection, if you can find them. My hobby pays for itself so I tend to have zero investment.

 

[paradoxper]

There are structural changes in the same year tubes. I have the three tubes shown from 1954, I also have plenty of 1958 solid as well as perforated plate 1578's. I do own the perforated plate 1578 from 1954 to something like 1987 and there are difference in the sound of what look like identical tubes. In my testing, using amps I designed. The three guys on here I just mentioned all own that very same amp with slight variations.

I get the impression the Melz factory may have run out of perforated plates and made a few solid plate variations since that is an earlier plate design.

Some of these years are becoming really hard to find and often go for $150 up so figure about $6,000 retail to match my collection, if you can find them. My hobby pays for itself so I tend to have zero investment.

Thank you. Being so enamored with the perforated plate, I am now feeling compelled to try out the solid plate. So far no other tubes are quite as three dimensional and perfectly sweet sounding but half the fun is the incessant exploration.

I say go for broke. It's more fun that way.

 

[rawheadjim]

These say "Melz" and 1956 dated NOS, but they don't look like any of your top pics, are they legit or not anything special? The guy has 100% positive feedback. I'm also very new to this and would like a decent pair for the gain stage of my Freya+, but can't afford to get burned.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264969519491?hash=item3db16a0183:g:deUAAOSw79VfsVTw

 

[Paladin79]

Thank you. Being so enamored with the perforated plate, I am now feeling compelled to try out the solid plate. So far no other tubes are quite as three dimensional and perfectly sweet sounding but half the fun is the incessant exploration.

I say go for broke. It's more fun that way.

Here is an early version Melz with oval micas and top mica supports but you see the same solid plates that were used on some 1578 versions later on. This is what made me think they ran out of parts and went back to the solid plates. This tube is not that collectible and is on the same level as some of the Fotons IMHO. The Russians sellers are running out of 1578's so they try to promote other variations to the same price point. You really best know what you are doing to buy Melz or you can get burned.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254778886058?hash=item3b520147aa:g:-NAAAOSwWSxfsTC8

Same tube I just showed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163625581724?hash=item2618d83c9c:g:sZsAAOSw9HBhK4b~

Dull grey plate, wrong upper supports, wrong mica's throughout.

 

[Paladin79]

These say "Melz" and 1956 dated NOS, but they don't look like any of your top pics, are they legit or not anything special? The guy has 100% positive feedback. I'm also very new to this and would like a decent pair for the gain stage of my Freya+, but can't afford to get burned.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264969519491?hash=item3db16a0183:g:deUAAOSw79VfsVTw

I posted a quad of those for $500, same seller. that particular tube I have bought for $25 or under, it is an example of the seller not having the really good Melz and trying to make a fast buck on lesser ones at $130 each. Caveat Emptor.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255340583415?hash=item3b737c19f7:g:0BgAAOSw-8th6BC-

These have the look of real solid plate 1578 type tubes that are pretty rare. At $180 this guy has really raised his prices. I bought some for much less from the same seller. I have never been a fan of the sloppy white lettered 1578 stamped on the tubes. I suspect that was done for American buyers, it means the two triodes are well balanced but Melz like Fotons exhibit great balance anyway.

 

[rawheadjim]

Wow...I need to create a spreadsheet for all of these variations and save some pictures for reference. I also need to get through this entire thread before buying any more tubes, thanks again.