[Rossliew]

  I don't own the Mjolnir one so I will not speculate on that but it is a sure bet with his amp.   However, my Carbon (not Mjolnir) also does sound pretty spectacular as well.

Fair point. Have no doubt your Carbon sounds swell too  But you do prefer the BHSE at this point in time? Would you say the BHSE Is more suited to the 007 instead of the 009?

 

[purk]

 
Fair point. Have no doubt your Carbon sounds swell too  But you do prefer the BHSE at this point in time? Would you say the BHSE Is more suited to the 007 instead of the 009?

I just think that with the BHSE...you can tailor the sound to your liking more.  Some have said that they don't hear difference between tubes but many of us here can discern it.  Muveling for instance clearly able differentiate between Mullard & Holland NOS varieties.  I personally like  the BHSE better but I don't have it any more as Muveling bought mine.

 

[Rossliew]

  I just think that with the BHSE...you can tailor the sound to your liking more.  Some have said that they don't hear difference between tubes but many of us here can discern it.  Muveling for instance clearly able differentiate between Mullard & Holland NOS varieties.  I personally like  the BHSE better but I don't have it any more as Muveling bought mine.

A disadvantage is that tube rolling those vintage EL34s can get really expensive! I'm hoping to learn to enjoy the stock tubes first (if i do manage to snag a unit).
 
Do i sense a tinge of regret selling your BHSE?

 

[wuwhere]

Tube rolling gets very expensive. I use 4 6550s on my Audio Research tube amp. The best are the vintage Tung-Sols smooth plates. Very expensive. Plus manual biasing each tube. And the heat. And pre-heat for about 30 minutes before it sounds good. The reissues from China don't sound good. I prefer the Russian reissues. But the US Nos are the best, rare and expensive. So no BHSE for me. I have an SRM-717 coming this Friday. So it will be that and an 007 O2 Mk1 as my starter Stax system.

 

[Rossliew]

The way you put it is very discouraging LOL! Still, one cannot discount the handsome looks of the amp..guess if i can scrap enough cash to purchase a used unit, i shall be forced to listen with whatever tubes that came with the amp and start the cycle of savings again...

 

[bmichels]

OK OK but you must take into consideration the magic of a BHSE glowing in the dark pf your listening room... 

 

 

[wuwhere]

The BHSE is probably auto-bias? I don't know. Power tubes don't last very long. So some people lowers the bias slightly to make the power tubes last a little longer. That's why I prefer manual bias. And they can implode. One 6550 tube on my amp did that. Good thing I heard it and I disconnected the power quickly. No damage done.

 

[wuwhere]

  OK OK but you must take into consideration the magic of a BHSE glowing in the dark pf your listening room... 

 

 
They do. But the heat. And that's only 4 EL34 output tubes.

 

[Rossliew]

  The BHSE is probably auto-bias? I don't know. Power tubes don't last very long. So some people lowers the bias slightly to make the power tubes last a little longer. That's why I prefer manual bias. And they can implode. One 6550 tube on my amp did that. Good thing I heard it and I disconnected the power quickly. No damage done.

BHSE is manual bias hence you have to take that extra step of manually biasing each tube with rolling...

 

[purk]

BHSE is self-bias and the power tubes on it should last a long time.  I remember Birgir  mentioned that the good old Mullard tube should last for over 10,000 hours.  Yes, I deeply miss my BHSE but I do have the T2 so I am not missing out on anything but the aesthetic of the amp.

 

[wuwhere]

  BHSE is self-bias and the power tubes on it should last a long time.  I remember Birgir  mentioned that the good old Mullard tube should last for over 10,000 hours.  Yes, I deeply miss my BHSE but I do have the T2 so I am not missing out on anything but the aesthetic of the amp.

 
That's a very long time. But that's understandable since its not powering speakers. NOS tubes tend to last longer too than reissues.

 

[purk]

   
That's a very long time. But that's understandable since its not powering speakers. NOS tubes tend to last longer too than reissues.

Very much so.  My first set of tube on the BHSE was the Shugung Black Glass treasure.  That thing didn't last more than 6 months for me.  I switched over the Holland XF4 and it it was still going strong  after 2 years or so.

 

[mulveling]

 
BHSE is manual bias hence you have to take that extra step of manually biasing each tube with rolling...

It's not manual bias...you're only adjusting the balance of each push/pull pair, and the DC offset in each channel. And I've now tried 2 quads of 1960s Holland plus 1 quad of 1970s Mullard; all 3 are very very close to each other in adjustment settings. After PLENTY of warmup, all 4 measurements end up close enough to 0 (i.e. close enough to not matter), that I can actually roll these quads and not need to readjust. I definitely wouldn't recommend rolling an unknown quad without checking, though. And rolling daily isn't a great idea either (stress on sockets, tube pins/base, and boards).
 
Apparently the BHSE runs EL34 well under their power ratings, so a good tube should last a long while.

 

[mulveling]

  Very much so.  My first set of tube on the BHSE was the Shugung Black Glass treasure.  That thing didn't last more than 6 months for me.  I switched over the Holland XF4 and it it was still going strong  after 2 years or so.

They don't make 'em like they used to -- in sound, build quality, or longevity.
 
I use vintage tubes every slot I can -- always sounds better. The only exceptions are Russian KT120 in my tube monoblocks (because it needs three quads of KT88/KT90/KT120) and an octet of 6N30pi in my preamp (no vintage alternative other than the extremely expensive DR types).

 

[wuwhere]

They've never been able to figure out the metallurgy and quality. Again that's understandable. The biggest NOS tubes buyer were military and their requirements were stringent and money is no object.