Aanta
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2010
- Posts
- 29
- Likes
- 3
I got the updated Darkvoice model, the La Figaro 336 'classic'.
I knew from the start that the original tubes were far from adequate, in fact nearly any tube amp is a DIY job to get it right. (With the exception for a few super expensive headphone amps.)
So swapping tubes is a good idea better soon than later.
So here is some quick notes:
~20-30€ Bare bones necessary upgrade.
Replace the smaller 6SN7 tube on day one, the sound from this one is grainy and make no one happy.
The larger 6AS7 tube got a big murky unclear sound, but is actually musical.
So you could leave it in place until some Head-Fi person feel compassion and donate his old tuberolling second best choice for your use.
~60€ Cheap ass upgrade that might make you happy : Military grade NOS General electric 6SN7GTB and GE 6AS7GA
These are long life as they military grade, the price vary wildly but these tubes are still found in numbers so find a good deal.
Suitable for everything. Lack some details, the music do not swing fully.
~100€ Medium upgrade: Matshushita 6SN7GT & NEC 6AS7GA
(You will hear an improvement if you listen to FLAC, physical CD's or high rez PCM.)
The music swings wildly. Allround tubes from classic to jazz and whatever.
Also suitable for Death, symphonic and growl metal - the music lives and will have you headbang in an instant,
For those in USA I can tell that Radio Shack, Realistic 'Lifetime' tubes labelled 'Made in Japan' are Matsushita.
Oddly they do not sound the same as the Japanese one, but they are very musical.
The difference might be from various batches, but the Realistic is 'gold' I don't know exact manufacturing years anyway.
Suitable for Acoustic music, Classic, Electronic, Rave ...whatever.
Alternatives: Sylvania sound ok also, not as good as the Japanese ones but close.
Suitable for Metal, electronic, alternative, pop.
~180 - 240€ Toshiba tubes - super good, analytical, extremely detailed - this choice depend on your music taste.
Suitable for: Acoustic, Classic, Jazz, (I play growl metal with these also - but I am nutz. They're not optimal for that but I love details. And I can now hear when the music have been patched together from recording in different studios, and on extra track where I thought the music had a more open sound.
Urp! It was a faint hiss from an analogue master tape that fooled me.)
~50-100€ RTF, an oddball brand from former East Germany, plenty of stock around.
Buy only trough trusted dealers who test and certify they're good. Don't buy these on auction sites, the quality differ wildly, but the good ones sound airy and marvelous for some kinds of music.
Suitable for: Acoustic music, some Classic symphonies, small groups of acoustic instruments, Spanish guitar etc. When I say classics, not Bach or Prokofiev and such that music need a lot of punch and bottom - se Metal recommendations above.
Warning: Some guys will tell you that Telefunken sound great, but there's a lot of fake ones especially on Amazon.
Many are rebranded Soviet era tubes, sometime rebranded JJ tubes.
Testing a Russian made Tronal tube here - cannot be recommended for any reason, save your money.
The GE tube in the rear described above is ok detailed but lacked a bit of that hard to define musicality.
A Matsushita tube nearest the camera, and the NEC - both described above. These tubes rocked my soxx off.
(The image also show 12AX7 and 12AU7 Toshiba and NEC tubes that were tested in the CD player at right - a glimpse of the open lid seen at left.
For the CD player Toshiba was no 1 again, with NEC on second place, JJ tubes on third and Philips 12AX7/12AU7 on last place - while those latter were linear that was their only good point and in all other respects they were a complete disappointment.
I knew from the start that the original tubes were far from adequate, in fact nearly any tube amp is a DIY job to get it right. (With the exception for a few super expensive headphone amps.)
So swapping tubes is a good idea better soon than later.
So here is some quick notes:
~20-30€ Bare bones necessary upgrade.
Replace the smaller 6SN7 tube on day one, the sound from this one is grainy and make no one happy.
The larger 6AS7 tube got a big murky unclear sound, but is actually musical.
So you could leave it in place until some Head-Fi person feel compassion and donate his old tuberolling second best choice for your use.
~60€ Cheap ass upgrade that might make you happy : Military grade NOS General electric 6SN7GTB and GE 6AS7GA
These are long life as they military grade, the price vary wildly but these tubes are still found in numbers so find a good deal.
Suitable for everything. Lack some details, the music do not swing fully.
~100€ Medium upgrade: Matshushita 6SN7GT & NEC 6AS7GA
(You will hear an improvement if you listen to FLAC, physical CD's or high rez PCM.)
The music swings wildly. Allround tubes from classic to jazz and whatever.
Also suitable for Death, symphonic and growl metal - the music lives and will have you headbang in an instant,
For those in USA I can tell that Radio Shack, Realistic 'Lifetime' tubes labelled 'Made in Japan' are Matsushita.
Oddly they do not sound the same as the Japanese one, but they are very musical.
The difference might be from various batches, but the Realistic is 'gold' I don't know exact manufacturing years anyway.
Suitable for Acoustic music, Classic, Electronic, Rave ...whatever.
Alternatives: Sylvania sound ok also, not as good as the Japanese ones but close.
Suitable for Metal, electronic, alternative, pop.
~180 - 240€ Toshiba tubes - super good, analytical, extremely detailed - this choice depend on your music taste.
Suitable for: Acoustic, Classic, Jazz, (I play growl metal with these also - but I am nutz. They're not optimal for that but I love details. And I can now hear when the music have been patched together from recording in different studios, and on extra track where I thought the music had a more open sound.
Urp! It was a faint hiss from an analogue master tape that fooled me.)
~50-100€ RTF, an oddball brand from former East Germany, plenty of stock around.
Buy only trough trusted dealers who test and certify they're good. Don't buy these on auction sites, the quality differ wildly, but the good ones sound airy and marvelous for some kinds of music.
Suitable for: Acoustic music, some Classic symphonies, small groups of acoustic instruments, Spanish guitar etc. When I say classics, not Bach or Prokofiev and such that music need a lot of punch and bottom - se Metal recommendations above.
Warning: Some guys will tell you that Telefunken sound great, but there's a lot of fake ones especially on Amazon.
Many are rebranded Soviet era tubes, sometime rebranded JJ tubes.
Testing a Russian made Tronal tube here - cannot be recommended for any reason, save your money.
The GE tube in the rear described above is ok detailed but lacked a bit of that hard to define musicality.
A Matsushita tube nearest the camera, and the NEC - both described above. These tubes rocked my soxx off.
(The image also show 12AX7 and 12AU7 Toshiba and NEC tubes that were tested in the CD player at right - a glimpse of the open lid seen at left.
For the CD player Toshiba was no 1 again, with NEC on second place, JJ tubes on third and Philips 12AX7/12AU7 on last place - while those latter were linear that was their only good point and in all other respects they were a complete disappointment.
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