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Tube rolling thread | UltraSonic Studios
Jul 29, 2021 at 11:49 AM Post #1,111 of 3,711
Going back to the Sylvania 6CA7 "fat bottle" I realize I like these more than the Shuguang 6CA7 Black Treasure Z. But my reasons are subjective up to a point. I still use the Beyerdynamic T1.2 which are headphones much more suitable to more neutral, detailed and with extended highs tubes. Thinking that last week I was listening to AWAS, those headphones were much more in need of a warmer and relaxed signature like the chinese ones have. And we have to think also about the price difference, the new ones being cheaper than the NOS ones. As usual, the older, the better, and as someone said, the "fat bottle" Sylvanias are different than the usual 6CA7. Well, different but very good.

Sylvania6CA7.jpg


I read a little bit about them, mine are double getters like here. A lot of nice pictures, postcards and nice stuff on this link. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Listening to Revolution from the new Heavy Water album, Red Brick City, a combination of rock, alternative and some blues (my own assessment, I have no idea in what genre they call themselves), these sound incredible:

 
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Jul 29, 2021 at 3:56 PM Post #1,113 of 3,711
Octa, good observation there in recognising that when sampling tubes, headphones and system setup will influence preference. That is the reason for tube rolling. We're trying to tailor the ideal sound for our own unique system.

That and also our ears and brains. We're all wired differently. :wink: I'm pretty sure I'm single ended triode and not push pull. :)
 
Jul 29, 2021 at 4:22 PM Post #1,114 of 3,711
OctavianH said:
Shuguang 6CA7 Black treasure, wam, full, forgiving but still soemhow similar with the other pair of 6CA7 I tried. I like these for a warm forgiving signature, with more neutral inputs. But the bass is not as tight like on EL34
Click to expand...

I'll just comment on this statement of yours. Surprisingly I had the same thoughts when I switch from Genalex Gold Lion KT77 to RFT EL34. The latter wins here for me because the East German EL34 has that sweet treble and tighter overall sound, especially in the bass region.

My Philips Miniwatt 6CA7 (it's really a Mullard EL34 - in the same sound signature I'm pretty sure) is more expensive than the RFT EL34 but I'm liking both at this point in time. When I get the Philips Miniwatt double D getters brown base and metal base, then I'll evaluate the different EL34s. Again in the context of my system.

My supplier told me that the reason he wouldn't sell me the GEC KT77 is because when he tried a quad of GEC KT77 in his Leak amplifier, it sounded better than even the EL34 metal base. No amount of persuasion now will make him sell me a pair. Well he only has a quad and he needs them in his amp.
 
Jul 29, 2021 at 4:28 PM Post #1,115 of 3,711
I'm just curious about RFT EL34 and Tesla EL34. They're both East Germans tubes. Do you have both? How are they different. I think I have to get myself a pair of Tesla EL34.
 
Jul 30, 2021 at 1:33 AM Post #1,122 of 3,711
UntilThen said:
I'm just curious about RFT EL34 and Tesla EL34. They're both East Germans tubes. Do you have both? How are they different. I think I have to get myself a pair of Tesla EL34.
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No, I do not have any RFT. And yes, GEC KT77 are the best, no EL34 is a match for them, at least for me.

Later edit: Some words about Tesla EL34.

The prices are misleading on Ebay, the ones branded as Tesla are quite expensive, others identical can be found as Edicron EL34 or even Marshall. The ones I have all all Edicron EL34 found in Germany for less than 50 EUR/piece. All have brown base, double angled O-getters and sound the same, even if I have 2 date codes on them and I cannot decypher (E9LP8 and G9LP8). The brown base has some small differences, some of them look to me darker and some of them brighter (the colour) but the internal construction is the same. I like them more than the Mullard xf2 if you can imagine, because they have a decent bass, close to mullards but better extension on high frequencies which make them more "balanced" for me. I have no golden ear but for me those are better. Now, on Ebay:

1627626305400.png

I looked to the pictures and that quad is identical to my Edicron EL34 and the price is around 100 EUR/piece. The one above is similar, and it is 20 EUR.

And some Marshall, all double angled O-getter:

1627626381731.png


What to say, you need to make a small research to find these at a decent price, which is for me, around 40 EUR/piece.
 
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Jul 30, 2021 at 4:38 AM Post #1,123 of 3,711
Ok, and because some pictures make more than 1000 words, I made some pictures at 2 of my Tesla EL34 bought rebranded as Edicron.
Here you can see that they have the same construction, you can also see small differences in the brown base colour:

EdicronEL34_01.jpg

The one from left has E9LF8 date code and the one from right has G9LP8. If the first letter is a year, it might be that these have been manufactured at 2 years distance? (E-F-G). I have no idea, just guessing. Two days ago while listening to these I had a feeling that the left one has better bass than the other, but on normal music you cannot see the difference. So I tried with this youtube video:



It's definitely not a very scientific test, next would be to put them reversed in the amplifier (move the left one to right and vice versa). If the difference would still be heard, in this case on the right channel, I'll make another test, with pairs matched with date, like 2 x E9LP9 and 2 x G9LP9 just to see if indeed, there is a difference in sound. However, it is like 10% let's say, a little bit of harder kicking, so most probably I am crazy or my right ear has a small different perception.
 
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