[Old Deaf Donkey]

A soviet officer?! but it's cool to see how a ColdWar veteran was able to pass on his love of analog to a former enemy.
/QUOTE]

Senior Soviet officers in some branches of the service received a very good, quite comprehensive, education. Some of them have been rather cultured. Yuri Andropov is said to have had a huge collection of music recordings, including lots of Western records. Yet he also engineered masacres in Hungary and the Czech, and he was a ruthless Chairman of the KGB. Hermann Goering collected paintings, and Adolf Hitler was an artist before he became, ergh, a politician. That someone prefers Tung-Sol black glass VT-231 to MELZ 6N8S does not make one into a good guy. Maybe he listens to recorded screams of his victims, how do we know?

 

[Ripper2860]

B e sure to check he tubes for embedded listening devices and DO NOT take it anywhere near an election site.

 

[Robert Padgett]

A Soviet officer?! As a sea-cadet-obsessed teenager in the 80s, I had a very screwed up mental image of the Soviets. I'm not a religious man... but it's cool to see how a ColdWar veteran was able to pass on his love of analog to a former enemy. And no, I'm not going to burst into a Sting song, Russians.
.

I spent my undergraduate years at Indiana University researching the Soviets and came away neither in fear of them, but with great admiration for their efforts and sacrifice in the Great Patriotic War. Because of the planned economy, the Soviets were very good at the production of items which they needed to support the Military. We benefit from the Cold War, and Stalin's Five-Year Plan--with tubes like the Melz 1578, or even the basic design of their 6H8C made at the Svetlana plant or in Tashkent, or Novosibirsk. They had production goals, and the alternative was very cold

 

[Paladin79]

Be sure to mention to Bill that is a a DYI kit, like BHC. He'll get the parts and instructions and can then put it together himself.

Oh -- and it costs extra to substitute other tubes in lace of GE.

That one is a kit, but I will build a complete one in cherry soon as a sample.

GE tubes should cost more, they are either prized possessions or folks threw them away long ago, either way they are hard to find. I am hoping for a few more when I receive several pounds of duds I ordered from the guy who sent me other tubes. If I look around enough I might find one or two as a favor to Bill.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

great admiration for their efforts and sacrifice in the Great Patriotic War.

I am sorry for bringing about this offtopic thing - this is about tube rolling and some great headphone stands. It is difficult for me to share this admiration of the Great Patriotic War as my late father-in-law happened to be on the other side of the Great and he spent his time in the late Fourties and early Fifties - when these great tubes were being made - in a rather cold place carrying his fellow dead inmates to the table with a hope of getting an extra portion of the grub. I once wondered if the guards had not been noticing, and he said that perhaps they did not care much, and then it must have been rather difficult to tell the dead from those who thought they were still alive. He bore no grudge though and always referred to the Russians as "those poor people".

 

[Paladin79]

Senior Soviet officers in some branches of the service received a very good, quite comprehensive, education. Some of them have been rather cultured. Yuri Andropov is said to have had a huge collection of music recordings, including lots of Western records. Yet he also engineered masacres in Hungary and the Czech, and he was a ruthless Chairman of the KGB. Hermann Goering collected paintings, and Adolf Hitler was an artist before he became, ergh, a politician. That someone prefers Tung-Sol black glass VT-231 to MELZ 6N8S does not make one into a good guy. Maybe he listens to recorded screams of his victims, how do we know?

Both types are very good tubes, the Melz are easier to obtain as NOS for a lot less money from what I have seen when the round plate black glass Tung Sols sold, I recently let a friend whom I consider to have exceptional hearing listen to several of my 6sn7's, in a blind test she chose the Melz over anything else I could plug into an amp, a Ken-Rad black glass came in second to her ears anyway.

Headphone stands are off topic so I am trying to stay more on track with tube rolling. It is not easy to think about black glass tubes from 1942 and not think about war, or the military usage of tubes.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

a lot less money from what I have seen when the round plate black glass Tung Sols sold

My perspective of the prices for Tung-Sol and Ken-Rad VT-231 changed a little once I saw the prices for Swedish military 6SN7 - 33S30A and 33S30B. To console my broken heart I did buy a RCA VT-231 (the grey glass) for $30 including shipping in France yesterday...

 

[Paladin79]

My perspective of the prices for Tung-Sol and Ken-Rad VT-231 changed a little once I saw the prices for Swedish military 6SN7 - 33S30A and 33S30B. To console my broken heart I did buy a RCA VT-231 (the grey glass) for $30 including shipping in France yesterday...

Not a bad price for the grey glass, they are getting harder to find. Here are a few variations I found in one of my RCA tube boxes.Some were more of a smoked glass, the grey glass is pretty distinctive.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Senior Soviet officers in some branches of the service received a very good, quite comprehensive, education. Some of them have been rather cultured. Yuri Andropov is said to have had a huge collection of music recordings, including lots of Western records. Yet he also engineered masacres in Hungary and the Czech, and he was a ruthless Chairman of the KGB. Hermann Goering collected paintings, and Adolf Hitler was an artist before he became, ergh, a politician. That someone prefers Tung-Sol black glass VT-231 to MELZ 6N8S does not make one into a good guy. Maybe he listens to recorded screams of his victims, how do we know?

As a middle-aged man whose parents were from Europe, I'm discovering all kinds of disturbing topics I was told as a pre-teen & teenager... that need to be privately reconsidered. @Old Deaf Donkey ... you make sense. The crimes and deadly consequences of our elders can't stay buried forever. I won't violate Godwin's Law (with thanks to my spouse, who clarified this behaviour for me [link #1 and link #2]). Full stop.

 

[bcowen]

Bill I will make one out of curly cherry and you can see how you like it. I left one unfinished for another friend so he could match it to a bottlehead crack case. Soon I should have access to some aged barn wood if you like that effect more, rustic is much easier to make, a slip of a chisel or router would be less noticeable.

Shown below is an unfinished kit I just made, cat sold separately.

That's nice! But how much for the cat? Would love to send him (her?) to @Ripper2860 as a surprise when he's expecting the box on the porch to be a tube tester.

 

[bcowen]

I am sorry for bringing about this offtopic thing - this is about tube rolling and some great headphone stands. It is difficult for me to share this admiration of the Great Patriotic War as my late father-in-law happened to be on the other side of the Great and he spent his time in the late Fourties and early Fifties - when these great tubes were being made - in a rather cold place carrying his fellow dead inmates to the table with a hope of getting an extra portion of the grub. I once wondered if the guards had not been noticing, and he said that perhaps they did not care much, and then it must have been rather difficult to tell the dead from those who thought they were still alive. He bore no grudge though and always referred to the Russians as "those poor people".

I find this Soviet-era stuff you've been telling us about extremely interesting. So please don't apologize...please continue.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

As a middle-aged man whose parents were from Europe, I'm discovering all kinds of disturbing topics I was told as a pre-teen & teenager... that need to be privately reconsidered. @Old Deaf Donkey ... you make sense. The crimes and deadly consequences of our elders can't stay buried forever. I won't violate Godwin's Law (with thanks to my spouse, who clarified this behaviour for me [link #1 and link #2]). Full stop.

Thank you. Did not know about this law. Could not stop laughing, still laughing!

 

[ScubaMan2017]

That's nice! But how much for the cat? Would love to send him (her?) to @Ripper2860 as a surprise when he's expecting the box on the porch to be a tube tester.

Beware of house-panthers! The little buggers love to chew on cables to gain attention. We have 3 panthers. The boys are sucks & love their catmom. My fur-daughter (not a calico, mine's a vocal black cat) looks vexingly at my listening nook... and schemes... Terrible thoughts. Chewing thoughts. Kick-over-a-tube-thoughts. Often on a Sunday night.

 

[Ripper2860]

That one is a kit, but I will build a complete one in cherry soon as a sample.

Wow!! Based on that pic, it seems there's a whole lot more to wiring up that LED for a HP stand tube than one would ever imagine!!

 

[Paladin79]

Wow!! Based on that pic, it seems there's a whole lot more to wiring up that LED for a HP stand tube than one would ever imagine!!

Stuffing all that circuitry inside a couple pieces of wood is not easy. That is the inside of a Cary amp, Bill was kind enough to offer me some better capacitors and needed to see what the Mk II already had going for it now I need to reassemble it and get back to listening before the parts arrive. I just took some time out to show Bill what a real tube looks like.

Ok I only have one cat that ever chewed on cables but they had to be coiled cords, he was pretty particular.