[Kevwheez]

Good day to all on this thread!

I have recently assembled a nice setup in our finished basement that I'm calling my "Mid-fi listening room". A pair of Klipsch 'the Sixes' speakers with a Klipsch 10" sub, an Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB table, a set of Sennheiser 660S phones, and the stack of Schiit I show in my attached pic...

I have only read through page 117 of this thread thus far, but couldn't wait any longer to thank (I think!? LOL) everyone for their wonderful and informative contributions, advice and experiences in the "tube rolling" adventure! I have never owned a tube amp before, and find it a fascinating new element in my home audio collection. I actually had no real intention of rolling tubes when I purchased these little guys about 2-3 months ago, but have (scarily enough) already collected the following...

Matsuschitta/National PCC88/7DJ8
Tesla nos E88CC
EH 6922
Philips nos PCC88/7DJ8
EH 6CG7
PCC88/7DJ8 (Yugoslavia designation)
Russian 6N3P-E
Voskhod 6N1P-EV
Novosibirsk 6N1P-EV
Voskhod Rocket 6N2P-EV
Western Electric 396A 2C51 D-getter (date code 6026)
Russian 6SN7 Foton (1967 year)
Tung Sol mouse ear (1953 year)

I am having a blast changing these up/burning them in and enjoying the sound differences, etc. I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate the wonderful amount of information I have found thus far (and I'm not even 1/2 way through this thread!

A couple questions though for anyone that might be able to answer:
A.) Do I need any adapter for the Western Electric tube? I am sure it has been mentioned in the multitude of pages, but I can't remember off the top of my head.
B.) I actually purchased the Tung-Sol tube just this morning, but noticed it is a 12SN7 and not the 6SN7 - I assume I messed up, yes?

Again; I SO enjoy reading through and learning about this wonderful "addiction", and look to contribute much more as time goes on!

Cheers,
Kev

 

[Keno18]

Good day to all on this thread!

I have recently assembled a nice setup in our finished basement that I'm calling my "Mid-fi listening room". A pair of Klipsch 'the Sixes' speakers with a Klipsch 10" sub, an Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB table, a set of Sennheiser 660S phones, and the stack of Schiit I show in my attached pic...



I have only read through page 117 of this thread thus far, but couldn't wait any longer to thank (I think!? LOL) everyone for their wonderful and informative contributions, advice and experiences in the "tube rolling" adventure! I have never owned a tube amp before, and find it a fascinating new element in my home audio collection. I actually had no real intention of rolling tubes when I purchased these little guys about 2-3 months ago, but have (scarily enough) already collected the following...

Matsuschitta/National PCC88/7DJ8
Tesla nos E88CC
EH 6922
Philips nos PCC88/7DJ8
EH 6CG7
PCC88/7DJ8 (Yugoslavia designation)
Russian 6N3P-E
Voskhod 6N1P-EV
Novosibirsk 6N1P-EV
Voskhod Rocket 6N2P-EV
Western Electric 396A 2C51 D-getter (date code 6026)
Russian 6SN7 Foton (1967 year)
Tung Sol mouse ear (1953 year)

I am having a blast changing these up/burning them in and enjoying the sound differences, etc. I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate the wonderful amount of information I have found thus far (and I'm not even 1/2 way through this thread!

A couple questions though for anyone that might be able to answer:
A.) Do I need any adapter for the Western Electric tube? I am sure it has been mentioned in the multitude of pages, but I can't remember off the top of my head.
B.) I actually purchased the Tung-Sol tube just this morning, but noticed it is a 12SN7 and not the 6SN7 - I assume I messed up, yes?

Again; I SO enjoy reading through and learning about this wonderful "addiction", and look to contribute much more as time goes on!

Cheers,
Kev

Nice collection. The WE396A does need an adapter and the 12sn7 will not work.

 

[Kevwheez]

Nice collection. The WE396A does need an adapter and the 12sn7 will not work.

Thanks, Keno - what adapter does the 396A need? I already purchased a socket saver and the adapter for the 6N3 tubes, but couldn't remember what one the WE tube took.

 

[Keno18]

Thanks, Keno - what adapter does the 396A need? I already purchased a socket saver and the adapter for the 6N3 tubes, but couldn't remember what one the WE tube took.

Looking at the adapters on eBay the 6n3 adapter should work. I don't have direct experience with the 6n3 but I do have a 5670 adapter that lists the 6n3 as compatible.

 

[Mr Trev]

Thanks, Keno - what adapter does the 396A need? I already purchased a socket saver and the adapter for the 6N3 tubes, but couldn't remember what one the WE tube took.

Looking at the adapters on eBay the 6n3 adapter should work. I don't have direct experience with the 6n3 but I do have a 5670 adapter that lists the 6n3 as compatible.

Indeed, the same adapter will work for both 6n3 and 5670/2c51/396a type tubes

 

[Kevwheez]

Indeed, the same adapter will work for both 6n3 and 5670/2c51/396a type tubes

Sweet! Good to know; many thanks guys!

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

Good day to all on this thread!

I have recently assembled a nice setup in our finished basement that I'm calling my "Mid-fi listening room". A pair of Klipsch 'the Sixes' speakers with a Klipsch 10" sub, an Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB table, a set of Sennheiser 660S phones, and the stack of Schiit I show in my attached pic...



I have only read through page 117 of this thread thus far, but couldn't wait any longer to thank (I think!? LOL) everyone for their wonderful and informative contributions, advice and experiences in the "tube rolling" adventure! I have never owned a tube amp before, and find it a fascinating new element in my home audio collection. I actually had no real intention of rolling tubes when I purchased these little guys about 2-3 months ago, but have (scarily enough) already collected the following...

Matsuschitta/National PCC88/7DJ8
Tesla nos E88CC
EH 6922
Philips nos PCC88/7DJ8
EH 6CG7
PCC88/7DJ8 (Yugoslavia designation)
Russian 6N3P-E
Voskhod 6N1P-EV
Novosibirsk 6N1P-EV
Voskhod Rocket 6N2P-EV
Western Electric 396A 2C51 D-getter (date code 6026)
Russian 6SN7 Foton (1967 year)
Tung Sol mouse ear (1953 year)

I am having a blast changing these up/burning them in and enjoying the sound differences, etc. I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate the wonderful amount of information I have found thus far (and I'm not even 1/2 way through this thread!

A couple questions though for anyone that might be able to answer:
A.) Do I need any adapter for the Western Electric tube? I am sure it has been mentioned in the multitude of pages, but I can't remember off the top of my head.
B.) I actually purchased the Tung-Sol tube just this morning, but noticed it is a 12SN7 and not the 6SN7 - I assume I messed up, yes?

Again; I SO enjoy reading through and learning about this wonderful "addiction", and look to contribute much more as time goes on!

Cheers,
Kev

Wow, what a stack!. You went for all the small Schiit in one go! Congratulations, and welcome! You will probably get all the other kind of shiit from us gradually. You may make your own mistakes (I did). Have a look at my signature. I am enjoying it enormously. Enjoy, too! WE396A was the first tube in Vali 2 I really liked, with mouse ears the second.

 

[Kevwheez]

Wow, what a stack!. You went for all the small Schiit in one go! Congratulations, and welcome! You will probably get all the other kind of shiit from us gradually. You may make your own mistakes (I did). Have a look at my signature. I am enjoying it enormously. Enjoy, too! WE396A was the first tube in Vali 2 I really liked, with mouse ears the second.

Thanks, Donkey!

Yeah, the Schiit stuff is so affordably priced and I seemed to need all the components to allow the use of the turntable/streaming/switching sources, etc. They have been great thus far and I love the look. I purchased that WE396A tube, but it hasn't arrived, so excited about it! And you saw my goof on the mouse ear tube! I actually just PM'd a member here about one they have for sale (the correct one! LOL) so hopefully I get one of those soon as well.
I have to say, a lot of those tubes being only 10-20 bucks each and only one or two nearer to $50 makes the experimentation easy to do and real fun. Nice to be chatting with some of the regulars I've seen on this thread that have helped me so much in my education on this!

Cheers,
kev

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

Thanks, Donkey!

Yeah, the Schiit stuff is so affordably priced and I seemed to need all the components to allow the use of the turntable/streaming/switching sources, etc. They have been great thus far and I love the look. I purchased that WE396A tube, but it hasn't arrived, so excited about it! And you saw my goof on the mouse ear tube! I actually just PM'd a member here about one they have for sale (the correct one! LOL) so hopefully I get one of those soon as well.
I have to say, a lot of those tubes being only 10-20 bucks each and only one or two nearer to $50 makes the experimentation easy to do and real fun. Nice to be chatting with some of the regulars I've seen on this thread that have helped me so much in my education on this!

Cheers,
kev

Yeah, well, do not worry about mistakes. I have bought lots of well-priced tubes and quite some above $50. Lost count, but surely I have paid for the tubes and adapters for Vali 2 alone ca. $3,000 in one year. Money well spent, even if 75% of the tubes will never go into any socket again - I learned so much about what I like hearing, and what delivers it. The 3 tubes in my system I have not bothered swapping for 2 months cost me $5 each, and I have enough of the reserves of them for my life. I just stuck a new Ken-Rad black glass staggered plates VT231 into my Vali 2 to replace RCA VT231 Grey Glass (I have 6 of those, paid less than $10 average). I paid $80 for this Ken-Rad, and it is magical to my ears, slightly better than RCA Grey Glass. Need to compare to my holy grail Brimar CV1988 which costs hundreds nowadays. Will I buy more of them? No. I have about 20 makes, 50+ pieces of 6SN7/6C8G/7N7/6J5/7A4 tubes which are all awesome for my ears in Vali 2. I am so grateful to people in this thread who guided me - a complete layman - along. Stay with us, there is tons of goodwill and competence around, and shared so eagerly.

 

[G0rt]

Yeah, well, do not worry about mistakes. I have bought lots of well-priced tubes and quite some above $50. Lost count, but surely I have paid for the tubes and adapters for Vali 2 alone ca. $3,000 in one year. Money well spent, even if 75% of the tubes will never go into any socket again - I learned so much about what I like hearing, and what delivers it. The 3 tubes in my system I have not bothered swapping for 2 months cost me $5 each, and I have enough of the reserves of them for my life. I just stuck a new Ken-Rad black glass staggered plates VT231 into my Vali 2 to replace RCA VT231 Grey Glass (I have 6 of those, paid less than $10 average). I paid $80 for this Ken-Rad, and it is magical to my ears, slightly better than RCA Grey Glass. Need to compare to my holy grail Brimar CV1988 which costs hundreds nowadays. Will I buy more of them? No. I have about 20 makes, 50+ pieces of 6SN7/6C8G/7N7/6J5/7A4 tubes which are all awesome for my ears in Vali 2. I am so grateful to people in this thread who guided me - a complete layman - along. Stay with us, there is tons of goodwill and competence around, and shared so eagerly.

 

[Kevwheez]

Awesome!! (I HOPE I don't make that many missteps - my marriage would never survive it!)

 

[Paladin79]

Now I know what to do with some of my dud tubes lol. I bought a bunch of them to use in headphone racks I was building but I like that concept. I have played some semi-serious chess in the past and if I walked into the tourney with that I would most likely be booted out but It would look cool sitting there lol. I doubt I could have the tubes light up like my headphone stands but otherwise that is very doable. I have a whole bunch of GE tubes I went through trying to find the best one I could send to @bcowen for a 6sn7 tube challenge and I need to use them somewhere lol. I do not exactly install them in amps.

 

[G0rt]

Awesome!! (I HOPE I don't make that many missteps - my marriage would never survive it!)

Saw that on FB the other day and almost dropped my taco.

What really blows my mind is that they're all socketed.

 

[Paladin79]

Saw that on FB the other day and almost dropped my taco.

What really blows my mind is that they're all socketed.

I would spend more on sockets than tubes. You can buy dud tubes by the pound but some of the folks do not test them. I got several decent black glass tubes cause I told one guy I liked the looks of them best.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

I would spend more on sockets than tubes. You can buy dud tubes by the pound but some of the folks do not test them. I got several decent black glass tubes cause I told one guy I liked the looks of them best.

Be careful. Preferring tubes by color may be misinterpreted. I always refer to sonic character, or plates - safer, what?