Nope, not worth it in my opinion. Tube rolling on a WA22 is subtle. And going from a GZ34/GZ32 which can be had for bargain prices in comparison. If you're gonna spend 1k on the rectifier, then you might as well be prepared to go all out on the others. B65 Osram are selling for 3k for a pair. ECC32 are about $800 for a pair. GEC6AS7G are around $500 for a pair these days. That's 4k on tubes! You might as well pull the trigger on a Apex Teton/Eddie Current 445 amp instead. This is all my opinion of course.
Nope, not worth it in my opinion. Tube rolling on a WA22 is subtle. And going from a GZ34/GZ32 which can be had for bargain prices in comparison. If you're gonna spend 1k on the rectifier, then you might as well be prepared to go all out on the others. B65 Osram are selling for 3k for a pair. ECC32 are about $800 for a pair. GEC6AS7G are around $500 for a pair these days. That's 4k on tubes! You might as well pull the trigger on a Apex Teton/Eddie Current 445 amp instead. This is all my opinion of course.
The prices you mention are for "absolutely mint let's see if I get lucky on eBay" prices, but still there is a lot of truth to what you write. I imagine the B65 are so expensive due to their rarity and not necessarily all because of their sonic qualities.
Here is my "expensive, but still reasonable" tubes that I really like:
TungSol 5998
Brimar CV1988 6SN7GTY, Mullard ECC31, Sylvania 6SN7W / 6SN7GT metal base (bit more expensive)
Valvo labelled 1958 Stittard Plant Philips GZ34
LCD-3F. I'm going to do some more comparing of the Metal base 6sn7gt vs ECC31 at the weekend. As Contrails mentioned the differences can be subtle. But, once my brain/ears identify the subtle differences, then the subtle differences become less subtle. If that makes sense.
I agree one has to be very careful when buying tubes because it can become out of control very fast, you can literally spend more on tubes then your amp cost I have..Enjoy
I agree one has to be very careful when buying tubes because it can become out of control very fast, you can literally spend more on tubes then your amp cost I have..Enjoy
Nope, not worth it in my opinion. Tube rolling on a WA22 is subtle. And going from a GZ34/GZ32 which can be had for bargain prices in comparison. If you're gonna spend 1k on the rectifier, then you might as well be prepared to go all out on the others. B65 Osram are selling for 3k for a pair. ECC32 are about $800 for a pair. GEC6AS7G are around $500 for a pair these days. That's 4k on tubes! You might as well pull the trigger on a Apex Teton/Eddie Current 445 amp instead. This is all my opinion of course.
Dude I totally hear you guys. Luckily the 12AU7 tubes in my WA7 were relatively cheap, but that didn't stop me from spending half the cost of a new amp on sets. I'm gonna try and keep it simpler with the WA22 if you guys say the swaps make subtle differences. I was enjoying it stock at CanJam on my LCD-Xs, but I think Woo has changed the stock rectifier to a Psvane. It was already far more smooth and powerful than my WA7. I figure with a little more bass and 3D-ness of that Mullard ECC31 I might be set as far as my tastes and music goes. But we'll see. Here's a pic of the stock WA22 fresh out the box at CanJam. Looks like a Psvane in there to me..
I agree one has to be very careful when buying tubes because it can become out of control very fast, you can literally spend more on tubes then your amp cost I have..Enjoy
Me three! I went on a tube buying binge... Next thing I had all the decent tubes for the WA22 but didn't have the actual amp to put them into. I ended up buying the amp as the last piece to complete the puzzle.
Me three! I went on a tube buying binge... Next thing I had all the decent tubes for the WA22 but didn't have the actual amp to put them into. I ended up buying the amp as the last piece to complete the puzzle.
Dude I totally hear you guys. Luckily the 12AU7 tubes in my WA7 were relatively cheap, but that didn't stop me from spending half the cost of a new amp on sets. I'm gonna try and keep it simpler with the WA22 if you guys say the swaps make subtle differences. I was enjoying it stock at CanJam on my LCD-Xs, but I think Woo has changed the stock rectifier to a Psvane. It was already far more smooth and powerful than my WA7. I figure with a little more bass and 3D-ness of that Mullard ECC31 I might be set as far as my tastes and music goes.
Yeah you should be good. I did notice an improvement by changing the power tubes, but I have the LCD-3 which like a little more power. Sylvania 7236, TS 7236 and TS 5998 are all good.
To answer a previous question of yours, I compared the Sylvania metal base to the Mullard ECC31 last night. The differences were very subtle, but I have to give the slight nod to the Sylvania's. There is an extra element of silky smoothness there. I'll compare to the more expensive ECC32 and ECC33 at the weekend, but I'm not expecting too much more of a difference. The $200-$300 range of the ECC31, Sylvania metal and other similar tubes could be the "sweet spot" for the WA22.
I've also have a bunch of "mid-range" driver tubes to try out this weekend:
RCA GT "grey glass"
Sylvania WGTA "brown base"
Tung-Sol "tall boys"
RCA GTB "black plate"
Ken Rad GT "black plate"
Managed to purchase the above in a batch from the same seller. All test as NOS.
I'm going to have to scale down the amount of tubes I have, so will start selling some in a month or two.
Hmmmm. Now you got me torn as to the ECC31 or this Sylvania metal base. Chances are I'll leave the power tubes alone. The LCD-Xs are really efficient and when I listened to the stock WA22 at CanJam, it was almost at peak listening levels for me with half the volume knob to spare. I love it. So much headroom. Well hopefully you get some time this weekend to compare the ECC31 and Sylvania driver tubes and give some detailed impressions. Those bad boys are pricey so I'd like to only buy one pair for now off of you guys' words. As for rectifier, will I be ok with the Sophia 274b for my type of music, or was that a waste of $ for an initial upgrade?
Oh, and Mike from Woo emailed me today saying my WA22 will ship tomorrow, and that it requires up to 150-200hrs for the amp and tubes to burn in. That's a lot! I usually only listen maybe 3-5hrs a week. Did you guys notice many differences during that period? I mean, a brand new one out of the box at CanJam was easily a top 5 amp of the whole show to me so does it get better??
Wester Electric 422a (haven't used it yet)
Bendix/USAF596 (haven't used it yet)
Phillips GZ34 Metal base - didn't think it was all that it was hyped to be. I may have to listen to this tube again.
MullardGZ34 Brown base - I really like this tube. Has the midrange of a GZ32 but opens up the soundstage and gives good bass.
Mullard GZ32 - Beautiful midrange
Brimar 5r4gy - Smooth but too laid back for my liking
Marconi 5r4gy - Ok sounding
Stock tube - Sounded good but after I put the others in, this is collecting dust.
I have heard the TAK-274b in someone else's WA22 with the LCD-X and it sounded very nice. But I couldn't really say how and was it the TAK cos that person has a different DAC to mine and was using different drivers and power tubes.
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I'm finished buying tubes now though - unless I ever buy another tube amp
