WA6 Tube Rolling

[MaMMa]

I just ordered my first tube amp, the WA6

! I read all the threads here that I could find on the amp and there's none for tube rolling. There's not many threads on the WA6 either.

I'm just wondering what are all the tubes WA6 owners have tried and whats some good combos you guys have tried?

Thanks,

MaMMa

 

[wovenhand]

I'm curious about this too cause I'm gonna order the WA6 within a month or so.

Please do post your impressions of the amp when you've received it, since I see we use the same cans.

 

[jamato8]

Get some RCA 6DE7 in the oldest version you can find and then spend the money and get a metal base GZ34.

 

[MaMMa]

I looked through this thread, http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20676, and there are so many sites. Is there any you guys highly recommend?

Thanks!

 

[kg4icn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaMMa /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just ordered my first tube amp, the WA6 ! I read all the threads here that I could find on the amp and there's none for tube rolling. There's not many threads on the WA6 either. I'm just wondering what are all the tubes WA6 owners have tried and whats some good combos you guys have tried? Thanks, MaMMa

When did you order? Did they give you an estimated ship date on the Woo? I know they are a little behind with the meet coming up. Thanks

 

[johnsonad]

I got about 20 6de7 off of ebay for 20 bucks, all NOS/NIB from about 7 makers. I've only rolled this tube once though and the GZ34/5ar4 makes a much bigger difference. Fkclo and jamato8 have written a few threads on these tubes. Look around for a nice metal base 50's Phillips Miniwatt GZ34. You won't find a better tube for this amp. I picked up a couple 58 Mullard wide base, a 63 Valvo, and a 60's Sylvania big bottle. The best I found was a 57 Phillips metal base and I recommend you start with a metal base. These are hard to find with most of the tube sellers that I tried. Keep an eye on ebay, they pop up quite often.

 

[jamato8]

Yes, you see them on Ebay and that seems to be the best place to buy them. That is where I got mine over the years. Regular tube sellers are going to most likely charge more and it is understood, since the tube it getting hard to find. There is a supplier in Europe that has hundreds of nos of the 57 metal base but they are sitting on them and why not with the price going up better than any stocks. The GZ34 in the metal base had a very hard vacuum and was made to great standards by experts. I have many, many different GZ34's and the metal base just excel. The rectifier is very noticable because the musical signal rides on the DC and a good clean supply of DC improves all aspects of the sound. I will add that the more filtering after the rectifier the less noticable the effect of the rectifier tube but this isn't as much fun. I have a Cary SLA70 that uses two GZ34's. Using two nice metal base rectifiers in it is great but I don't use the amp any longer. One of the best buys I ever got was from Ebay on a metal base GZ34 that tested as new but had the guide pin broken off. You don't need the guide pin if you know what pins to line up or you by a special piece that replaces the guide pin. For the tube I paid 20 dollars. It still tests perfect after years of use and sounds great.

 

[MaMMa]

Thanks, I'll keep my eyes out for them.

 

[JZImages]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kg4icn /img/forum/go_quote.gif When did you order? Did they give you an estimated ship date on the Woo? I know they are a little behind with the meet coming up. Thanks

I ordered mines on 4/8 and according to Jack will be shipped this Wed. or Thur.

 

[Bob Jones]

Bought the amperex bugle boy on ebay and it made a huge difference.Tried the rca 6de7's and liked the stock ge tubes better.Just ordered some rca's,ge's and sylvania tubes and had them sent to cryoset.So far the rectifier seems the one to spend money on.

 

[jamato8]

A lot of what sound you get with the driver/power tube (6DE7) will also depend upon when it was made. The GE's, RCA's, Sylvanias where made in the 1950 and some in the 40's and then on into the early 80's. The later tube often suffer from poor quality control and so goes the sound. Earlier is better, for the most part.

 

[MaMMa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kg4icn /img/forum/go_quote.gif When did you order? Did they give you an estimated ship date on the Woo? I know they are a little behind with the meet coming up. Thanks

May 2nd 2007

 

[dfkt]

Is $3 for a NOS RCA 6DE7 a good deal, or is it a ripoff? The box of the tube says "1977", but it could be hand written (photo of the box is really small). I also found a Mullard GZ34 metal base for ~$80... since this price hurts already, that must be about right...

 

[MaMMa]

All the metal based tubes I seen on ebay are going at 160s +. That 80$ one your talking about ended a lot higher.

There is a guy selling 2 metal based tubes, anyone want to go in on it together?

 

[JZImages]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaMMa /img/forum/go_quote.gif All the metal based tubes I seen on ebay are going at 160s +. That 80$ one your talking about ended a lot higher. There is a guy selling 2 metal based tubes, anyone want to go in on it together?

you got PM.