[watchdog507]

The Sophia 274B's are a lovely tube. They look great when they are lit up. They sound good too.

 

[DavidRoss007]

The Sophia 274B's are a lovely tube. They look great when they are lit up. They sound good too.

I cant agree more. I am having a small problem with my Q701's there are some parting in songs where the upper registry seems to get very harsh, I did notice it on my old little dot but its very pronounce now.

 

[gug42]

The adapters work. I've probably bought 5 different pairs depending on the amp. The ones from WOO are better but very expensive. WOO adapters are teflon with gold plate. The Chinese adapters are usually ceramic or bakelite. The Ceramic are white and the bakelite are usually brown or black.

Thank you for your answear. Sorry for double check : despite it is mentionned 6sn7 to 12au7, it's ok to do 6em7 to 6de7 ?

What will be your recommandation : bacalite or ceramic ?
Agree about woo adapater, better but no cost effective just for a sound test.

 

[watchdog507]

Functionally the ceramic and bakelite are identical. I like the look of the ceramic and brass. Some of the adapters have very tight sockets and very sharp pins so beware.

 

[gug42]

Thank you for your answer. I prefer the ceramic look too

 

[gug42]

From your experience, what tubes give the more sweat, smooth and mellow sounds (specially for high and high-mids) for a wa6 please ?

 

[gug42]

Hello,

I quote this old message. Can you describe with details the internal construction/build of thoses 6DE7 ?
They have a shield between the two parts ? The cathoed seems "boxed" and not flat ?

Regards,

By comparison, the 6DE7 i had seemed more airy.

I had these Zenith 6DE7 on my Woo 6, they seems like rebranded RCA, can anyone confirm?

 

[gug42]

RCA 6DE7 (1960 vintage, black/grey plate with shield divider) - These tubes live up to their reputation. Fast, dynamic, punchy, detailed. A lot of my impressions about the small bottle 6FD7 are similar here, only more so. My opinion of this tube is similar to what I've heard from others to be honest. It's a very fast and dynamic tube for rock, but has a small soundstage and doesn't flatter anything smooth or airy sounding like Jazz or piano. Bass notes hit with great speed and slam, and are clean and detailed. Treble is refined and reasonably well extended, with a very natural vocal presentation. It feels balanced from top to bottom with no peakiness anywhere in the frequency spectrum. This is a very revealing tube, but the small soundstage tends to pack all of those details into a rather confined space so there is not much air or space between instruments. Separation is still great though, especially between individual notes. The thing I miss the most is the lack of ambience and note decay. Where as the 6FD7 tends to hold sustained notes for a long time, the 6DE7 cuts them off quickly creating a cleaner and faster sound with no overhang but also no richness or ambience. It really is a matter of personal preference as I don't think one is more right than the other, but each complements certain types of music better than the other. If I had to pick only one to live with it would be the 6FD7 because I love the longer note decay, but I would miss being able to hear the cleaner bass and note detailing of the 6DE7.

Overall a lot to like. Detailed, but very refined. I didn't hear a harsh note anywhere in the sample songs I played. I see why so many people pair these with the Sophia. It's huge soundstage combined with the fast dynamics of this tube would end up with a very nice middle of the road balance.

One thing I have noticed about overall dynamic range with tubes is that they just don't seem to do this as well as a SS amp. It's one small thing amongst many, but I've noticed in passages where a transition from quiet to loud should be very pronounced and on the WA6 it really just isn't. As if the quiet passage had been normalized a bit, causing an overall reduction in dynamic range. Perhaps the rectifier is doing this since I've used the same one with all these tubes, but this has been consistent with every tube I've tried so far.

I'd strongly recommend this tube as a starting place for those who aren't sure about their preferences yet. It does many things right and is nicely balanced. It complements a fairly wide range of music, so long as you aren't expecting the last word on soundstage or ambiance.

Can't say it better !

 

[gug42]

I have two pair of 6FD7 :
- one with two black plates,
- one with a grey plate and a little black plate

Any idea of the brands it could be ? No shield for both of them ...

I test the grey plate : well really good. Great bass extension, smoother than RCA 6DE7. Well A little less dynamic too (so smoother i think) and a little less impact (so less "agressive" perhaps).

 

[Xcalibur255]

Wow I haven't posted in this thread in years. The new forum software alerts you when somebody quotes and I got curious and clicked.

The 6FD7 tubes where both plates are black are rare. As far as any of us could determine they represented the early production of the tube. It should be an RCA, though looking back we made a lot of assumptions about brands and nobody really cared enough about tubes like this to really track down production codes or plant origins.

I stumbled into a pair of 6FD7 big bottle black plates by coincidence, and up to the moment I sold my WA6 they were hands down the best sounding tubes I ever had for the amp within the 6DE7/6FD7/6EW7 tube family. There was simply more of the good stuff, they came closer in sound to a good 6SN7 than the rest of their kind.

I remember writing a long post about the tubes that stirred up some interest, but nobody else was able to find another pair of them. If your 6FD7 is fat bottle and dual black plate then you have a great find. Enjoy them!

edit: you know..... if you bought your WA6 used there's a considerable chance that those tubes used to be mine actually!

 

[gug42]

Quote to have your opinion

Great to see you ! Well your opinion (from my reading) was always really impresive !
By the way one positive/good thing about this new forums !! not too soon

A Zenith one and no brand ... It will be fun if it was yours ! I have buy a second hand wa6se.
For me, with my zmf blackwood and Brimar 5Z5GY, really close to RCA 6DE7 with shield (i hope to get some Tung sol 6DE7).

By the way, two question :
- Can you point me some good money value 6SN7 ?
* Sylvania 6SN7WGT ?
* Tung-Sol Black Plate D Getter 6SN7GTB ?
* 6SN7 EH Golds Pins ?
* others stuff ?

- What amp did you use now ?

By the way from now I prefer 6DE7 over 6FD7

Thank you !

 

[bfreedma]

Great to see you ! Well your opinion (from my reading) was always really impresive !
By the way one positive/good thing about this new forums !! not too soon

A Zenith one and no brand ... It will be fun if it was yours ! I have buy a second hand wa6se.
For me, with my zmf blackwood and Brimar 5Z5GY, really close to RCA 6DE7 with shield (i hope to get some Tung sol 6DE7).

By the way, two question :
- Can you point me some good money value 6SN7 ?
* Sylvania 6SN7WGT ?
* Tung-Sol Black Plate D Getter 6SN7GTB ?
* 6SN7 EH Golds Pins ?
* others stuff ?

- What amp did you use now ?

By the way from now I prefer 6DE7 over 6FD7

Thank you !

If you have a 6SE, 6sn7s are not compatible. They do work in the wa6 with an adapter.

 

[watchdog507]

Great to see you ! Well your opinion (from my reading) was always really impresive !
By the way one positive/good thing about this new forums !! not too soon

A Zenith one and no brand ... It will be fun if it was yours ! I have buy a second hand wa6se.
For me, with my zmf blackwood and Brimar 5Z5GY, really close to RCA 6DE7 with shield (i hope to get some Tung sol 6DE7).

By the way, two question :
- Can you point me some good money value 6SN7 ?
* Sylvania 6SN7WGT ?
* Tung-Sol Black Plate D Getter 6SN7GTB ?
* 6SN7 EH Golds Pins ?
* others stuff ?

- What amp did you use now ?

By the way from now I prefer 6DE7 over 6FD7

Thank you !

I have a WOO WA5-LE and I had a hard time getting a 6SN7 tube that would would give me presence and resolution at higher frequencies it always seemed smeared or recessed. In the pack of tubes I have, I found two matching tubes. Matched not by brand by construction. One was a Marconi short bottle with a red base and horizontal horseshoe getter and internal copper wires. I found a Magnavox tube with the exact same construction. Just a different black base. These are identified by the chrome flash on the side of the tubes from the getter doing it's job. These can sometimes be found for a reasonable price in a well know auction site. These were the best sounding tubes that I tried out of probably ten pairs.

 

[gug42]

If you have a 6SE, 6sn7s are not compatible. They do work in the wa6 with an adapter.

There is some possibility

I have a WOO WA5-LE and I had a hard time getting a 6SN7 tube that would would give me presence and resolution at higher frequencies it always seemed smeared or recessed. In the pack of tubes I have, I found two matching tubes. Matched not by brand by construction. One was a Marconi short bottle with a red base and horizontal horseshoe getter and internal copper wires. I found a Magnavox tube with the exact same construction. Just a different black base. These are identified by the chrome flash on the side of the tubes from the getter doing it's job. These can sometimes be found for a reasonable price in a well know auction site. These were the best sounding tubes that I tried out of probably ten pairs.

Thank you ! Get it ! Grey or black plate ?

For my part I'm looking for depth bass, with impactfull, a rich sound, good mids and really smooth and mellow high (ok for rolled off high)

 

[watchdog507]

There is some possibility



Thank you ! Get it ! Grey or black plate ?

For my part I'm looking for depth bass, with impactfull, a rich sound, good mids and really smooth and mellow high (ok for rolled off high)

They are grey plates with 2 rectangular hole on the sides of each plate.

The bass is usually not a problem with these tubes. It's controlled and extended. Although if you have a WA6 your rectifier will have a more noticeable effect on the bass.