[JLoud]

I never ran the Taks in my WA5le but I am currently in my WA33. I really like them. Very detailed yet with a large soundstage. My favorite rectifier.

 

[cddc]

That much is true.

But I haven't seen any 5998s that look like my WE 421As, which I purchased years ago from a Western Bell employee's estate sale in Wisconsin, in their original boxes.

For sure, there are some 421As that are simply rebranded TS 5998... but that is not always the case. And there is some discussion on earlier vs later models.

My post on this topic is in an interesting thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/vis...998-western-electric-421.506133/post-12490846

I know I posted pics showing the structural differences between my collection of TS 5998 and WE 421a tubes, but I must have posted those pics somewhere in this thread and not the linked thread I reference above (and I am too lazy to search for that post).

I've read your quoted post. You've never seen TS 5998 coming with WE421A's bottom "D" getters, so you concluded that they're different tubes.

But the problem is that your sample size is too small. There are TS 5998 tubes that come with bottom "D" getters.

 

[Barnstormer13]

Hi all!

I haven't posted on this site in years.... My desktop amp broke a while back and I kind of drifted away from head-fi, but recently replaced it with a Woo WA6-SE and I'm getting back into it!

Along with the amp I bought a Sophia Princess 274B Aqua rectifier tube. I'd been told it would be a significant upgrade over the stock tube. And it is, I just have one issue with it after a couple of weeks of listening and A/Bing back and forth. The mids are a little bit further recessed and generally there seems to be a bit of a darkness to it. I'm plugging my old LCD-2 into it and something I love about that headphone is that I can get nearly (but not quite) Grado RS1-like mids/vocals without the treble peaks of the Grado, and of course a wider soundstage. Some of that magic gets lost with this rectifier tube. I've got the Sophia Mesh Plate 274B on the way to me as well, and I'll be testing that one out. Pulled the trigger on that simply just because it seems to be lauded on Head-Fi by almost anyone here who owns the WA6-SE.

Haven't started getting fancy with interconnects and headphone cables just yet. Last amp was balanced XLR, so all my good cables are XLR terminated. Still using the stock Audeze 1/4 inch cable and some monoprice RCA interconnects into my Yggdrasil DAC. I plan on doing the DAC some better justice in the near future- just haven't gotten there yet.

Wondering though- does anyone here have experience with both the SP 274B Aqua and Mesh Plate Rectifiers? If not I will certainly find out in a few days

I have listened to the Sophia mesh plate. I would put it as a substantial upgrade over the stock tube, but a step down from an RCA 5U4G hanging filament (new Condition for both). I’d also look into Sylvania 13DR7 driver tubes.

 

[levinhatz]

I have listened to the Sophia mesh plate. I would put it as a substantial upgrade over the stock tube, but a step down from an RCA 5U4G hanging filament (new Condition for both). I’d also look into Sylvania 13DR7 driver tubes.

The Sophia Mesh Plate showed up and upon comparing the two I think I prefer the Mesh. The Mesh is much more neutral. My impression anyway. Ended up selling the Aqua to a user on here who was probably interested in taming a bright headphone.

 

[davehg]

I scored a nice Hickok tube tester that was just serviced to test the batch of 6SN7 NOS tubes I scored for a buck a tube. Happily most were in the 3000gm range, and only one tested 1800gm. I popped in the Raytheon GTBs and was surprised at their increased gain. Great low level detail.The WA5 sounds way more transparent with the Raytheon’s. These are the side getter versions. I’m going to try these out for a week then swap to the Sylvanias.

 

[Justin_Time]

Hello everyone!

Has anyone here had any experience using the German-made Elrog 300B with the Woo WA5 or WA5-LE? Are they compatible?

 

[moemoney]

Hello everyone!

Has anyone here had any experience using the German-made Elrog 300B with the Woo WA5 or WA5-LE? Are they compatible?

I would like to know the answer to that as well. But it seems like it should work.

 

[joseph69]

Here is the Woo Audio Compatibility Chart.
You can also call Woo or George at TubesUSA which carries Elrog.

 

[davehg]

Timely topic. I’ve had bad experiences with two Genelex Gold Lion 300b tubes In my WA5. After an hour or so, the volume in one channel drops, and when swapping the problematic tube to the left or right, it follows the tube. The replacement Gold Lion 300b has the same problem. Switching back to the Shugang 300b cures the problem completely. I don’t have other 300b brands to test.

I have a Hickok 539a tester that shows all three tubes testing fine. I’ve selected the two closely matched tubes but it really doesn’t matter. The common factor seems to be that my amp doesn’t mate with Genelex Gold Lion 300bs.

 

[George Chronis]

Hi all,

I just bought a used WA5-LE. I took it out of the box and when I lift the power supply it feels like the whole internal part or some big piece of it is wiggling inside like it is suspended on some kind of spring. Is this by design or is something unscrewed inside? I don't hear anything clanking.

Thank you.

 

[davehg]

Open it up from the bottom side. Easy to peek inside.

 

[JLoud]

Maybe a transformer came loose. You can take the covers off and look. They are secured from the top with long bolts. Easy to remove and you can't hurt anything.

 

[George Chronis]

That’s exactly what it was. Except I had to get the board out from the inside in order to remove the rear transformer housing, because there was no way to get to the bottom nuts to tighten them. Good as new. Really excited to fire it up.

Thank you guys for jumping on it.

 

[JLoud]

Glad you fixed it. Wonderful amp. I enjoyed mine for several years before moving up to the WA33.

 

[George Chronis]

Glad you fixed it. Wonderful amp. I enjoyed mine for several years before moving up to the WA33.

There my next move I saw one on the classifieds recently (may still be there) with Taks I believe, going forward something like $7k and was very tempted, but not quite there yet, financially. Did you get the maxed out WA33 or the “base”? What tubes are you running and what’s a quick take on comparing to the WA5? Was it worth it for you?