Woo Audio WA22 Amp Owner Unite
Nov 2, 2019 at 5:27 PM Post #871 of 2,633
I may get the EML 5U4G at some point, but right now I hate to spend $280 just because my brand new $180 Sophia 274B is humming. I'm very interested in the EML, but I'd prefer to get used to what I have first. I've found that I appreciate the tube upgrades less when I swap them out too soon.

Yep that's understandable.
Tubes are hit and miss with me. I've got 2 sets of drivers that hum (ecc35 and sylvania 6sn7) and a brand new Psvane we274 replica.. But the hum is pretty loud with these bad eggs and they're in the no-listen pile. Not sure if hum disappears with use as I've read tubes need some time to settle in.. Good luck!
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 5:34 PM Post #872 of 2,633
Yep that's understandable.
Tubes are hit and miss with me. I've got 2 sets of drivers that hum (ecc35 and sylvania 6sn7) and a brand new Psvane we274 replica.. But the hum is pretty loud with these bad eggs and they're in the no-listen pile. Not sure if hum disappears with use as I've read tubes need some time to settle in.. Good luck!
That's what I'm going to try next, I'll let the Sophia burn in a bit longer and hopefully the hum goes away or at least is reduced a bit.
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 6:47 PM Post #873 of 2,633
I bought a Sophia Princess 274B in 2017 directly from Sophia Electric. Within a few minutes the volume output was cut in half and would emit a blip of static with each volume step. I sent it back and the replacement I got did the same thing while the glow would alternate from bright to dim. Woo's only suggestion was to try the Sophia with the stock power and driver tubes, no dice. Sophia Electric suggested I have my amplifier repaired immediately and claimed that the original tube I sent to them for replacement was charred on the inside and filled with black smoke, which is complete BS. So the replacement went on eBay with this story and a disclaimer. A WA6 owner bought it and it works perfectly for him. I've got 12 different rectifiers for my WA22 of varying price and vintage and they all work perfectly. There was just something about those two (bad batch?) of Sophias that my WA22 didn't like.
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 7:27 PM Post #874 of 2,633
I may get the EML 5U4G at some point, but right now I hate to spend $280 just because my brand new $170 Sophia 274B is humming. I'm very interested in the EML, but I'd prefer to get used to what I have first. I've found that I appreciate the tube upgrades less when I swap them out too soon.
Try a used tube before you buy a NIB. As soon as you open the box, it drops in value.
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 9:23 PM Post #875 of 2,633
I'm a new user of the WA22 (got a good deal on a used unit) and had a hum with both Sophia 274Bs I tried as well. This suggests that it might be the nature of these tubes. Ironically I found them to be a bit quieter than the stock tubes supplied with the unit that had never been used by the previous owner.

The hum may not be all that noticeable (meaning abnormally high relative to the slight hum that exists with most tube equipment) unless your headphones are of higher than average sensitivity, you're sensitive to hum, or have a noisy power line. My cans are ultra sensitive (105db,16 ohm) so the hum was very intrusive.

To get rid of it I ended up using a Chatham 5R4WGB rectifier (the potato smasher) I had lying around and the hum was almost, but not completely eliminated. Now I can just hear it slightly with no music playing.

Surprisingly the potato smasher turned out to be not too bad for the application from a sound signature point of view. Warm tone for sure with a sweet top end, but no apparent loss of detail. They were only tried as an experiment to isolate the cause of the hum, but I may now try to tube roll to complement its signature.
 
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Nov 2, 2019 at 9:55 PM Post #876 of 2,633
I'm a new user of the WA22 (got a good deal on a used unit) and had a hum with both Sophia 274Bs I tried as well. This suggests that it might be the nature of these tubes. Ironically I found them to be a quieter than the stock tubes supplied with the unit that had never been used by the previous owner.

The hum may not be all that noticeable (meaning abnormally high relative to the slight hum that exists with most tube equipment) unless your headphones are of higher than average sensitivity, you're sensitive to hum, or have a noisy power line. My cans are ultra sensitive (105db,16 ohm) so the hum was very intrusive.

To get rid of it I ended up using a Chatham 5R4WGB rectifier (the potato smasher) I had lying around and the hum was almost, but not completely eliminated. Now I can just hear it slightly with no music playing.

Surprisingly the potato smasher turned out to be not too bad for the application from a sound signature point of view. Warm tone for sure with a sweet top end, but no apparent loss of detail. They were only tried as an experiment to isolate the cause of the hum, but I may now try to tube roll to complement its signature.
WA22 should be dead silent. Don't have Sophia 274B. Don't know why they even call it a 274B...........
 
Nov 3, 2019 at 5:00 PM Post #877 of 2,633
For those of you running the dual 6BL7's in place of the 6080's, have any of you tried the Tung Sol 5998's and if so which did you prefer or what were the differences you noticed? I'm currently running the dual set up with one 6BL7 and one 5692 in mine and I find the sound is far more pleasing than the Sylvania 7236's I was running. I am still at a point that I could send the 5692's back and get another matched pair of 6BL7's and the 5998's, but not really sure which direction to go here.

Any advice fellow 22 owners?
 
Nov 3, 2019 at 6:54 PM Post #878 of 2,633
For those of you running the dual 6BL7's in place of the 6080's, have any of you tried the Tung Sol 5998's and if so which did you prefer or what were the differences you noticed? I'm currently running the dual set up with one 6BL7 and one 5692 in mine and I find the sound is far more pleasing than the Sylvania 7236's I was running. I am still at a point that I could send the 5692's back and get another matched pair of 6BL7's and the 5998's, but not really sure which direction to go here.

Any advice fellow 22 owners?

Get a nice pair of power tubes and forget about the 6BL7 etc.
 
Nov 5, 2019 at 9:50 PM Post #879 of 2,633
OMG. Watching NCAA here, and am so pumped up for the Auburn-Kansas game.

But you folks have me so jazzed for the WA22 I am plugging in for some jazz and funk during the game. I run WE 422A rectifier (1959), through TS 5998 (1967) power tubes with RCA grey glass VT-231 (1942) drivers. I spent 2 times the price of the Woo WA22 on tubes, but it sounds damn good with Tidal HiFi. Holographic with enormous space.

Pharmaboy, I bought my Woo about 3 years ago, and still really don't know what I was doing either. But right away I grabbed a couple dozen NOS tubes because I saw they were rare.

I need to listen to the Woo more than I do.
OMG. Watching NCAA here, and am so pumped up for the Auburn-Kansas game.

But you folks have me so jazzed for the WA22 I am plugging in for some jazz and funk during the game. I run WE 422A rectifier (1959), through TS 5998 (1967) power tubes with RCA grey glass VT-231 (1942) drivers. I spent 2 times the price of the Woo WA22 on tubes, but it sounds damn good with Tidal HiFi. Holographic with enormous space.

Pharmaboy, I bought my Woo about 3 years ago, and still really don't know what I was doing either. But right away I grabbed a couple dozen NOS tubes because I saw they were rare.

I need to listen to the Woo more than I do.


I use a WA22 headphone amp but am a novice when it comes to tubes.Is the WE 422A with an adaptor OK to use with the WA22 amp.Thanks
 
Nov 6, 2019 at 3:49 AM Post #880 of 2,633
Get a nice pair of power tubes and forget about the 6BL7 etc.
I use a WA22 headphone amp but am a novice when it comes to tubes.Is the WE 422A with an adaptor OK to use with the WA22 amp.Thanks

No need for an adapter for the WE. Enjoy.
 
Nov 6, 2019 at 9:26 AM Post #882 of 2,633
So after a bit of burn in, the Sophia 5U4G appears to have quieted down. I think I'm still going to find an EML 5U4G (and just missed getting one in the classifieds) just to see what the buzz is about. I also snagged an early 40's RCA 5R4GY dual-getter with a dark brown base and smooth plates for a great price, and this tube is absolutely dead silent. I have a feeling I'll be using that tube a lot.
 
Nov 12, 2019 at 7:47 PM Post #883 of 2,633
Just wanted chime in here for a minute with some updates as to the tubes and combinations I have been playing with that are working great and or not so much.

Currently my favorite rectifier has been the 1940's RCA 5R4GY. This tube is fantastic and at a $200 price tag it's been compared to the WE274B as being pretty damn close in sound quality. I can't confirm this seeing as I've not heard the WE, but I get all my tubes from Brent Jessee unless I see a good deal on here. He has told me on a couple occasions just how impressed he is by how close these are tonally to the 274. I've also just purchased a Mullard made GZ37/CV378 military type and so far it sound decent, but needs bit of burn in time.

Driver tubes I got a pair of Raytheon VT231 military's and my god are they incredible. These were $200 for the pair and are a steal at that for what you get. I then purchased a pair of the well known RCA 5692 red base for $340. I quote the prices to make the following point. I have sent the Red bases back. They are beautiful looking tubes and they do sound very good, but the VT231's sound better by a large margin and save you $140.

I was looking into a pair of Tung Sol 5998's but they were unavailable, but I found a pair of dual 6BL7 to 6080 adapters and ordered some matched pairs of 6BL7's and 6BX7's and am currently running with 1 pair of each and these sound fantastic. I was using some very nice Sylvania 7236's which are roughly $200 per pair and these 6BL7's at about $10 a piece minus adapter cost are so much more enjoyable and provide an overall more open and 3 dimensional sound when combined with the VT231's and RCA rec.

Anyway just figured I would share.
 
Nov 12, 2019 at 8:19 PM Post #884 of 2,633
Does your 1940's RCA 5R4GY have a dark brown base with a double-bottom getter and smooth plates? I've got two, one as described and one that I think is an early 50's 5R4GY that has a lighter brown base, a single bottom getter, and smooth plates. The early 40's tube is dead silent, and sounds extremely clean with my early 40's RCA 6AS7G's and RCA gray glass 6SN7's. I've yet to really splurge on driver tubes and honestly I'm not sure I will. I've been extremely happy with it's sound so far, glad you've also found some tubes that are working.
 
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Nov 12, 2019 at 8:41 PM Post #885 of 2,633
Just wanted chime in here for a minute with some updates as to the tubes and combinations I have been playing with that are working great and or not so much.

Currently my favorite rectifier has been the 1940's RCA 5R4GY. This tube is fantastic and at a $200 price tag it's been compared to the WE274B as being pretty damn close in sound quality. I can't confirm this seeing as I've not heard the WE, but I get all my tubes from Brent Jessee unless I see a good deal on here. He has told me on a couple occasions just how impressed he is by how close these are tonally to the 274. I've also just purchased a Mullard made GZ37/CV378 military type and so far it sound decent, but needs bit of burn in time.

Driver tubes I got a pair of Raytheon VT231 military's and my god are they incredible. These were $200 for the pair and are a steal at that for what you get. I then purchased a pair of the well known RCA 5692 red base for $340. I quote the prices to make the following point. I have sent the Red bases back. They are beautiful looking tubes and they do sound very good, but the VT231's sound better by a large margin and save you $140.

I was looking into a pair of Tung Sol 5998's but they were unavailable, but I found a pair of dual 6BL7 to 6080 adapters and ordered some matched pairs of 6BL7's and 6BX7's and am currently running with 1 pair of each and these sound fantastic. I was using some very nice Sylvania 7236's which are roughly $200 per pair and these 6BL7's at about $10 a piece minus adapter cost are so much more enjoyable and provide an overall more open and 3 dimensional sound when combined with the VT231's and RCA rec.

Anyway just figured I would share.
 

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