[TonyNewman]

  this anti shuguang 274b stream is out of proportions (i guess fueled by some overreacting reviews), it's a fine sounding tube, perhaps somewhat mellow but actually has great extensions both ways and great layering on the wa6-se

 
Shuguang make a number of different product lines. The stock rectifier appears to be from the base line of products and it is very, very bad - as several folks on this forum have pointed out.
 
I use, and enjoy, a number of Shuguang products from their 'Natural Sound' and 'Treasure' product lines, from CV-181s (6SN7s) through to 845s. These are very fine tubes indeed and worth checking out.
 
Unfortunately, the base model rectifier would have to be about the worst functioning tube I have ever heard. Putting one of them into a WA6SE for a public demo seems self defeating to me - you are not getting anything like the full capability that the amp can deliver. Use it for amp burn in, if at all, then throw the wretched thing into the nearest bin would be my suggestion. Any other rectifier, even the modestly performing Sophia Princess or EML 274B, are hugely better.
 
Even better - take the retail value of the fancy Nordost cable and spend the equivalent sum on some decent tubes and keep the stock cables - I would bet some pink body parts that the SQ improvement would dwarf the difference made by the Nordost cable alone (if it made any at all, but that is a different argument for a different thread).

 

[joseph69]

   
i am not sure unfortauntely, i never got to trying out those tubes on the WA6-SE, the adapters for those hadn't arrived and the only tube i had at the time was the Treasure CV 181's, those do Not work with the WA6-SE and the adapter so i actually never got to hear a 6sn7'd WA6-SE before i sold it. i am sure though that the 6sn7 will be more musical and tubey than alot of the other driver tubes on the WA6-SE which tend to be more SS sounding; the good ones sounding neutral and the bad ones having shouty grainy-ness.

Exactly what I found, which is why I sold the 6-SE and re-purchased the WA6!

 

[TonyNewman]

  Exactly what I found, which is why I sold the 6-SE and re-purchased the WA6!

 
WA6 forever!!! Terrific little amp.
 

 
Mine is currently running Shuggie CV-181 Treasure drivers and a Psvane 1:1 WE274B replica rectifier (otherwise I use a Mullard GZ32).
 
The 6SN7 adapters are Woo stock - they work fine and I am very happy with them.
 
Is the WA6 an under-appreciated beast at the lower end of the Woo product line? Put decent tubes in this thing and it performs very, very well.
 
The thought of going back to the stock tubes makes me shudder.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

  Exactly what I found, which is why I sold the 6-SE and re-purchased the WA6!

 

   
WA6 forever!!! Terrific little amp.
 
 
Is the WA6 an under-appreciated beast at the lower end of the Woo product line? Put decent tubes in this thing and it performs very, very well.
 
The thought of going back to the stock tubes makes me shudder.

 
 
I am still yet to hear the WA6, I have heard other people say similar thats is very good and in some ways better than the WA6; it is however at their lower end and I think the biggest issue is that it is down on power versus the WA6-SE. one thing is for sure; every woo amp i've tried to far sucks with the stock tubes, you really need to upgrade the tubes for them to sing. 
 
out of all the woo amps, i still think the WA2 and WA5 are the best woo amps in the lineup 

 , even with the WA5 around, i still think of re-buying WA2 someday.

 

[joseph69]

   

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

WA6 forever!!! Terrific little amp.
 

 
Mine is currently running Shuggie CV-181 Treasure drivers and a Psvane 1:1 WE274B replica rectifier (otherwise I use a Mullard GZ32).
 
The 6SN7 adapters are Woo stock - they work fine and I am very happy with them.
 
Is the WA6 an under-appreciated beast at the lower end of the Woo product line? Put decent tubes in this thing and it performs very, very well.
 
The thought of going back to the stock tubes makes me shudder. 

 

100% agreed!
I use the 596/NOS Sylvania (and other brand) 6SN7's (different bases/years) and the sound is nothing short of pure pleasure too me. 

 

 

[joseph69]

   
 
 
 even with the WA5 around, i still think of re-buying WA2 someday.

Hmm! 

 

 

[TonyNewman]

   
 
...out of all the woo amps, i still think the WA2 and WA5 are the best woo amps in the lineup 

 , even with the WA5 around, i still think of re-buying WA2 someday.

 
My WA5, feed from an Auralic Vega, kills my WA6 at everything (as you would expect) - but we are talking about a setup that costs a great deal more. I use my WA6 as my PC USB audio output for gaming and casual listening while websurfing - excellent sound at a reasonable price.
 
It has enough power to drive the 300 Ohm Sennheiser products very well, which seem a better match to my ears than the planars (I prefer the HD600 / HD800 pairing than the LCD-X). YMMV.

 

[illy2k]

  Exactly what I found, which is why I sold the 6-SE and re-purchased the WA6!

So the 6SN7's and the 6F8G's are out because of lack of adapters and support from Jack. I got the princess rectifier and the upgraded 6GL7 drivers, any ideas on others to try or are these pretty much top of the heap? 

 

[joseph69]

  So the 6SN7's and the 6F8G's are out because of lack of adapters and support from Jack. I got the princess rectifier and the upgraded 6GL7 drivers, any ideas on others to try or are these pretty much top of the heap? 

I don't know about the 6F8G, but the 6SN7 is out.
I didn't care for the 6GL7! It was very overrated (for my taste) on Woo's site…one of the worst tubes I ever heard, and it was described as the best sounding on the Woo site. But thats just my opinion.
The 6FD7 (Big Bottle) sounded best with the 6-SE, I thought.

 

[TonyNewman]

  I don't know about the 6F8G, but the 6SN7 is out.
I didn't care for the 6GL7! It was very overrated (for my taste) on Woo's site…one of the worst tubes I ever heard, and it was described as the best sounding on the Woo site. But thats just my opinion.
The 6FD7 (Big Bottle) sounded best with the 6-SE, I thought.

 
The descriptions on the Woo site for the tube upgrades are very 'imaginative' - no tubes I have purchased from them come close to the marketing hype. Some were good, some were OK, most were disappointing. I purchase my tubes (NOS and new production) elsewhere now.
 
The 6SN7 adapters made the WA6 6SN7 tube upgrade purchase worth it for me. The tubes themselves (Raytheon 6SN7GTB) were 'meh'. The adapters are very well made do a fine job.

 

[illy2k]

   
The descriptions on the Woo site for the tube upgrades are very 'imaginative' - no tubes I have purchased from them come close to the marketing hype. Some were good, some were OK, most were disappointing. I purchase my tubes (NOS and new production) elsewhere now.
 
The 6SN7 adapters made the WA6 6SN7 tube upgrade purchase worth it for me. The tubes themselves (Raytheon 6SN7GTB) were 'meh'. The adapters are very well made do a fine job.

So I have be scouring ebay and looking for some tubes. I also looked at some online tube stores but having a hard time finding 6fd7's. Any ideas on good tube resources besides of course the for sale forum?

 

[TonyNewman]

  So I have be scouring ebay and looking for some tubes. I also looked at some online tube stores but having a hard time finding 6fd7's. Any ideas on good tube resources besides of course the for sale forum?

 
Good NOS of all types are getting harder and harder to find. My adored Mullard GZ32 rectifiers are sold out from Upscale Audio - remaining sources I can find are mostly charging $90+ for them (I think they are worth it).
 
I'm a WA6 owner, so I mostly stick with new production 6SN7s from Shuguang / Psvane / Sophia (TJ) and am happy with these. I don't think any of these make a WA6SE compatible driver tube. Sorry I don't have a better answer for you

 
What are the WA6SE owners out there doing for sourcing driver tubes?

 

[jaywillin]

   
Good NOS of all types are getting harder and harder to find. My adored Mullard GZ32 rectifiers are sold out from Upscale Audio - remaining sources I can find are mostly charging $90+ for them (I think they are worth it).
 
I'm a WA6 owner, so I mostly stick with new production 6SN7s from Shuguang / Psvane / Sophia (TJ) and am happy with these. I don't think any of these make a WA6SE compatible driver tube. Sorry I don't have a better answer for you

 
What are the WA6SE owners out there doing for sourcing driver tubes?

i'm looking as we speak, definitely not as plentiful as lyr tubes ! lol

 

[joseph69]

   
The descriptions on the Woo site for the tube upgrades are very 'imaginative' - no tubes I have purchased from them come close to the marketing hype. Some were good, some were OK, most were disappointing. I purchase my tubes (NOS and new production) elsewhere now.
 
The 6SN7 adapters made the WA6 6SN7 tube upgrade purchase worth it for me. The tubes themselves (Raytheon 6SN7GTB) were 'meh'. The adapters are very well made do a fine job.

 

  So I have be scouring ebay and looking for some tubes. I also looked at some online tube stores but having a hard time finding 6fd7's. Any ideas on good tube resources besides of course the for sale forum?

I purchased the 6FD7(Big Bottles) from Woo for the 6-SE when I had it, and they sounded fine.

 

[Stereolab42]

   
Good NOS of all types are getting harder and harder to find. My adored Mullard GZ32 rectifiers are sold out from Upscale Audio - remaining sources I can find are mostly charging $90+ for them (I think they are worth it).
 
I'm a WA6 owner, so I mostly stick with new production 6SN7s from Shuguang / Psvane / Sophia (TJ) and am happy with these. I don't think any of these make a WA6SE compatible driver tube. Sorry I don't have a better answer for you

 
What are the WA6SE owners out there doing for sourcing driver tubes?

 
I still think the WA6SE is very tolerant of different driver tubes. Of all the ones I've bought from eBay for many different prices, none are really worse than "pretty good". My favorite is still the Tronix 6EM7:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271217711570
 
And yeah, the Shuggy stock rectifier is garbage. Now it doesn't sound terrible (just average at best), but the build quality is terrible. You'd have to be insane to risk running them in expensive amps.