[reeltime]

Haven't seen many people address tube rolling on the WA-5, so I'm trying a thread about it.
 
Backstory:  I was a Woo WA-6 owner, and I had a great time running through tubes on the amp.  Ultimately settling on a 6SN7 drivers and a mid-1950's GZ34 rectifier as my reference set.  
 
Then it happened.  I was cruising eBay (always a danger) and happened across a WA5-LE.. and no one was bidding.  I won the WA5-LE for a little over $1800 dollars-- it has about 20 hours on it.  Pretty stoked. 
 
Point of reference-- the Woo WA-6 sold for $50 bucks more than I paid for it on eBay.  Lesson here-- this Woo stuff retains its value.  It's a darn safe audio buy.
 
The WA5-LE is absolutely stock with no upgrades -- which I'd expect for the price.  But I do want to upgrade tubes very soon.
 
My biggest fear is going with vintage tubes.  This wasn't an issue on the WA6, because 1 rectifier was doing the job for both channels, and the drivers are relatively cheap.  But in WA5-land, you must match your tubes.  Matching vintage tubes looks like quite an unlikely prospect.  Worse-- there are now 3 separate pairs instead of 2+1 on the WA6.
 
So I'm left with a field of options-- From Western Electric re-issues to EML to Sophia, PSVane and many others.  
 
I'm leaning toward EML (Emission Labs).  There's high praise for the EML rectifier-- 5U4G (a mesh plate).  But the 300B output tube is said to lack bass emphasis on the EML.
 
Sophia Electric has mesh and carbon and even a hyper-juiced carbon 300B ($1200 bucks!) are said to produce a deeper bass-- but aren't as strong through the mids.  Generally the Sophia gets higher marks than the EML
 
The Western Electric is supposed to have brilliant mids, but there's a roll-off in the bottom and top.  
 
Then there's the PSVane, 596's, and on and on... 
 
So many choices-- so little time (nor unlimited funds).  What are you rolling right now?  Why?
 
I'll post some photos in the near future.

 

[davehg]

Did you ever settle on 300b‘s and which ones and what was your impressions?

 

[mrspeakers]

Might as well drop in and share some thoughts on this.

I'm currently running the Western Electric tubes and man are they a huge upgrade from the Sophia Royal Princess. I don't find the top or bottom to be rolled off at all.

For the driver stage I've used 6SN7s, 6598s, VT-99s, and a couple of others. The VT-99 had been my favorite, but I recently tried the Seimens C3G tubes and have my end game, Woo makes adaptors for these. The noise floor is incredibly low and the THD is audibly lower.

Finally, running some crazy 596 rectifiers I got from Jack, which also need an adaptor.

This is my end game setup for this amp, at least until I find some other treasures to try...

 

[Bonddam]

My favorite 300B is the KR HP that Abyss sells. For rectifiers I bought the Sophia 274B and couldn't be happier. Drivers are the only missing link currently have the stock Russian tubes which are quiet, Ken Rad clear tops but one tube has slight white noise, and psvane cv181 t mk2. The Ken Rad are my favorite and I'm hoping my new production Tung Sol are better and replace the Ken Rad. I'm using 1266 TC, Fostex TH900 mk2 and Empyrean. My goal in tubes is get the most bass and upper mids and treble. Vocals are not important as I'm a EDM listener.

 

[mrspeakers]

My favorite 300B is the KR HP that Abyss sells. For rectifiers I bought the Sophia 274B and couldn't be happier. Drivers are the only missing link currently have the stock Russian tubes which are quiet, Ken Rad clear tops but one tube has slight white noise, and psvane cv181 t mk2. The Ken Rad are my favorite and I'm hoping my new production Tung Sol are better and replace the Ken Rad. I'm using 1266 TC, Fostex TH900 mk2 and Empyrean. My goal in tubes is get the most bass and upper mids and treble. Vocals are not important as I'm a EDM listener.

That's a neat find, never heard them. I presume they've got a strong bottom?

As you're looking at drivers you might look at a VT-99, it's a nice warm tube with good bass, the most I've heard on the system. Avoid the gray Sylvanias, the Tung-Sol black bottle are much better. You need a 6F8G to 6SN7 adaptor if you go that route.

Slightly OT but I go to a lot of festivals and built a PA system for our parties with bass bins that can hit 20Hz at 123dB. Pretty darn fun for desert parties!

 

[Bonddam]

I can tell the Ken Rads must roll off the top because the 900's are too smooth up there.

 

[mrspeakers]

Today’s combo is running 6592 driver and USAF 596 rectifiers And Wester Electric 300B. 6592 has super smooth mids and a strong bottom end, very enjoyable pairing.