Glad you were able to get this unicorn!I think I'm one of the last here to board the U709 tube train, but I'm so happy I'm finally on! As @tholt said, the sense of realism just takes a noticable jump up. Much more dynamic, detailed, clear, and holographic. I'm actually noticing details I wasn't before with this little rectifier, in songs I know VERY well. It's addicting. Everything just comes so much more alive. Thanks @shwnwllms for upgrading to 300B's!
Enjoy it! It’s incredible what a difference it makesI think I'm one of the last here to board the U709 tube train, but I'm so happy I'm finally on! As @tholt said, the sense of realism just takes a noticable jump up. Much more dynamic, detailed, clear, and holographic. I'm actually noticing details I wasn't before with this little rectifier, in songs I know VERY well. It's addicting. Everything just comes so much more alive. Thanks @shwnwllms for upgrading to 300B's!
Stay tuned…Fabulous story! Thanks for sharingFunny story I thought I’d share about a tube discovery that would be appreciated here-
I work closely with a pretty large team in Sweden. After about four years of not being able to visit their offices/see people in person, I had the privilege and pleasure of traveling there for a week about a month and a half ago.
While there, I finally got to meet our brand creative director in person- someone I’ve worked with a bit over the past few years, but never had a chance to chat with socially. As it turns out, we had a similar upbringing with fathers who are engineers, worked in Silicon Valley after an education in Scandinavia, and some other funny details. As we chatted about our fathers’ careers and our own tech experience and work, I mentioned my audiophile hobby and love of music.
My colleague lit up: “My father is an old radio hobbyist and has been collecting tubes since he left Silicon Valley. Maybe he has something you are looking for? He is selling his tubes now anyway, as he’s getting older and has so many.” I was of course interested, and we agreed he’d chat with his father and see if he had a list of tubes in his collection.
It turns out he did- and while there are undoubtedly other treasures among his tubes, I was specifically looking for 12AX7/12AU7/12AT7 input tubes for my Woo WA2 (I’ll get to the Pendant relevance, I promise!).
He had 6057s listed, which are a high-quality tube of that family. I emailed him (after checking with my colleague), and it turned out three Brimar 6057s were available for purchase for a very reasonable price.
We agreed that his son/my colleague could bring them with him when he was coming to visit for meetings at our offices. I met up with him today.
When you examine the photos below, you can imagine my reverence as I gently unboxed a pristine, good-as-new-off-the-line Brimar “Special T” 6057 from the Footscray plant. As you can see from the photos, it’s as fresh as anything that old can be. While I forgot to check the date code, I will do so tomorrow.
Tonight I cleaned the pins gently/carefully with Caig DeOxit and Gold (the pins look like gold to me), and seated the tubes in my WA2 and fired it up.
Damn. I know there are likely better tubes out there, but these are really, really good. They seem, to my ears, close to or even with my pair of 12AX7 Mullard medical-grade tubes.
I now understand the reverence for “the FIND”- discovering tubes that are older than yourself, yet look pretty brand-new, and you are the first person to use them.
If you got this far, here’s the Pendant part: I have three, but only need two. After checking the third one that it works as flawlessly as these two, I will probably list it at a very reasonable price.
Great feedback. That was my original plan (why I bought the last three the gentleman had), and to your point I should probably do that.Fabulous story! Thanks for sharing
You may want to hang onto that third one for backup
How cool! I was very excited when I bought this tube for my then Pendant SE and it didn't disappoint. It was definitely my favorite until getting the G-73R.Funny story I thought I’d share about a tube discovery that would be appreciated here-
I work closely with a pretty large team in Sweden. After about four years of not being able to visit their offices/see people in person, I had the privilege and pleasure of traveling there for a week about a month and a half ago.
While there, I finally got to meet our brand creative director in person- someone I’ve worked with a bit over the past few years, but never had a chance to chat with socially. As it turns out, we had a similar upbringing with fathers who are engineers, worked in Silicon Valley after an education in Scandinavia, and some other funny details. As we chatted about our fathers’ careers and our own tech experience and work, I mentioned my audiophile hobby and love of music.
My colleague lit up: “My father is an old radio hobbyist and has been collecting tubes since he left Silicon Valley. Maybe he has something you are looking for? He is selling his tubes now anyway, as he’s getting older and has so many.” I was of course interested, and we agreed he’d chat with his father and see if he had a list of tubes in his collection.
It turns out he did- and while there are undoubtedly other treasures among his tubes, I was specifically looking for 12AX7/12AU7/12AT7 input tubes for my Woo WA2 (I’ll get to the Pendant relevance, I promise!).
He had 6057s listed, which are a high-quality tube of that family. I emailed him (after checking with my colleague), and it turned out three Brimar 6057s were available for purchase for a very reasonable price.
We agreed that his son/my colleague could bring them with him when he was coming to visit for meetings at our offices. I met up with him today.
When you examine the photos below, you can imagine my reverence as I gently unboxed a pristine, good-as-new-off-the-line Brimar “Special T” 6057 from the Footscray plant. As you can see from the photos, it’s as fresh as anything that old can be. While I forgot to check the date code, I will do so tomorrow.
Tonight I cleaned the pins gently/carefully with Caig DeOxit and Gold (the pins look like gold to me), and seated the tubes in my WA2 and fired it up.
Damn. I know there are likely better tubes out there, but these are really, really good. They seem, to my ears, close to or even with my pair of 12AX7 Mullard medical-grade tubes.
I now understand the reverence for “the FIND”- discovering tubes that are older than yourself, yet look pretty brand-new, and you are the first person to use them.
If you got this far, here’s the Pendant part: I have three, but only need two. After checking the third one that it works as flawlessly as these two, I will probably list it at a very reasonable price.
Funny story I thought I’d share about a tube discovery that would be appreciated here-
I work closely with a pretty large team in Sweden. After about four years of not being able to visit their offices/see people in person, I had the privilege and pleasure of traveling there for a week about a month and a half ago.
While there, I finally got to meet our brand creative director in person- someone I’ve worked with a bit over the past few years, but never had a chance to chat with socially. As it turns out, we had a similar upbringing with fathers who are engineers, worked in Silicon Valley after an education in Scandinavia, and some other funny details. As we chatted about our fathers’ careers and our own tech experience and work, I mentioned my audiophile hobby and love of music.
My colleague lit up: “My father is an old radio hobbyist and has been collecting tubes since he left Silicon Valley. Maybe he has something you are looking for? He is selling his tubes now anyway, as he’s getting older and has so many.” I was of course interested, and we agreed he’d chat with his father and see if he had a list of tubes in his collection.
It turns out he did- and while there are undoubtedly other treasures among his tubes, I was specifically looking for 12AX7/12AU7/12AT7 input tubes for my Woo WA2 (I’ll get to the Pendant relevance, I promise!).
He had 6057s listed, which are a high-quality tube of that family. I emailed him (after checking with my colleague), and it turned out three Brimar 6057s were available for purchase for a very reasonable price.
We agreed that his son/my colleague could bring them with him when he was coming to visit for meetings at our offices. I met up with him today.
When you examine the photos below, you can imagine my reverence as I gently unboxed a pristine, good-as-new-off-the-line Brimar “Special T” 6057 from the Footscray plant. As you can see from the photos, it’s as fresh as anything that old can be. While I forgot to check the date code, I will do so tomorrow.
Tonight I cleaned the pins gently/carefully with Caig DeOxit and Gold (the pins look like gold to me), and seated the tubes in my WA2 and fired it up.
Damn. I know there are likely better tubes out there, but these are really, really good. They seem, to my ears, close to or even with my pair of 12AX7 Mullard medical-grade tubes.
I now understand the reverence for “the FIND”- discovering tubes that are older than yourself, yet look pretty brand-new, and you are the first person to use them.
If you got this far, here’s the Pendant part: I have three, but only need two. After checking the third one that it works as flawlessly as these two, I will probably list it at a very reasonable price.
Will do, thanks!
Funnily enough, the G-73R is on tap tonight. Would you believe I received those two types ON THE SAME DAY from two vastly different sources from different countries, fairly randomly?!
