[I.Greyhound Fan]

6922, 6Dj8 1950s and early 1960's telefunken. 1950's Raytheon 12AX7 black plate with the shiny long plates.  Not a fan of 6N1P's or 6CG7's
 except for 1950's Sylvania and Raytheon Black Plates.  I have a preamp with 6H30's, nothing bad to say except they don't really have the typical tube sound.

[Escott1377]

My pre amp uses 300B EML Mesh Plates and they sound quite good.

Any 300B will work, but specifically purchased b/c it can use the mesh plates.

[aKnyght]

6sn7... very good NOS variants, esp RCA. also, a fair number of new production 6sn7 tubes. tung-sol is a quite good one.

[arthurs]

76

[Steve]

The circuit matters 100x more in a competent design.

+1000 Dave.

-----------

I can take some 6dj8 type small tubes and make the most transparent and natural sounding preamplifier you'll find. It will have minimal stages with excellent high frequency response. Fewer stages is a plus toward accuracy/naturalness.

Caveat: I have been, am, and will remain retired (for 6 years now).

Long rule tubes

steve

[FullRangeMan]

I like any small tube that be cheap and reliable +10K hours.
So this exclude Chinese tubes and many US tubes.

[denny9167]

I’ve had good success with the 6SN7 tube, regardless which topology one uses, sounds the best in a mu-follower arrangement, I’ve had many people tell me that with the SP-1B.

[Tyson]

I probably shouldn't say this, because it might drive up the price of the tube.  But the 6BL7 is a great sounding tube.  I have it as an output tube on my custom Galusha preamp (with a 6sn7 driver tube strapped to it).  People have described the sound of the 6BL7 as a "mini 300B".  They are not wrong....

[FullRangeMan]

I probably shouldn't say this,

Thanks for the tip, any photo?

[E55l2]

Depends on the amplification i want. Usual i work with ec8010 or e55l, and sometimes i use a transformer 1:1 or 4:1 mostly with nanocrystalline core.

[A_shah]

I like any small tube that be cheap and reliable +10K hours.
So this exclude Chinese tubes and many US tubes.

Have you looked at the Chinese Golden Voice GV- 12AU7 matched  purchased them in auction for $ 11.00 on Flea Bay, using them on my QS-60 mono Wow they sound like someone has lifted a Veil form the sound ! I think it is in the place of Input tube the driver tube is the original Philips 12FQ7   

Asghar

[FullRangeMan]

Have you looked at the Chinese Golden Voice GV- 12AU7 matched  purchased them in auction for $ 11.00 on Flea Bay, using them on my QS-60 mono Wow they sound like someone has lifted a Veil form the sound ! I think it is in the place of Input tube the driver tube is the original Philips 12FQ7   

Asghar

You are a lucky guy. Comparing to what?

[Johnny2Bad]

The one that is in my favourite preamp.

[A_shah]

You are a lucky guy. Comparing to what?

Ouch !
 comparing to the Yugoslavia  ECC82 that came with with the mono's 

[FullRangeMan]

Ouch !
 comparing to the Yugoslavia  ECC82 that came with with the mono's

I read somewhere the original KT90 EI was better sound than the currrent EHX, it was a huge loss to music the Ei closing.

[Tyson]

Thanks for the tip, any photo?

No photo yet - the preamp is a complete strip and rebuild inside a giant Singlepower headphone amp case.  This case is bigger than a lot of regular amp cases (but not pretty, which I actually like).  Anyway, I had Mike do some more work, to install a balanced input using Lundahl input transformers, and make a few other changes like adjust the headphone output to work better with my 600ohm Beyer T1 version 2 headphones.  Which required new output transformers, which then required a reworking of the 6sn7 -> 6BL7 circuit.  I haven't gotten the amp back yet, but the results so far, have been stunning.  Here's what Mike said about the measurements he took:

It has very low distortion for a single ended, no feedback design. It will swing a lot of voltage without clipping, with a 1V input, it will manage a bit over 13V of output with .7% THD. At more useable levels, it's much lower, at 4V, which is still a ton, it was .05%

 

[Yun66]

I like 6sn7 sound, particularly Shuguang Treasure CV181Z. They sound full and detailed. The Treasures are better than a few pairs of nos tubes I have, IMHO. They're fat and tall. The bad part is that I have to leave my preamp lid open if these tubes are used.

[FullRangeMan]

I like 6sn7 sound, particularly Shuguang Treasure CV181Z. They sound full and detailed. The Treasures are better than a few pairs of nos tubes I have, IMHO. They're fat and tall. The bad part is that I have to leave my preamp lid open if these tubes are used.

Seems good news, what is the time life from this tube?

[A_shah]

I like 6sn7 sound, particularly Shuguang Treasure CV181Z. They sound full and detailed. The Treasures are better than a few pairs of nos tubes I have, IMHO. They're fat and tall. The bad part is that I have to leave my preamp lid open if these tubes are used.

plus +1 these are what came with my  Don Sach's pre  DS-2  according to Don, it should be few 1000 hours in his pre-amp I have about 400/600 hours on them 

[A_shah]

Any reviews on the Sylvania VT-231 ? if some one has an extra   matched pair , that they don't need  I'd like to buy them and  check them out in my DS-2 pre-amp.
Asghar