[Escott1377]

I am considering my next purchase from Brent Jesse.

I own the Musical Paradise pre with Ken Rad black glass 6sn7’s and Mundorf Supreme Silver capacitors.

I own the Musical Paradise DAC with the ESS chip set.  I currently have a pair of Bugle Boys with Jupiter Copper paper in foil capacitors.

The tube purchase will be for the DAC and I also own a pair of WE 396’s.

The 2 pair that I am considering: E288CC (ultra premium 6DJ8/7308) Siemens, Germany, gold pins; E188CC / 7308 Amperex PQ (ultra premium 6DJ8/7308) or Philips SQ Special Quality type, early LARGE HALO getter type with grey sides, made in Holland, gold pins.

Looking for suggestions since I have never owned Siemens or the Amperex model - I have obviously owned the Bugle Boys.

I think the Western Electrics are warm enough that I am not considering Mullard.

Thanks in advance -

[jjss49]

siemens ecc88 variants will sound leanest, most treble energy, dutch amperex/philips will be more midway between siemens/telefunken and soft and warm mullards, maybe a little closer to the german tubes than an exact midpoint the two sounds

if memory serves correctly ec288's have a taller glass envelope so make sure it fits inside your unit when functioning in place

[tubesrule66]

I’m doing my first post, my name is Tubesrule66

[rbbert]

Something else to consider would be to call Andy at Vintage Tube Services to see what he would recommend.  His prices are usually significantly less than Brent Jessie as well (I have bought quite a few tubes from each of them).  The downside is that he is slow to answer the phone and slow to fill orders (perhaps a few weeks), so if you are impatient don't bother.

[RPM123]

PM sent to Escott1377.

[jules]

If you want to try something close to the Bugle Boys you could go with the Phillips or Amperex but if you're wanting to try something a bit more clinical/precise in a German kind of way, the Siemens are definitely a great tube.

Really, all of those tubes are fantastic and the variations are like fine details of works of art, rather than one being better than the other. I use PCC 88 Telefunkens in my pre-amp. https://www.tubemuseum.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TELE-7DJ8

Hard to guess how those tubes will perform in your particular system of course but given you've already got the Ken-Rad's in there and you've tried Bugle Boys, a move to either Siemens or Telefunken would possibly be the most interesting switch.

[eichlerera1]

Using the Amperex 6922, 1965 “USN”, White Label, Gold Pins.
Got these from Andy and couldn't be happier.

[Escott1377]

Picked up Brent’s last pair of the Amperex 7308 SQ.  There’s a big rush for buying tubes right now.  Apparently they are this year’s toilet paper.

Thanks to everyone for their responses -

[jules]

Nice choice. I'm amazed that there's still some of these tubes from the fifties and even earlier still available, particularly since there's been a steady if small demand for them for the seventy odd years since they were made.

Maybe they're regarded as investments now. The prices certainly keep going up steadily.