Wow, that glow is very very kewl (sorry, poor simile).
And listening to sides 3 and 4 of the White Album no less.
The size will balance out the tall Wayne octal adapters!
Ted - the EML tube not only looks great but sounds even better, it's very very addictive.
Another advantage I'm noticing is that the height of the tube is generating heat away from the TP, whereas my mb GZ43 generates heat closer to the TP - I'm noticing that the top case is running a lot cooler. With the Octal converter's also adding height this will also function the same and reduce heat? I understand that the top case functions as a heat sink for the tubes, but would assume that any mechanism to reduce heat has to be good?
As an earlier adopter I'm just a 1 inch guy also, so will need to get the job done before going down the Octal path.
So you are really liking the tube Phil? Can you compare and contrast it to your metal base yet?
David, I'm being a little cautious as I'm getting used to mods made to my amp and also like to absorb changes, as I always have an initial response to tube rolling changes and have (in the past) been known to change my opinion after living with different tubes for a longer period. I don't want to send you guys down the wrong path. To put things in context I'm also a LASIK pioneer, they considered me unsuitable candidate initially as they claimed that I expected and demanded perfection which they couldn't guarantee - they were right, but we went ahead with the procedure anyway. The reason I mention this is to paint the background that I am very sensitive to small changes, and always looking for perfection in music reproduction. If I loved Bose I'd have more money in the bank!
I've got/tried almost every rectifier tube except the GZ37, and ultimately prefer the metal base GZ34 - to me it's just more musical, smooth and does everything well. I'm sure we all have different versions of this tube with different ages also, which makes it difficult to have a common bench mark. The only benchmark I have is a NOS black base double getter GZ34 that is supposed to be the best of its kind, my metal base beats this so I assume it's a good one. My tube rolling strategy with the TP has evolved into fixing the rectifier tube as the base, and roll the signal tubes to suit my tastes/mood etc, consequently the mb has been the defacto standard for the last 9 months.
If you consider that I find the difference between 5U4G/5U4GB/GZ32/GZ34 is incremental, in comparison I find the improvement the EML 5U4G makes to be significant in my system. I'll spend more time over the weekend in order to articulate this but it is very musical and emotionally involving - so much so I'm spending too much time listening to music and being drawn into it. My minimum expectation was to find a backup for my mb, I believe the EML is superior and significantly less expensive. On this basis I would not hesitate to recommend it.
I didn't think the MW TP could get any better than it did, it's scary good now - I started down the MW path a few years ago with a Sony CDP, in an attempt to get rid of digititus, the TP has eliminated this completely and added a more musical engaging element as a bonus.
Trust this helps.