[wdlvwdlv]

Hello,

I am a new member and am looking to get into the tube amp/preamp arena. I've heard that with lots of tube rolling you can unwittingly introduce damage to the circuits (total newbie here, pardon if I got that wrong). In any case, what should I be looking for? I'm looking at a preamp that has 8 pins. Is gold plating necessary or will it not make a difference? Anything else I am overlooking?

Thank you in advance,
Walt

P.S. Why are 8 pin socket savers more expensive than 9 pin?

[FullRangeMan]

Hello,

I am a new member and am looking to get into the tube amp/preamp arena. I've heard that with lots of tube rolling you can unwittingly introduce damage to the circuits (total newbie here, pardon if I got that wrong). In any case, what should I be looking for? I'm looking at a preamp that has 8 pins. Is gold plating necessary or will it not make a difference? Anything else I am overlooking?

Thank you in advance,
Walt

P.S. Why are 8 pin socket savers more expensive than 9 pin?

Thankyou for your interest in tube amps.
Why are 8 pin socket savers more expensive than 9 pin?
They are bigger than 9 pins.
I've heard that with lots of tube rolling you can unwittingly introduce damage to the circuits
Maybe you are referring to the pins sockets that will loose with constant tubes exchange.
In any case, what should I be looking for?
Look for a 6SN7 preamp as Mystere, PrimaLuna sister brand or other you like.
Is gold plating necessary or will it not make a difference?
No difference at all in sound, all these audio golden connectors are not real gold at all, hence they could cost many mooore if were true gold,
Live Gold Price   Gold Spot Price Today
Gold Price per Gram   $61.51   €52.36
Gold Price per Kilo   $61,506   €52,361
Gold Price per Ounce   $1,913.05   €1,628.61
3 November 2020, 16:04:57 (GMT-08:00)

[wdlvwdlv]

Thanks @FullRangeMan. Yes, I was referring to the pin sockets. I'd love to own a PrimaLuna but my budget is more around $1K for a preamp so it may be out of the question. I am strongly leaning towards a Schiit Freya +.

What I should have asked is the following, is it worthwhile to buy tube socket savers? From the sound of it seems like a prudent choice to keep the original pin sockets in as good shape as possible. Is there any sound degradation? Likely not, but feedback from the community would be great. Do you use them, why or why not?

Thanks

[Doheth]

I've heard similar things about using socket savers to help protect the connection between the board and the original sockets.

I bought some from tubemonger for use with my Lyr 2 headphone amp.  For me though, it was more about easier access to the tubes.  The tubes are set down into the Lyr case and difficult to grasp.  The socket savers really helped for that.

I didn't notice any sound degradation with them.  I did notice an improvement when I started trying different tubes!

[FullRangeMan]

Wdlvwdlv, do you plan to do a lot of tube rolling?
This Tubemonger looks better that most ceramic regular sockets.
Also there is the Teflon sockets that are better sound than the cheap ceramics sockets that are largely used even by famous hi-end brands.

[wdlvwdlv]

Wdlvwdlv, do you plan to do a lot of tube rolling?
This Tubemonger looks better that most ceramic regular sockets.
Also there is the Teflon sockets that are better sound than the cheap ceramics sockets that are largely used even by famous hi-end brands.

Thank you for the response. I'm totally new to the tubing world so, I'm not sure what I'll be doing but I'd like to have options. I'd like to think I will be doing some sound adjustments now and then but I won't be having weekly tubing reviews on YouTube (although it does sound like a good idea).

BTW, thank you for the tip on another thread regarding tube vendors. It will be interesting purchasing directly from Mother Russia.

[Escott1377]

I have actually read that tube socket savers are a good idea for the pre amp that you mention.

It adds a little bit of height to access the tubes as well I have heard reports of the tube socket being damaged with tube rolling.

My guess is bc of the depth and requiring a lot of “wiggle” to loosen the tubes.

I’d say in particular with that Schiit product it is a wise investment.