Wow Phil! What are some of the differences that stood out to you over the weekend?
Nothings changed David, I just wanted to do an AB with the metal base to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke up you guys.
At the same time my amp has had major upgrade surgery to the power supply and a few new caps, I wanted to make sure that this wasn't a variable and this is why I did the AB. It became very apparent that the EML was night and day with the mb - all the feedback from the other guys (Thalvor, Owenmd, NickS, Bigfish) nails it. The EML has the strengths of the Tung Sol 5U4G (detail) and mb (smoothness, soundstage), and them some by just being very musical. It was a no brainer to symbolically pack away my old rectifier tubes, the synergies with the rest of my system are just so obvious. Up until know I've had the mb as my principle rectifier tube and rolled the others on an occasional basis, now I no longer need to do this as there's no comparison. In particular well recorded percussion, vocals and acoustic guitar sound very 'live', I had Buddy Holly risen from the grave and playing live here yesterday morning
. What surprised me most of all was that the mb sounds so dull and lifeless now, whereas a week ago it was my favorite.