[topround]

Guys,
I have a Mapletree preamp, two in fact.
Those who know me ,know I love this thing, things come and go but this thing stays!

I have tried different tubes in this preamp with some success and failures.

The pre shipped with RCA NOS 12sn7 tubes, while I thought the pre sounded great with these tubes it was nothing compared to the Sylvania 6sn7 gta tubes I bought at Vintage tube Services, I got tons of air and dynamics, detail and Prat. These are my standard tubes.

I decided to try the Electro Harmonix gold pin 6 sn7's, nah , gritty sounding and a little cold.

Then Andy shipped me a pair of TungSol 12sn7GT's round plates ..My God these blew away the Sylvania's
So dead quiet, ridiculous amounts of air and detail, extremely black background that revealed all, Tone is Delicious, you can hear deep into the music with no fatigue at all. The most musical tube I have heard yet.
If any one out there uses 12sn7's or 6sn7's these old TungSol's will transform your system, take it to a new level of refinement. I was pissed at how expensive these tubes are, but when I put them in I was even more pissed because I knew I had to have them.

[ajzepp]

I bought a Mapletree Line 2ASE earlier in the year and I love this little preamp. After I bought it, one of the tube upgrades Dr. P suggested was some RCA 12Sx7GT's...I definitely preferred them to the stock tubes, but it was only my first time tube rolling so I'm ready to try it again  

This is the first active preamp I've owned (had a Mod Squad Line Drive back in the day), and I have no plans to ever get rid of it. Hell, the first thing I ever ran though it as a source was a little iPod nano...my MP3s never sounded better!

PS. Dr. P also suggested a Russian 6SN7...

[rockadanny]

I had a similar experience with my 2A SE. I thought the stock RCA 12SN7GTs were great, until the good Doc sold me a couple of NOS JAN CLRY 12SX7GTs. Detailed, extended, full, yet relaxed presentation. Not as starkly detailed as the RCA 12SN7GTs, which I actually preferred with jazz at first. But the more I played the 12SX7GTs the more I preferred them instead. Effortless.

Thanks for the suggestions! I feel that, even if I have to pay more for a couple of tubes, the cost of the unit was so reasonable that I don't feel so bad. Even if I had a $4,000 unit I'm sure I'd be tempted to try different tubes. And I doubt I'd be dumpster diving to put $3 tubes in my $4,000 unit. So in the end I'm way ahead on the expenses.

[rklein]

I recently sold my SAS 10A pre for an Ultra 4A SE(cobalt blue model).  I really liked my 10A but I needed a phono stage for my recent acquisition of an Empire 598 TT.  Upon Mike's(topround) advise I called Andy at Vintage Tubes who steered me to some Sylvania 12sn7 GT's circa early 1950's.  I went with the 12sn7 over the 6sn7 because of the cost factor.  I did call Andy and did inquire about those Tungsol's.... Mike you are a monster!!!   Andy loves those Sylvania's and stated that the only tube that might beat it are the Tungsol round plates.  When he told me the price of those Tungsols , I decided to stay with my original order.   I am new to the tube game so I don't want to start out with the Rolls Royce of tubes just yet.

rklein

[topround]

I really didn't want to buy these tubes, the price is high and the ecnomy sucks, I felt guilty, but I made a mistake, I plugged them in!
There was no turning back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus these things are great

[Airborn]

I've got some TungSol 6sn7's running in my Ultra 4A SE and love them!   A large improvement over the stock tubes.  Dr. Lloyd is also a great guy who answers the phone himself.  There are not many sub-$1K tube pre's that are better, I'm sure and that's with a pretty good phono stage included!  I don't know how he does it?

Does anyone have any suggestions for rolling the power supply tube, as that's the one I'd like to try next?

[topround]

TungSol for the rectifier

Tell me of ONE sub 1k pre that is better,