[PatOMalley]

Does anyone use two different brands or spec tubes at the same time in the Clarinet?
Meaning using a Amperex in V300 and a Mullard in V300A?
Or a 12AU7 in V300 and a 5814 in V300A?

[alpa6]

nOPE I USE A MATched set of eh 12au7's.I would say you could use mismatched tubes but it would be better to find a matched set.How you would find a matched mullard or amperex i don,t know as their very old.Their rare too and sound better than eastern european stuff.
I did just find out something interesting.I had a 54a4 sovtek in the clarinet.I substituted a jj gz34 and got a midrange buzz.Swaped back and it went away.I put the gz34 back in my cornet 2 and its happly pluging along.
So in my clarinet a gz34 is not a good match.My cornet2 loves it.I get better base useing it there.

[tubesforever]

Happy Holidays Pat!

I am currently using two JJ 12au7 tubes, but commonly swap one or the other of V1 or V2 for a different manufacturer or type. 

I have some tasty JAN and JAS tubes that boost my highs a bit.

I just ordered a long plate JJ 12au7 tube from Tubes and More.  I will let you know how it sounds.

Is your Cornet 2 working yet? 

Cheers!

[PatOMalley]

Happy Holidays Pat!
I am currently using two JJ 12au7 tubes, but commonly swap one or the other of V1 or V2 for a different manufacturer or

Merry Christmas Duke!

OK, so when changing just one tube is it like JH said it is in the Cornet2?
One tube does dynamics the other does tone?
Sort of like use a Mullard at input for tone and spike it up with a Raytheon for slam?

[tubesforever]

I am sure that Jim would say that they are two different animals.  Basically with a Cornet 2 you have two gain stages and each half of the dual triode in each 12AX7 tube is basically feeding the next stage.  So in the C2 you can blend sound by using different 12AX7 or variant tubes.  I actually find the sound to be better when I blend 12AX7 tubes in my system.

However the Clarinet is a different circuit.  Jim employs two SET sections that use a series resistor to provide push pull operation.  What I love about the Clarinet is that it is a push pull SET preamp.  John Bedini does this on his solid state amps which is why I enjoy the sound of my 150MKII amp. 

I think I remember Jim stating that he recommends using two matched tubes of the same brand and designation. 

However you know me well Pat.   I am a tweek-a-holic.  I have carefully evaluated every 12AU7 and variant that I own over the last 10 years.  I took every tube with me on my trips because I know I can voice the Clarinet to sound amazing with just a few tube swaps. 

I like the sound of a blended tube Clarinet. 

When I mentioned on my 1 year review of the Clarinet that I heard bleed on older out of spec tubes and used or NOS tube purchased over the years, this is because one of the two SET tubes is under high differential between the signal voltage and the cathode voltage.  If the tube is not right to spec you get some of the whistling I described.  Luckily, this is cured by popping in a new JJ 12AU7 short plate.  The  whistle gets kicked into the next county. 

Happy Holidays Pat....and just when is your C2 going to be up and running?

Cheers!

[PatOMalley]

Happy Holidays Pat....and just when is your C2 going to be up and running?
Cheers!

When I get it finished.
Waiting on a chassis from Al, still need the tranny and some caps, and some other bits. Going slow. Really like the Cambridge 640p. I modded it a bit and want to enjoy the sound - I know I will not be using it anymore after the Cornet2. Maybe it will do duty on the Thorens when I get that off the milk crates, but then I may go ahead and build another Cornet.

[tubesforever]

Pat,

Can you tell us your experience with trying different tubes in your Clarinet? 

I find it does allow you to lock in the sound you are after if you are willing to take out some time listening to your favorite reference albums.

I re-read you post a couple of times about the Teflon caps in your Clarinet.  Pat it looks like you used the FT-1 0.015uf 200 volt caps in the final output.

Did you try piggybacking just the FT-3 0.10uf 600v caps?  These are much gentler on your ears.  I have not found the FT-1 lower values to give me the warmth and body I like most in music.  The FT-3 are most definitely a different sounding animal.

Happy New Year!

[PatOMalley]

Tubey-wan,

Can you tell us your experience with trying different tubes in your Clarinet?

I did not try the different brands after you wrote that JH recommends using same brand/spec.
I can say that I like the Japanese Matsushita National 5AR4 and RCA 5814A Blackplates best. Now running some Amperex Bugleboys and they a buzz for a short bit at each power up but they are more elegant, noble, sweeter where the RCAs just do something called WHOMPING ASS.


I re-read you post a couple of times about the Teflon caps in your Clarinet.  Pat it looks like you used the FT-1 0.015uf 200 volt caps in the final output. Did you try piggybacking just the FT-3 0.10uf 600v caps?  These are much gentler on your ears.  I have not found the FT-1 lower values to give me the warmth and body I like most in music.  The FT-3 are most definitely a different sounding animal.



I am now using the FT-1 0.015uf 200 volt caps. I like them better than the .1uF. For me the .1uF reached too far into the midband; made things more dynamic but lost the sweeternessness of the Jupiter caps. The .015uF just add a nice stretch-out for extension  - they do impart their Teflon thing but farther out and up.

Happy New Year You Maniac.

[tubesforever]

Hey Pat I am ready to post more about Clarinet tubes.... 

Originally I built my Clarinet with just the stock JJ 12AU7 plain jane tubes.  These cost 9.95 over at tubesandmore.com where I bought my Hammond and stainless hardware.

I tried RCA clear tops, JHS and JAN Sylvanias and GE's, vintage 1950's Mullards, Supratecs, Raytheons, Hammonds, and a few others.

So far for the money the newer JJ 12AU7-S  (Long plate) at 13.95 a piece are my favorites.  I am sitting close to my speakers, so their warm flowing sound is a little better in my environment than the others I have tried.

On my Clarinet I am running .82uf SIO Mundorfs and .22uf FT-3 Teflons for the final signal cap, and just a pair of SIO 1.0uf caps at the B+.  I am finished parts rolling on my Clarinet.  It sounds fantastic. 

The JJ tubes are so cheap I can just leave the preamp on all the time.  It sounds better than waiting a few hours for the tone to bloom.