My pal, British designer Chris Found has got a new DAC out and he designed the analogue board for 6922s in SRPP. We did several tube shootouts changing the sockets over from 6922 type to 12A*7 type (centre tap heaters). Out went 12AU7, 12AT7, 12BH7, 12AY7, 6CG7, ECC99, several ECC88s and eventually the 6922. Interesting sounds were got from the 6BK7, and the 6N1P edged out the 6N30 in the end. We didn't try the 6N6.
Later sessions introduced the Amperex 7062 which was nice, but not as good as the E80CC (Mullard/Tungsram) . Best to my ears was the ECC40 for which I built an adapter to fit a 9 pin socket - a bit of work but worth it - this tube has a very nice top end - plenty of air. No use for a production kit of course, but nice to know what it can do. With all three of these the sound began to boogie and come to life. The 6922 - though pleasant - just sounds too bland and white for my ears, and the first batch of tubes we tried weren't much better as regards blandness - just didn't come to life. 6N1P had some life, but not the overall better sound of the E80CC or ECC40.
Amperex 7062 is very scarce, ECC40 is rimlock and E80CC is expensive, so that wasn't much good either. I'm rewiring the sockets on mine to use 12B4 - frankly I'm not a fan of any of the usual 9 pin double triodes at the end of the day, though I can tolerate the E80CC, and I'll probably try out the ECC40 again somewhere in something. Given the choice I'd use a 2C22 or a 1626 (does something for me in a line stage) - but that's another story. I won't even mention the 26 which I'm playing about with out of my DAC board. Very nice indeed, but all those batteries and chargers............. arrrrrgh
Later sessions introduced the Amperex 7062 which was nice, but not as good as the E80CC (Mullard/Tungsram) . Best to my ears was the ECC40 for which I built an adapter to fit a 9 pin socket - a bit of work but worth it - this tube has a very nice top end - plenty of air. No use for a production kit of course, but nice to know what it can do. With all three of these the sound began to boogie and come to life. The 6922 - though pleasant - just sounds too bland and white for my ears, and the first batch of tubes we tried weren't much better as regards blandness - just didn't come to life. 6N1P had some life, but not the overall better sound of the E80CC or ECC40.
Amperex 7062 is very scarce, ECC40 is rimlock and E80CC is expensive, so that wasn't much good either. I'm rewiring the sockets on mine to use 12B4 - frankly I'm not a fan of any of the usual 9 pin double triodes at the end of the day, though I can tolerate the E80CC, and I'll probably try out the ECC40 again somewhere in something. Given the choice I'd use a 2C22 or a 1626 (does something for me in a line stage) - but that's another story. I won't even mention the 26 which I'm playing about with out of my DAC board. Very nice indeed, but all those batteries and chargers............. arrrrrgh
Nice listenings sessions that you certainly had 😉 I prefer to use available tubes, and yes 6N1P was better to my hear than 6922. I never tried that many tubes because of time/money limitation.
It would make an interesting experience to do so.
Here the bare pcb top and bottom
It would make an interesting experience to do so.
Here the bare pcb top and bottom
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andyjevans said:
Hi
Nice observations, thanks for sharing. Though I do not like SRPP (the circuit suffers from the same flaws as a standard cathode follower) an E182CC is a good candidate too.
It should be noted though that sound quality among the various production dates of tubes differ as well (a good friend of mine has tried a dozen 182's from Mullard, all different).
In addtion, sound quality between various brands of (for instance) E88CC is shocking as well......
best
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