Hi All,
I know that this has been posted many times but
I do could not any comparison test made recently.
Anyway question is: In the price bracket of around
USD 300 per pr. Which 300B sounds the best &
how reliable are they ?
Many thanks
I know that this has been posted many times but
I do could not any comparison test made recently.
Anyway question is: In the price bracket of around
USD 300 per pr. Which 300B sounds the best &
how reliable are they ?
Many thanks
My personal opinion is that the 300b isn't worth it but if you must...go with the Svetlana. I have some Svetlana made tubes and they seem to be good quality. Really I don't belive in spending more than $50-$60 for a tube. The Svetlana is in the $300-$400 range I think.
DON'T BUY THE WE TUBES! Its like buying a Mac (ie buying something severely overpriced for what you're getting). And don't give me the whole "...but the experience of opening the box..." crap.
DON'T BUY THE WE TUBES! Its like buying a Mac (ie buying something severely overpriced for what you're getting). And don't give me the whole "...but the experience of opening the box..." crap.
lochness said:
My experience with the Svetlana 300B has not be good at all, so bad in fact I will not recommend it to any one even now, but I admit I bought my last ones around 2001. I've had about 9 go bad from filament issues, basically the filaments sag with use and either come into contact with the grid or come very close to it with serious arcing during warm up being the result. Most lasted at most a few hundred hours. One other has very poor emission and it has less than 1000 hrs on it. Out of a dozen or so I have bought I have just two left that still work. None were ever run under abusive conditions. These tubes clearly have filament issues which since this is the only DHT Svetlana has made in recent history might not be that surprising. (I am not sure it is even in current production, and definitely do not buy the earlier ones.)
I have similar vintage JJ that both sound better in my SE and PP amplifiers and have not given me a moment of trouble in six years.
I've also used WE 300B and KR types in some of my products and have found them worth the money sonically speaking if you can afford them. (FWIW I still think the WE 300B in current production is about as good as it gets, just too expensive for my budget.)
I'd pass on Valve Arts and Shuguang based on prior experience, although these too may have improved. I was not that impressed with the EH 300B for a little more money the JJ sounds a lot better.
The TJ meshplate globe 300B is a very nice sounding tube as well, although I have not heard this one in my own amplifier. I have heard them in other amplifiers and found them to be good sounding in comparison to others. They are quite reliable long term from what I have heard as well. This is one I will consider when retube time rolls around.
Hi Kevin,
Are the TJ mesh the same brand as Full Music mesh ?
I Wonder how good are the Shuguang 300BSB also
a ballon glass tube. In HK lots of 300B users are saying
that the Shuguang 300BA's are very relaible & sound
very good as well. Of course that could be speculation.
Are the TJ mesh the same brand as Full Music mesh ?
I Wonder how good are the Shuguang 300BSB also
a ballon glass tube. In HK lots of 300B users are saying
that the Shuguang 300BA's are very relaible & sound
very good as well. Of course that could be speculation.
Hi JC,
IIRC The Full Music and TJ tubes are the same. These days I believe they all just carry the TJ name. They are very well respected and you can buy locally with a great warranty here:
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_vacuum_tubes.htm
Check out the TJ factory tour - it is pretty cool.
I have heard that the current Shuguang tubes are good, but hesitate to recommend them based on prior experience. These aren't all that much less expensive than the TJ so unless someone sends me samples for evaluation I can't recommend them for that reason.. 😀
IMO The TJ has a slightly warmer/softer sound than the WE 300B, the differences are relatively subtle. (Not compared in my amplifier.)
I'm using JJ 300B in my amplifiers and found to my surprise that they stood comparison to some 1950's vintage WE 300B quite well. (Compared in my amplifier.) The WE managed slightly tighter and more tuneful bass, other than that the differences were unremarkable. The JJ 300B was/is (?) a very good sounding tube.
IIRC The Full Music and TJ tubes are the same. These days I believe they all just carry the TJ name. They are very well respected and you can buy locally with a great warranty here:
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_vacuum_tubes.htm
Check out the TJ factory tour - it is pretty cool.
I have heard that the current Shuguang tubes are good, but hesitate to recommend them based on prior experience. These aren't all that much less expensive than the TJ so unless someone sends me samples for evaluation I can't recommend them for that reason.. 😀
IMO The TJ has a slightly warmer/softer sound than the WE 300B, the differences are relatively subtle. (Not compared in my amplifier.)
I'm using JJ 300B in my amplifiers and found to my surprise that they stood comparison to some 1950's vintage WE 300B quite well. (Compared in my amplifier.) The WE managed slightly tighter and more tuneful bass, other than that the differences were unremarkable. The JJ 300B was/is (?) a very good sounding tube.
Kevin,
I'm curious how you would compare the KR to the WE, as you are the only one I know who has heard both. They are both serious money so buying them both to try it pretty much out for most mortals.
P.S. I own a quad of the JJs.
I'm curious how you would compare the KR to the WE, as you are the only one I know who has heard both. They are both serious money so buying them both to try it pretty much out for most mortals.
P.S. I own a quad of the JJs.
dubdub said:
I disagreed, and I am typing on a Mac. The Mac has a good operating system(output transformer), but the rest of the Mac -- power supply, capacitors, resistors, wiring are cheap, generic, inferior, and overpriced.
If you want to do it right, build your own Mac, with best DIY parts.
JoshK said:
Was pretty long ago, both were good, but in most cases I have ended up preferring the WE.. General impression was that the WE had slightly better mids and smoother highs, KR might have been a bit punchier but less refined.
I think the JJ offer most of the available magic for a fraction of the price, differences between this tube and the best are very incremental if you've got good ones. (Mine are 6yrs old)
kevinkr said:
Right now with the regular EH available for roughly half the JJ it seems a good candidate for a DC coupled circuit experiment in mind. Any sense for its robustness/reliability? I recall you're a fixed bias fan (too), do you find 300Bs generally bias in the same range?
I think you got a bad batch or something. Though I never bought a 300b from them but I never had any problems with any of my other Svetlana tubes. Still use what works for you!
Really I think the designer(s) of the 300b would cry if they saw how much they sell for nowadays (even if you consider its a nich hobby now). Not to mention there are other tubes that sound as good or even better in the $5-$25 range. (although I've been thinking of trying the 300b as an inverted triode output for an OTL amp...got to experiment with cheaper tubes though in the inverted config before I touch something so expensive...)
I disagree and say the OS is an overpriced piece of smelly brown excrement. Sorry but it and Vista promote the stupidity of the user (I know Mac users *cough**sister**cough* who can't even move files around without dragging and dropping). Personally my favorite OS is NetBSD (even then I heavily customise it). I know I'm an "Advanced" (which means I read the manual *insert shock and awe here*) user but there is no excuse for OSX or Vista.
I guess I should be asking which 300B is the most reliable
in this price range instead. Though one brand can sound better
than the other in a particular amp, I'm sure we diyers can tweak
our amps to bring out the most out of the tube that we are using.
For my case it's double jeopardy if the tubes are'nt reliable as my
amps are pse 300B mono blocks.
in this price range instead. Though one brand can sound better
than the other in a particular amp, I'm sure we diyers can tweak
our amps to bring out the most out of the tube that we are using.
For my case it's double jeopardy if the tubes are'nt reliable as my
amps are pse 300B mono blocks.
I disagree and say the OS is an overpriced piece of smelly brown excrement. Sorry but it and Vista promote the stupidity of the user (I know Mac users *cough**sister**cough* who can't even move files around without dragging and dropping). Personally my favorite OS is NetBSD (even then I heavily customise it). I know I'm an "Advanced" (which means I read the manual *insert shock and awe here*) user but there is no excuse for OSX or Vista.
Hold on-you can use the UNIX terminal to move files around---osx is built on bsd I think--- you say that these os promote the stupidity of the user-I hope your not suggesting I am stupid due to my choice in OS! does everyone need to read a manual to operate a computer, fine if you like to get to grips with the nuts and bolts of things but that is hardly good for my nan is it?--more linux fascism--
anyway! lets get back to tubes! live and let live with computers no?🙂
Hold on-you can use the UNIX terminal to move files around---osx is built on bsd I think--- you say that these os promote the stupidity of the user-I hope your not suggesting I am stupid due to my choice in OS! does everyone need to read a manual to operate a computer, fine if you like to get to grips with the nuts and bolts of things but that is hardly good for my nan is it?--more linux fascism--
anyway! lets get back to tubes! live and let live with computers no?🙂
I've been using the EH Gold 300b's in my amp for the last year without any problems and I think it sounds quite good. 300b's are really too expensive for me to try out a bunch of different ones. I wonder for instance what the difference between the EH 300b and the gold grid version really is soundwise. Or what about some of the Chineese versions or the ones from JJ?
Either way I can tell you that the EH Golds seem to sound good and they have been reliable.
Either way I can tell you that the EH Golds seem to sound good and they have been reliable.
lochness said:
Well I'll say you certainly have a lot of opinions for one who has no direct experience.. 😀
Svetlana makes a lot of great tubes, but the 300B is not one of them. Problems with this particular 300B are well documented if you dig a bit for the information. The fact that Svetlana acknowledged the problem and replaced several pairs of these for me speaks well of their regard for customers, but having bought several pairs well after this problem was supposedly "fixed" and finding it was not lead me to my conclusion..
I started with tubes that cost in the $5 - $35 range and found very few that could hold a candle to the 300B in terms of electrical performance or sound which is why I now use them. They aren't exactly affordable either.
I would recommend using a much cheaper tube like the 6AS7 for an inverted triode otl amplifier. Try your hand at a conventional 300B SE, you may be pleasantly surprised at the result.
The 300B was never a cheap tube, originally these were made for theater amplifier and similar applications, and cost was not a major consideration, but performance and reliability were. I have read literature from the 1940's indicating that this was an expensive tube even in those days, but don't know what they sold for...
Originally wasn't the 300b a single source tube made only by Western Electric? Were there any other manufactures making this type back in the old days? If not I'm sure they were expensive even back in the '40's and '50's.
Western Electric designed and was the first to manufacture the 300B, Northern Electric (Canada) started making one slightly later, and STC in the UK also made the 4300 which is an exact equivalent.
Effectively in their markets they were sole source.
I suspect someone in OZ probably made something similar under license but I don't know this for sure..
Effectively in their markets they were sole source.
I suspect someone in OZ probably made something similar under license but I don't know this for sure..
The EH gold grid are robust and reliable so far. They sound good but not euphoric as the TJ mesh (perforated) plate. I prefer this sound anyway.
The valve art (shuguang) seem to be in between but seem also less robust and lacking vacuum. They run with a nice blue light but if you don't preheat them they act strange.
I had problems with one of my TJ only at 200 hours even if used at 23 watts of plate dissipation.
95% of the time I use the EH and I'm very happy of the sound.
I recently replaced the soft start to a manual filament heater hoping the TJ and shuguang will last longer.
The valve art (shuguang) seem to be in between but seem also less robust and lacking vacuum. They run with a nice blue light but if you don't preheat them they act strange.
I had problems with one of my TJ only at 200 hours even if used at 23 watts of plate dissipation.
95% of the time I use the EH and I'm very happy of the sound.
I recently replaced the soft start to a manual filament heater hoping the TJ and shuguang will last longer.
Hi Frank,
Thanks. That's the worrying part about these tubes.
They are'nt cheap to begin with. Again because I'm
using 2 per amp. Am tempted to go with TJ's but they
are about twice the price of Shuguang in my homeland.
BTW, have you tried the Shuguang 300BA or 300B-98 ?
If so how do they sound ?
Thanks. That's the worrying part about these tubes.
They are'nt cheap to begin with. Again because I'm
using 2 per amp. Am tempted to go with TJ's but they
are about twice the price of Shuguang in my homeland.
BTW, have you tried the Shuguang 300BA or 300B-98 ?
If so how do they sound ?
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