Buying new tubes

[Gunders]

I'm planning to buy some new tubes.
These tubes will mainly be small-signal and driver tubes.
But I hoped that somebody here could help me and recommend some tubes which I should consider to buy.

These tubes are already in stock:

6C45
6922
ECC82
12AX7WA
12BH7

Not very many, so I think i will need some more.
especially I need some tubes which i can use as input tube in my current amp project. It's an amp which uses 12BH7 as drivertube and KT88.

I'm going to order the tubes from:

http://www.demostenes.no/

 

[SHiFTY]

For ECC82 & ECC83 ( and possibly 12BH7) , I like RCA cleartops. They sound very good, and they also look really cool! I wish I had more. A bit different from the rest of the tubes out there.

I am not too impressed with Philips Miniwatt/ Amperex BB, they sound a bit ho-hum in my opinion. Too "lush" for me.

 

[Sch3mat1c]

I'm planning to buy some new tubes.

Whoa...just had a funny thought... A guy walks by a dark alley; a guy wearing a heavy, black trenchcoat appears from the shadows...he cracks his coat, revealing shiny tubes...he wispers "yea, whaddya want"... etc.

Tim

 

[fdegrove]

Confucius Said Be Clear And You Will Be Served?

Hi,

Gunderz,

I'am not sure what it is you're asking here.

Do you look to add more of the same types you hold already or are you in the market for other interesting tubes to give you more possibilities?

Cheers,

 

[siu sin man tho]

Hi,

for ecc83 & 82, Best one I like the amperex long plate d getter.
For best result nut quite reasonable price pls try to choose.
Philip Miniwatt Ecc83 or ECC82.

thanks'
Thomas

 

[Gunders]

sorry.. my english is awful.... What i tried to say is that I already have the tubes mentioned earlier.
But I'm going to buy some new tubes, so i hoped somebody could recommend some good tubes which i should consider to buy.

 

[Joel]

...I am not too impressed with Philips Miniwatt/ Amperex BB, they sound a bit ho-hum in my opinion. Too lush for me.

Perhaps it's the paint they use?

 

[siu sin man tho]

hi,

amperex Bb had three type.

Long plate square getter, short plate & short plate with miusic
label also good.
Miniwatt that was not expensive but quite good & real NOS.
for example Cv181/6sn7. many people say good. also many people say not good.
Depend their taste.

If U love them U will find one million excuse that they were good.If U not like them U can find one billion excuse that they were bad.

thanks
Thomas

 

[316a]

For goodness Sake !

I do hope you're not going down the '6SN7/CV181' route ! 6SN7 is a completely different valve to the ECC32/CV181 , only sharing the same pinout and filament voltage . Everything else is different , including the shape , the cost of Cv181 is atromonical and hardly good value for money compared to a 6SN7 . This is 'tuberolling' at it's very worst , ensue the valve used is the one the circuit was designed for or at the very least within 20% tolerance of the parameters . 6SN7 and Cv181 hardly fall into this category at all . I don't know about everyone else but I found the ECC32/CV181 to give a very uninspiring sound , Brimar 13D3 is to be preferred . It shares exactly the same characteristics but is on a B9a base at about $10 each . 7N7 has tested some of these for distortion and it appears to be an overlooked gem

316a

 

[Joel]

I found the 6DUMB7 to be an overlooked gem too.

 

[stigla]

tubes I like:

ECC99 / 5687 / E182CC / 7119 / -> Great driver for a KT88 amp

6BX7GT -> nice driver or even output tube in small PP amp

6072-A -> a "better" 12AX7? lower mu and rp and more linear in my opinion. (look for GE)

EF86 -> a nice pre-amp pentode pretty linear in both pentode and triode mode

D3a, E810F -> high transconductanse pentodes. Quite interesiting in triode mode.

C3m -> Pentode. Not so widely used, but good linearity both in pentode and triode, runs at nice current levels, not too low, and not too high = flexible.

6CJ3, 6CG3, 6BE3, 6AX4GT, 6D22s -> rectifier diodes. Need two for full wave, these have gotten more and more attention lately. In my opinion a better alternative to most normal rectifiers. Less voltage drop and better current capability.

 

[Gunders]

Thanks Stigla...
Something like that I was waiting for

 

[7N7]

More Valves

Perhaps it's the paint they use?

Stigla has suggested some useful types. However I do not like E182CC/7119, nasty-sounding things. 6463 is much better (mu = 20). 13D3 as 316A mentioned is excellent (mu=32) and I recommend it although you wouldn't want to drive anything much with it ( ra = 14k).

If you are happy to use Loctal sockets, then 7N7 is still excellent value and as a 6SL7 alternative there is 7F7.

As an alternative to 6BX7, there is 6BL7 (mu=15) which is a very good driver.

7N7