Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Tubes Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ] [ Edit ] [ Delete ]

---

Re: Very interesting

209.20.173.68

Posted by Doc B. on March 30, 1999 at 08:29:16

In Reply to: Very interesting posted by Jack G on March 30, 1999 at 04:48:47:

We were listening to lots of different 2A3s on Mike LaFevre's Galantes the night before nyNoise (they are indeed very nice speakers, impressive once he got the tweeters padded down properly) and it was kind of a trade off as you say, with the Chinese taking a slight advantage to the ears of Mike, John Tucker, and myself. This was in Paraglows, not George's amps.

I really prefer the Chinese with my own speaks, so I may not be the guy to ask. The differences I've heard between NOS RCAs and Sylvanias are subtle, but I'd probably go with the RCAs with everything else equal.
One thing for sure, I wasn't kidding about the gas. All those 30's vintage tubes will need to be cooked for a while before they really come to life. I suggest just running them with no signal for an hour or two before using them the first time to wake up the getter and harden them up a bit. This will help tighten what is sometimes perceived as soft bass

I'll also add that a lot of people trash the Chinese 2A3s in terms of reliability. I think one needs to use caution here, because a lot of the bad rep came from homebrewer type guys who run them waaay over their rated dissapation. Also when they finally go, the sound deteriorates very quickly, not gradually like some tubes. I consider this an advantage in a way, you aren't likely to continue running a tube that is performing at less than it's best. We run them very easy in our amps, and they seem to hold up OK. The only problem I've noticed is that they sometimes suffer breakage of internal parts in shipping. We've had maybe three that broke in shipping out of the who knows how many we've shipped with our kits.

Now here's a real curve to throw at you:
I heard the Sovtek 300B when it came out and it didn't make it for me at all.
But - the more recently released single plate Sovtek 6B4, which looks like a baby Sovtek 300B, is very impressive. We have started to play with this tube as a substitute in some of our 2A3 designs and it's pretty amazing,rather like a single plate 2A3 in terms of delicacy and information recovery but with ample bass, although unfortunately a bit hummy with AC on the filaments.
After scoping this list for a week I get the feeling there's not many folks who care to go much beyond tube rolling in terms of equipment mods, but I must say if you are inclined to hard core hacking, scabbing a Sovtek 6B4 and the appropriate filament supply into a 2A3 amp might really be a hot tip.
If you liked your Galantes on George's amps... you should hear 'em on Paraglows.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---