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Dog sh*t pinched waist E88CC

Posted by Kevin Deal (D) on April 2, 2014 at 14:33:35

In Reply to: Favorite 6DJ8 twin triode valves/ tubes posted by kathrynatrand@hotmail.com on March 22, 2014 at 17:43:25:

I'm going to take my stash of these and put them up for sale, since hysteria rules and people somehow think that the older and rarer the tube, the better it must be.


Pinched waist E88CC were made in Holland and the USA in 1958. I remember reading numerous posts saying the glass waist was pinched to reduce microphonics. I've measured and listened to a lot of them over the years, and almost all of them are microphonic. Not just that, many of them are noisy or will become noisy. Statistically, they are the worst measuring I've come across. You may have some that work fine for you because you have a good example, or because you are using it in a position where microphony is not an issue.

People need to remember this: In 1960, tubes were king. There was a lot of money at stake. Huge military contracts. So if the pinched waist was better, why did they make it for one year? It was the first year of the E88CC, and first attempts to make frame-grid tubes.

Rare equates to higher price. It doesn't make it better. It could be rare because more years have passed for that old stock to have been sold in the market. It could be rare because it was a dismal failure in the marketplace because back then it was too expensive or not a good tube. A guy that pays $200 for a pinched waist 6922 isn't going to ever say anything bad about his purchase.

Is old better? It's pretty romantic to think so. I think it depends on the maker and the tube type. Take getter shape. The shape of a getter has absolutely nothing to do with the sound of the tube. In fact I have some examples of tubes with the same date code that have different getters.

Older versions may or may not be better than later ones. I have Mullard box plate CV4003 that have the earlier wrinkle glass. All box plate tubes exhibit low microphony. The earlier CV4003 are not as quiet as the last ones Mullard made.

Everybody agrees that different manufacturers tubes will sound different. And vintage tubes can make a huge improvement in the sound of your system. I'm on board with that. But when you read reviews from people one thing you must take into account is the condition of that tube being evaluated. How the tube tested makes a big difference.

One more thing: There has been a surge of tube-heads asking for green printing on Amperex 7308. Last year it was white. There is no advantage in color, or if it says JAN or USN-CEP or PQ on the logo. PQ does not mean "Premium Quality". If it did, then that means the "less than PQ" tubes were being sold to the military. PQ just means it was sold commercially. That's it. It's like a Buick Custom Deluxe. It's hardly custom. It may be deluxe. That's up to you.

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