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A contrary opinion




I was looking for something to do with the second Dynaco SCA-35 I have. I figured I'd convert it to a ST-35, since there are boards available, which would make it a fairly easy project. I even bought a new chassis for it (picture from ebay ad shown above). The chassis is the same demensions as a ST-70, so I figured I would add a choke to the power supply, and have myself a great amp.

I bought a pair of JJ 12DW7, also from Jim McShane. I sent them off to a friend of mine, who was using a Fisher SA-100 (which uses two 7247 as input tubes) to drive his Altec 604s. I wanted his take on the tubes, prior to building my amp.

His opinion was that the JJ 12DW7 were "just OK", compared to whatever old stock 7247s he was using. He went into more specifics as to where he felt the JJ tubes fell short, but it's been several years since he gave me his assessment. I've emailed him this morning, asking him to refresh my memory. I do recall that he sat his wife down for a listen, and she liked the 7247s better too.

If I had a working amp which used 7247s, I'd be happy to find an alternative to pricy NOS, I suppose. But since I'm starting out with a scratch build, I've decided to look for another input stage (which I'll have to wire point to point), one where I won't have to pay through the nose for NOS 7247s, or compromise with the JJ 12DW7s.

Disclaimer: I've never heard the tubes in question, so take my 2ยข with a grain of salt. But I do trust my friend's ears. The only drawback is that instead of having a working ST-35, I've got another project added to my post-retirement list. And God knows when that will be!


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