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In Reply to: RE: State of the art, or jewelry? New tubes. posted by maxhifi on November 24, 2014 at 12:51:41
I've tried
Old Stock Sylvania 2A3
Sovtek 2A3
Shuguang 2A3C
JJ 2A3-40
Sophia 2A3 Mesh Plate (perf plate in reality)If it were me and my money, or me and your money, I'd buy either the JJ or Sophia (probably the JJ), although the Shuguang is very close.
The difference between Sylvaina or Sovtek and JJ is significant in my system.
The pic shows Sylvania, Sovtek, Shuguang, JJ
Edits: 11/24/14Follow Ups:
I am not set up to test tubes, but my friend Dennis Fraker has been a big 2A3 tube buyer, over the years. It seems he bought 40 pieces of AVVT mesh plates one time, long ago !!!
Dennis regularly RAVES about how good the JJ 2A3-40 is in his latest amps.
He says he is tremendously happy with them, and considers them to to be the deal ( or steal ) of our times in tubes. Now this is a person who has uber experience with 2A3s, from the Harp vintage RCAs on up. According to Dennis, now a days, its a no-brainer ...just order the JJs !!
A week ago, unsolicted, he was RAVING to me on the phone about how much performance he gets with the JJs. He owns EML mesh, AVVT mesh, etc, but he USES the JJs and is simply excited about "that much tube" for $115.
There is a ten percent sale an Antique Electronic for a few more days, I think till month end. They stock JJs, and are nice people to do business with.
I hope this helps the original poster. If you run them conservatively as we do, 250 VDC P-K at 42 to 43 mA., these will last till your Grand Kids inherit your amp !! JJ 2A3-40s are going into my most current build .
Jeff Medwin
.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." Shunryo Suzuki
after all the fuss about their pentodes' reliability.
Observe, before you think. Think before you open your yap. Act on the basis of experience.
... that concerns about reliability are justified. Mine have pins that are too large diameter and are a bit rough; the bases seem loose. The tube matching specs are not as detailed as EML, but I guess that is fine for the price. You would probably be OK if you got them from someone who checks and tests thoroughly.I just received my EML 2A3 solid plates... I don't know how long they take to burn in or even if they need to... or whether I will enjoy them in the longer term. But, they make me want to get all funky without the enhanced yet mildly soft bass and highlighted sibilance of the JJs. I have also been able to adjust hum lower than with other tubes (~2mV and ~1mV noise with AC fils - not bad), but the pot positions are quite different to the EML 2A3Ms (I would not entrust hum mitigation to CT transformers alone - tubes vary too much!). These EML 2A3-S tubes could become my daily drives - in my amp they should last for a very long time!
Cheers.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." Shunryo Suzuki
Edits: 11/26/14 11/26/14 11/26/14 11/26/14
My understanding is that they are JJ 300Bs with the 300B 5v filament folded for the 2.5v and bang, you're a 2A3. So running them at 2A3 points they will last a long time.
But I have also heard that most current production 2A3s are really 300Bs, so IDK...
And it may be true for SOME Russian tubes, or some Chinese tubes but I don't think it applies to ALL 2A3 tubes because I have as pair of 2.5V 300B's which were sold as 300B's and the same firm made 2A3's and claimed that the tubes were completely different regards operating points.That said I HAVE run Russian 2A3's in my 300B amps (which I build with both 5V DC filaments as well as an optional 2.5V AC filament supply) and they did not sound bad. J.C.Morrison of New Sensor said they would not last long as the cathodes were not made to be run at 300B operating points.
Edits: 11/26/14
Hi Jeff,
I must have read your mind - AES has been my preferred vendor
For over 20 years now, the Sale just solidified their place. My output transformers (sowter sa02) are good for 45mA and I have 280V of B+ to work with, so basically spot on exactly how you use them.
-Max
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