SET Asylum

Single Ended Triodes (SETs), the ultimate tube lovers dream.

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RE: Best biplates - 2a3 or 6B4G??

Posted by Palustris on July 11, 2012 at 11:05:19:
I have a lifetime supply of 2A3, 6B4 and 6A5 tubes bought over several decades. While I have used National Union and RCA 2A3s in my primary system, they along with the 6B4 and 6A5s are now relegated to supplying my triode amp collection. I will only use new tubes for my "serious" listening.

So, I recently bought a quad of JJ 2A3-40s for about $500 for my new amps. I bought 4 so I would have spares in case of incident but also because I still intend to build a PP 2A3 amp. All 4 biased up about the same in my amps built expressly for the JJ 2A3-40: 290Vp-k @ 64mA for a 18.56W plate dissipation. This is 46% of the allowed dissipation according to JJ. The tube biased exactly to the 2A3 plate curves; it is NOT a 300B with a 2.5V filament as is still reported occasionally.

I am very happy with these amps and the JJ 2A3-40. While I have not had an opportunity to compare any other tube in these 2 stage amps because of the operating conditions, they do compare very favorably with my 3 stage amps running the AVVT mesh at less dissipation. Transparency has improved but the most noticeable change is in the mid range which has much more weight and authority while being cleaner and better defined.

So for the foreseeable future I will standardize on the JJ 2A3-40 and when finances permit will probably buy another spare set.

BTW just to be clear: the last time I used a Chinese tube in any of my amps was over 10 years ago and the results were not pretty...