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In Reply to: 300B life expectation posted by Alex on March 23, 2007 at 16:30:29:
back when they invented these
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VAIC tubes if you like. I wouldnt take em.Just bought a pair of NOS AVVT 300b tubes and 30 sec after having em play one went "PING" and no music was heard from that mono amp. The seller was more than kind a refunded my $. He too noted how the old AVVT site claims a shelf life of something like 7 yrs????? Also had a bad experience with EML 300b tubes, after only a few hundred hrs on em and one started arcing. All and all Im done with these expensive Czech tubes. While the EML did sound good this reliability thing has me worried. Im SURE some have had + experiences, good for them.
Meanwhile my EL-Cheap-O chinese 300b-98C are alive and well. Art Pepper never sounded better! They have MANY humdred hrs on em. Heck I dont know how many times Ive fallen asleep with em on only to have them keeping me warm and cozy these long winter nights. And they sound just as strong as ever. Same with some WE 300b tubes I got in a lot. Their from 1968 and sound amazing. I used em in my amps for about 3 weeks, again no issues. Fell asleep many nights too.
Im waiting on a pair of TJ full music from china. Should be a fine addition to the collection.
Just my 2c worth of experience
I don't have any experience with the EML 300b, but, I do own 2a3 meshplates and a friend owned EML 45 mesh and solid plate tubes. The friend got extremely short life from two pairs of meshplate 45 (about 10 hours per pair!), and about a years worth of life from the replacement solid-plate tube. This is not very encouraging.My meshplate 2a3 have been fine for over a year now. But, I lent them to someone to try out in a pushpull amp. At the manufacturer's recommended bias point, the tubes started to arc after a few minutes of use. I suspect that EML tubes must be biased for much lower current in order to sustain life. If you can do that, they do sound wonderful. My own amp is a parallel SET amp with auto (cathode) biasing. Cathode biasing is probably gentler on the tube. In my amp, the EML tubes actually sound more powerful than the dual plate RCAs they replaced. They are great sounding tubes if they survive in your amp.
the Czech tubes also. I would only use these tubes on special occasions, therefore warrantly would probably have expired by the time they crash, even though the total hours on them may be low. I am not be willing to take the risk.Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Chinese tubes being made. I remember reading time and again how bad they were and reliability so on.... I for one (and others) have found this to fall short of my experience. Having only dealt with the high dollar triodes like 300b and 45 and a hand full of rectifiers and small 9 pins, Im far from an expert. However I cant recall feeling a major let down. But as long as old US made 9 pin tubes are affordable, better options exist. I did have a bad experience with the Russian JJ 5ar4 tubes. One started sparking in my amp, and it was supposed to be the new production JJ GZ34. But Ive read good things of the China 5ar4s. For now Im using either old US made GZ34s or Mullard GZ37 which are somewhat cheap and abundant. However in the Chinese 300b and 45 depo, Ive thoroughly impressed. Even the solid plate Shuguang that came with my amp sounded quite good. The mesh 98C ones sounded much better though. All in all Im kinda compelled to try more of the cheaper 300b to get a few more taste tests of my own. Really curious about those EH tubes. I just cant say enough about these Chinese mesh 300b and 45 tubes. Im happy
I am interested in the SuperTNT, JJ, and EH gold grid 300Bs. They are not too expensive; perhaps I will grap two of the three, keeping the least favourite pair as back-up.What ever my experiences, I will let people know. I think it helps to accumulate information that others can use to help make more informed decisions. No, I am not suggesting people take what is posted on the forums as the gospel ;^)
well you and Janos for adding a healthy dose of reality to that scary little Shindo Love Parade down below. While Im elated for those happy few who found their, no doubt, savior. They represent an elite minority (for many reasons, not just the car loan cost of the gear). I had to let out a sigh of disappointment when the tried and tired “music lover vs gearhead” argument reared its ugly head during the orgy (heck Im surprised it didnt turn into dem vs repub :-). Because as we all know (nudge nudge wink wink for comic pause) if one enjoys building or experimenting with gear, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY, he can truly be enjoying music to its maximum potential. Sigh.....
Im just happy I for one found builders like Bruce Edgar, Don Allen and Cy Brenneman who build phenomenal sounding and affordable tube/speaker gear. Id really like to personally hear others like Don Garber, Ron, Doc B, J Hogan and George so on.... Heck even Shindo. But really to get the full effect it has to be in MY system. I mean speakers and overall system synergy count for OH SO MUCH, one notion that seemed lost before during the pride march. I wont even go into room acoustics.All in all this is a fun and educational hobby. And hopefully while reaping the benefits of the fun and edu factor you dont waste too much money. Hey I spent a hellallot learning the ropes and I dont regret it at all, Im not in debt or anything. Its an irreplaceable adventure that is still going for me. And all along the way I never stopped learning of and accumulating more music. Some of my most recent loves have been (Im a young-in keep in mind) the live and studio music of Beck, Bogert and Appice, man those guys could rock. And the studio and live Jazz of George Adams (no wonder Mingus liked this guy). And a newer release to buy, Kenny Wayne’s (well really its not a Kenny lp) 10 days out, some killer blues to be had here. One thing I want to a better job of is keeping up with and getting to know the current music “artists” out there. Thank god for Amazon and CD baby.
Thank you, and very well put WRT the "Shindo Love Parade". I somehow feel obliged to act when one person's personal beliefs, regarding a subjective topic, are presented as some absolute truth only an small group understand.People connect with different elements of a live performance; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, but we all feel differently about the performance, for a myriad of reasons. Therefore, how someone can say a certain design is more musical, or serves the music 'better', in an *absolute* sense escapes me. Perhaps I am mistaken.
As for dualist thinking, which I probably emphasised a little too much - to the detriment of my core points, is an over-simplification often used to reduce away details to enable someone to present absolutes; unfortunately it limits our understanding others and the subjective...
Anyhow, I have waffled long enough - I am glad you got something from the post re Shindo etc. When entering into those types of threads, I am sometimes not sure that I am helping. Thank you.
Oh, the important stuff - music. "One thing I want to a better job of is keeping up with and getting to know the current music “artists” out there." I hear you on that one. Our less commercial radio stations have taken a dive in quality over the last couple of years - this can make finding the music I like a little more difficult. As a semi-mature age student, I have less ca$h to risk on dubious purchases these days, though I still experiment a little...
Hell, I better run.
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