Tube swapping in amps and preamps

I'd agree to some extent with Jwaugh's statement regarding NOS tubes. I would add that there are some instances where current production is close enough to NOT warrant the very significant added cost of NOS, not to mention risk if you are not buying from a known seller. There are plenty of boutique tubes available in the big bottle triode category that are current production, though are just as expensive as NOS.

Given the choice between spending $ 100/tube on some GEC KT88's or pick up a quad of JJ Teslas for just a bit more than one GEC might cost, I'd prefer to spend the extra money otherwise as opposed to the marginal improvement the GEC's might render. Same goes for Mullard EL34's. Svetlana's brand new 300B tube is supposed to equal if not surpass the WE according to the Stereophile shootout (as reported in a follow-up). Sovtek's 2A3's are excellent tubes in that category. I just had some vintage Sylvania's (the good ones) to roll against them, and though marginally better in most areas, I didn't feel they were worth the added cost in my PP 2A3 amps...perhaps in the SET amp I compared them on. NOS construction and materials may have a leg up on most current production tubes, but I think each person should weigh the cost to the (degree of) benefit. I've heard bigger gains by improving the tubes in a preamp section than I have in swapping the tubes in amps, but I don't think this is a rule by any means. You may want to list your pre and amp and the tubes you are using and state what you are considering changing/investing.

Marco

I use WE 300B's and have not tried the new Svet's. As I said, I was only reporting a shootout/review that you can find in the StereoFool archives. In my SET amps I've only tried the WE's, some Chinese (not unlistenable, but in comparison to WE's an entire world away), and a pair of EH 300B's...not bad overall, but just did not have the mid-magic vocals realism of the WE's and had a kind of edginess to them in the highs in comparison. As I recall the WE's just seemed more balanced too. I am very happy with the way the WE's sound so have not found the need to roll those tubes, perhaps much like your conclusion with your GEC KT88's. If money were no object to me, I'd roll away, and go for the best available tubes overall. But our money tree is very small, hence the cautionary point of view that one should weigh their priorities and investment against diminishing gains. In the case of the KT88's $300 buys a whole lot of music...well, gosh, I guess these days it'll get you a few CD's anyway!

Good input from everyone here, IMO.

Marco

PS Have you rolled your GEC's against the JJ Tesla's? I ask because I did that with a pair Quicksilver Silver 90 (pentode) amps and could not hear much of a difference to my ears. I don't think the tubes were Gold Monarchs though (at least I don't recall them being those, but this was years ago).