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Tube equipment reviews

After dabbling with tubed components for the first time, it becomes clear the impact of tube rolling is enormous. Therefore, it is interesting to consider reviews of such equipment: if the equipment is of a certain quality, is not the reviewer hearing the tube more than the support equipment? And if so, does that not bias the reviews?

I know my AES DJH preamp is a whole different beast depending on the tubes I've been rolling through it; it can range from respectable to outstanding.
mprime
tobias
1,534 posts
 
You're a generous sort, Mprime. Very cool.

I have a pal with the same preamp as yours and he's looking for NOS tubes for it now. He has tried Ken-Rad black glass but found the sound congested ; maybe they were not the staggered plate version.

I have a pair of Brimars for him to try when he gets a chance.
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
691 posts
 
Mprime...

Thanks for the kind words. And I'm glad you're enjoying the pre-amp. Every day I seem to appreciate and enjoy the AES AE-3 DJH even more. I've currently got some EH 6SN7s in mine that shipped stock with a friend's Rogue 99 Magnum pre. While they are better than the stock Chinese, I wouldn't call them "magical". After the 1st of the year I'll be calling Kevin for something new to play with. I was hoping to get some tube suggestions from this thread.
tobias
1,534 posts
 
My pal has consigned his AE-3 to a local dealer for sale :-( This means I won't get to hear it with the Brimars.

He did like it with NOS Raytheons, and the 60's flavour, not even the premium support rod kind. He thought 60's GE side getters sounded a bit thin. His final pick was a JAN Philips pair, which gave him the openness he wanted and a bit more bass than the Raytheons. These are the tubes which cost a bomb from AES / Cary, but which you can find more cheaply on eBay.
tomryan
794 posts
 
Hey, look! Eric Idle joined us!!
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