Totally Tubular: The Tube Thread

AnthonyI said:
I loved my PL, but the long term possible cost weighed heavy on the decision when I consolidated down to one system.
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Yes. Also 8 power tubes was expensive even pre Russia. Half the power tubes was way more of the reason for me getting the 300 over the 400 than any difference in price between the units. Especially as the 300 has same the innards as the 400 with the improvements over the 200!
 
Joe Mac said:
Russia. To get any value you have to buy JJ/Ruby Slovakian or Chinese. And they’ve even had a little chunk added to them too.
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Yeah. I ended up ordering some PSVane S-Art 12au7s and 12ax7s. I like the sound of JJs but they tend to have a very short lifespan in my experience.

Shame that most of the decent new-production tubes are Russian.
 
kvetcha said:
Yeah. I ended up ordering some PSVane S-Art 12au7s and 12ax7s. I like the sound of JJs but they tend to have a very short lifespan in my experience.

Shame that most of the decent new-production tubes are Russian.
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Yeah totally. I ended up with 2 of those PS Vanes as well for my 12AU7 gain tubes, rebranded ones of those are actually the PL stock tubes since late 2021 when Shuangang shut down.

I got the ruby tubes KT88s. They’re not as good as the Gold Lions but at €45 compared with €110 per tube there’s not really much of a choice to be made there.
 
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kvetcha said:
Still doing initial burn-in and testing, but the PSVanes sound good at first blush. Between these and the Mullard-esque rectifier, I’m pretty damn happy with my Kingko.
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Yeah I like the PSVanes 12AU7s I’m currently using in the 2 gain positions in my PL. Not as good as the gold lions but they’re close enough considering Russia. I’d like to try some NOS at some stage.
 
kvetcha said:
Been a long time since I’ve heard Gold Lions but I remember them sounding lush but a little loosey-goosey in my system. That was in a Rogue Sphinx, though.
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I think a lot depends on the amp they’re in and what they’re doing. In the PL, which is probably one of the least soupy tube amps, and with KT88s and higher, which are increasingly more accurate and sharp in profile, they hit a nice balance in the two gain positions.

I also think their 12AU7s have a better reputation than their 12AX7s that I think you would have been using.

Also the more these ruby tubes KT88s break in the nicer they sound.
 
Joe Mac said:
I think a lot depends on the amp they’re in and what they’re doing. In the PL, which is probably one of the least soupy tube amps, and with KT88s and higher, which are increasingly more accurate and sharp in profile, they hit a nice balance in the two gain positions.

I also think their 12AU7s have a better reputation than their 12AX7s that I think you would have been using.

Also the more these ruby tubes KT88s break in the nicer they sound.
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Thankfully, my tube rolling days are over for a little while, unless these Shuguang EL84s kick the bucket sometime soon. 🤞🏼

Could be worse, I guess. I could be running a 300b amplifier.
 
kvetcha said:
Thankfully, my tube rolling days are over for a little while, unless these Shuguang EL84s kick the bucket sometime soon. 🤞🏼

Could be worse, I guess. I could be running a 300b amplifier.
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Yeah I’ve enough tubes here now for the next 4 years barring multiple failures. I do like to experiment with something slightly different every time they come to the end of their lives and i have to get some new ones in!
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’ve enough tubes here now for the next 4 years barring multiple failures. I do like to experiment with something slightly different every time they come to the end of their lives and i have to get some new ones in!
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Yeah, I swapped in the PSVanes despite the Tung-Sols having plenty of life left in them, and I’ve got a set of Sovtek EL84s standing by in case of emergency. Though I honestly don’t care for the Sovteks vs the KingKo branded Shuguangs.
 
I started looking at tube amps again.
I have a technics sl1200 MK2 turntable, a Vincent Pho-8 and a pair of Denton 80s.
I looked at some Chinese tube amps (Muzishare X7 and Cayin MT45 mk3) that I would have to import.
Today I found a used Jolida JD 202 BRC from a store here in Brazil.
Considering shipping cost and import duties the Chinese ones would cost about the as the used Jolida.
I'd appreciate any thoughts from you knowledgeable folks!

EDIT: The store here also has a Primaluna Dialogue Premium.
 
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gafacaode said:
I started looking at tube amps again.
I have a technics sl1200 MK2 turntable, a Vincent Pho-8 and a pair of Denton 80s.
I looked at some Chinese tube amps (Muzishare X7 and Cayin MT45 mk3) that I would have to import.
Today I found a used Jolida JD 202 BRC from a store here in Brazil.
Considering shipping cost and import duties the Chinese ones would cost about the as the used Jolida.
I'd appreciate any thoughts from you knowledgeable folks!
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As you might be able to tell by how it looks and some of the labeling/fonts used, cayin are the factory in china that make Prima Luna. I don’t think they’re quite as advanced and have all the same proprietary technology but the build quality is supposed to be solid. There doesn’t appear to be a MT45 on their own website so that is kinda concerning.

I’ve not heard of muzishare before tbh.

Jolida, now black ice, seem to have a good following on here and be rated.

Bear in mind that none of these have auto bias so you will have to set the bias for the power tubes and keep an eye on it periodically so that you know when a tube is going out of whack and dying so that you can change it before it goes bad and potentially kills the amp.
 
Joe Mac said:
There doesn’t appear to be a MT45 on their own website so that is kinda concerning.
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Yes, I saw that and found it concerning too.

The Prima Luna Dialogue Premium has auto biasing and offers more flexibility for tube roiling (EL34 , KT88, KT120 and KT150) where the Chinese ones only offer the option between EL34 and KT88.
The Prima Luna is pricier though.

EDIT: from the Prima Luna manual:
The amplifier will protect itself from damage by opening a relay shutting off the sound. A red LED mounted next to the trouble tube will light up. Simply turn off the amp, let it rest two minutes, replace the bad tube next to the red LED, and turn the amp back on. That’s it. Nothing is simpler.
 
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gafacaode said:
Yes, I saw that and found it concerning too.

The Prima Luna Dialogue Premium has auto biasing and offers more flexibility for tube roiling (EL34 , KT88, KT120 and KT150) where the Chinese ones only offer the option between EL34 and KT88.
The Prima Luna is pricier though.
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Yeah the prima luna are definitely pricier, although if you’re going for the older dialogue you’ll likely be able to get it a bit cheaper as nos or used than the new evo. They do hold their price quite well used. The premium is the old version of the evo 300 I have and is a great amp. It can also run the new KT170 but they wouldn’t have been able to advertise that at launch as that tube didn’t exist. For the KT150/170 you can’t use the cage as they’re too tall.

With the Cayin the Jazz 80 appears to be the model that kinda fits around where you were looking at power and tube wise.

If you’re looking at jolida maybe a black ice might fit too? How do their new ones fit into the price you were looking at? The FX10 and F11 are probably a bit weedy for the Denton but the F22 and above would power them just fine.

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