[prepress]

I came home not long ago from another Jazz at Lincoln Center concert, this one a program of Miles Davis music. As I listened, it occurred to me that the sound I was hearing reminded me of the Black Diamond tubes I'm using in the 2300 a bit. The highs (brass and woodwinds) were more prominent than the bass, which was in the mix but seemed more in the background except for solos. That's opposite of what the JJ High-Performance gold-pin tubes are with their more forward, full low end and solid mids, probably part of the reason they have a warmer sound. I'm thinking perhaps the Gold Lions would offer a balance between the two, a middle ground of sorts. It may be interesting to test this out by actually trying both the GLs and the JJ HP gold-pins and comparing the sounds. Now, I don't want to strip the screws on my 2300 with too many tube changes, but I'm really thinking about this now. And despite my saying I wanted 20 hours on the Transparent Premium power cords before making any tube moves, I may not wait that long if the idea to experiment strengthens.

The Premiums are pretty much what they're going to be at this point, I'm starting to think, even with less than 10 hours on them (including 2:10 today). But with the Christmas vacation looming in about 6 weeks, I should decide what I'm doing fairly soon if I want to begin any serious tube rolling.