[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Replying to my own thread, am I going insane?

Before writing the above, I searched my tube cache for Golden Lion KT77s, as I thought I had some. But couldn't find them. I moved recently and packed up all of my tubes and tube gear about 3 months ago. Shortly after writing the above, I found my GL KT77s. At least I wasn't imaging that I had some.

So today I slapped them into the Inspire and compared them to the JJs. I don't fully trust such comparisons, as they are sighted comparisons with several minutes between listening sessions. Historically I have found such comparisons to be untrustworthy. I am a fan of double blind testing. But I would need two Inspire amps to pull that off.

In today's listening evaluations, it was my perception that the GL tubes brought out a bit more subtle detail and had a bit more definition in the lower bass region. That is, I think I could perceive a little more air on percussives, a little more "fingering" on background guitar, a little longer decay on piano. I noticed all of these things more in multiple songs than I did when playing the JJs. Whether I could pick out the differences in a double blind test, who knows? I've failed those before when I was confidant I would pass.

I found myself getting more into the music when using the GL. Ultimately that's how I decide what to use.

So the GL moved ahead of the JJ KT77 on my list of preferred tubes.

Insane? You are posting here.

I have GL's and JJ's and prefer the GL. Dennis likes the JJ's. Different systems different preferences.