Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[Simonatsea]

All this talk of tube rolling, nobody has mentioned my standout 6SN7 variant

The Phillips(Pope) 6SN7GT made in Holland. Mine is Mullard branded but has been the standout by a wide margin in my 6V6 amp. Wish I could afford more, I’d love to hear them in the LP-3....

Also I am plesently surprised that one of my favorite output tubes has been the Phillips mini-watt EL84 also made in holland.

The holland made 5Y3 rectifier is pretty darn satisifying as well but nothing has beat the USAF tube in my power amp and Sophia mesh 274b in my LP-2....

[Breakdown7]

Originally Posted by Simonatsea

All this talk of tube rolling, nobody has mentioned my standout 6SN7 variant

The Phillips(Pope) 6SN7GT made in Holland. Mine is Mullard branded but has been the standout by a wide margin in my 6V6 amp. Wish I could afford more, I’d love to hear them in the LP-3....

Also I am plesently surprised that one of my favorite output tubes has been the Phillips mini-watt EL84 also made in holland.

The holland made 5Y3 rectifier is pretty darn satisifying as well but nothing has beat the USAF tube in my power amp and Sophia mesh 274b in my LP-2....

I'd love to hear the Pope 6SN7's. They are rare it seems.

[Bombadil]

Originally Posted by Simonatsea

All this talk of tube rolling, nobody has mentioned my standout 6SN7 variant

The Phillips(Pope) 6SN7GT made in Holland. Mine is Mullard branded but has been the standout by a wide margin in my 6V6 amp. Wish I could afford more, I’d love to hear them in the LP-3....

Those Pope's go for obscene prices. Back when they were in production they were considered to be a common, inexpensive 6SN7. Now two of them cost as much as what I paid for my Inspire amp.

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

Those Pope's go for obscene prices. Back when they were in production they were considered to be a common, inexpensive 6SN7. Now two of them cost as much as what I paid for my Inspire amp.

Thank the internet for that.

[Bombadil]

The scary thing is when one of us spends mucho dollars for a boutique tube and then it doesn't last long. As reported by some who have purchased the Shuguang and Psvane CV181s, and a couple of people on other forums who bought the Pope 6SN7 and reported that they went noisy after 500 hours. You never know when you buy one.

Over the years I've been very lucky with tubes, having lost only a handful over the past 20 years. For example the EI EL84 matched octet in my Cary SLA30. I installed them at least 15 years ago and they are going strong. I don't use that amp a lot, but I've certainly put on a couple thousand hours over 15 years and they all test as almost new. I picked up 16 Amperex CSN 6922 and 7308 about 20 years ago. Eventually sold 6 for far more than I paid for the 16. Of the ten I kept, only one has gone bad.

I'd feel sick if I dropped $300-$500 on a tube and then had it go bad in 6 months.

[Tyson]

Just scored a set of mint Philips 7581A tubes of eBay for super cheap, I can't believe it! Holy crap these are going to be nice in the Inspire SEP monoblocks.

Between the 7581A tubes today and the Amperex (Mullard) EL34 score this past Monday, it's been a good week.

I LOVE that I only need 2 output tubes for these amps, all my previous tube amps had 4 output tubes (at least!), so the MB 12 monoblocks give me a chance to explore some NOS tubes I'd never be able to afford as a quad. Love it!

[Bombadil]

I have a pair of GE 6L6GC tubes and like how they sound in my Inspire. I almost never use them, but they do sound good.

[Tyson]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

I have a pair of GE 6L6GC tubes and like how they sound in my Inspire. I almost never use them, but they do sound good.

That's what I was actually looking to buy, when I ran across the 7581!

[Bombadil]

I got my GE 6L6GC for the right price. Free. Many years ago a friend of mine was cleaning out his garage and found a Sylvania 220 tube tester and a box full of old tubes. He gave it all to me. At the time all I had use for was EL84 and 12A_7 tubes. I found a few of each in the box then put it aside.

Years later I picked up some additional pieces and went though the collection again. Finding 6L6, 6V6, 6SN7, 6SL7, 5881, and 6DJ8 tubes. Nothing really special, but some pretty good tubes. The tester has been quite useful too.

[Tyson]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

I got my GE 6L6GC for the right price. Free. Many years ago a friend of mine was cleaning out his garage and found a Sylvania 220 tube tester and a box full of old tubes. He gave it all to me. At the time all I had use for was EL84 and 12A_7 tubes. I found a few of each in the box then put it aside.

Years later I picked up some additional pieces and went though the collection again. Finding 6L6, 6V6, 6SN7, 6SL7, 5881, and 6DJ8 tubes. Nothing really special, but some pretty good tubes. The tester has been quite useful too.

I need some friends like yours