Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[FloridaBoy]

I didn't buy them yet. They are listed on the auction site. Try searching "Matched Pair Shuguang WE6SN7 ". I'd like to see a review or something before I pull the trigger. They are $179 a pair shipped.

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

I didn't buy them yet. They are listed on the auction site. Try searching "Matched Pair Shuguang WE6SN7 ". I'd like to see a review or something before I pull the trigger. They are $179 a pair shipped.

This seems a reasonable Chinese tube supply.

tube-sale.com/index.php/tubes/shuguang-replica-tubes Shuguang Replica Tubes | Psvane & Shuguang audio tubes

BTW, my PSE came with a Psvane UK 6SNy from DH that he highly recommended. I am fond of it myself.

[x3workshop]

Originally Posted by Comzee

Yes, let me clear this up.
I've been thru around 16 NOS 6SN7 variants.

4 out of the 16 were simply defective.
For example, one of the triodes being bad, only one channel working, or the tube being too noisy to listen to.

Now I come down to 12, where they all work, so now I'm talking purely sound quality. Many had low resolution (the detail they could extract), some had wonky tonal characteristics.

For example, thin treble, sloppy bass, sibilant, veiled, etc.....

I have new production tubes that have bad sound quality too. Electro Harmonix 6sn7 isn't good, full music 6sn7 is meh (still better than most of the NOS tho).

My favorite is Psvane 6SN7 for sure.
If I had to make a list purely of what I've heard, best being 10, worst being 1. (talking 6sn7 only)


10: psvane
8: rca 5962 / melz
7: full music (I have rebrands, from Sophia and Northern Electric)
5: Harmonix (at least it has a linear frequency response, more than I can say for most of the NOS)
4: most of my NOS tubes
2: particularly bad NOS tubes

I mean I've heard a fraction of what's out there.
Just taking my own finding, out of 6 new production, 3 are good.
Out of 12 nos, 2 are good.

my general idea of "good" means I don't want to immediately take the tube out to replace it with something else.

One of the new production tubes I really want to try, but have't, is the Tung-Sol.

I can assume the JJ and Sovtek new production 6SN7 are bad, but not sure.

That seems like an extraordinarily bad ratio to me, but I'm not listening to what you hear so what do I know.

I've had very good luck with vinatge/NOS Sylvies, RCA's and Tung Sols. The new production T S is quite good as well. The CV181 that Dennis sent along with my LP-27a is just okay overall.

I will say that I haven't tube rolled since getting my amp back with the PS upgrade. I stuck with what worked prior to that and it sounds great. I'm going to roll in another week or so.

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by BearCityUSA

This seems a reasonable Chinese tube supply.

tube-sale.com/index.php/tubes/shuguang-replica-tubes Shuguang Replica Tubes | Psvane & Shuguang audio tubes

BTW, my PSE came with a Psvane UK 6SNy from DH that he highly recommended. I am fond of it myself.

I have not ordered from them but I know folks that have. No issues. But they don't state that the tubes are classic or premium grade. I may get a pair of the WE 6SN7's though WE never made a 6SN7. All the Shuguang and Psvane CV181's get panned on Head Fi by Woo Audio headphone amp users. I stumbled on that site doing a search.They LOVE the TS round plate in their Woo amps. I had some in the past. Nice tube but I preferred Sylvania 6SN7W's in the amp I had.

[BearCityUSA]

Originally Posted by Comzee

my general idea of "good" means I don't want to immediately take the tube out to replace it with something else.

This brings up a question for all. Have any of you had a tube like comzee mentions that you left in and suffered for a while only to later be ecstatic you did? I recall being very disappointed the first listen to my now beloved Bendix Red Bank 6106.

[x3workshop]

Originally Posted by BearCityUSA

This brings up a question for all. Have any of you had a tube like comzee mentions that you left in and suffered for a while only to later be ecstatic you did? I recall being very disappointed the first listen to my now beloved Bendix Red Bank 6106.

I tried a pair of Tung Sol 6AR6's that sounded so bad in my amp I didn't leave them in for more than 10 minutes. Maybe I should try them again? I can't say I pulled any tubes out without listening to them for less than a week otherwise. I generally give everything a good thorough listening period.

[straitwire]

Built these guys myself, I put a leftover Black LP-2 faceplate on the LP-3a to match the amp, I ran a 6BX7 as the cathode follower and loved it! a very strong preamp and so quiet you could barely hear tube rush/hiss. last week I cut out the cathode follower circuit and filled the socket with a VR75/0A3 for looks (it replaces one diode), The FireBottle has been kept up to the current specs. First it was Pentode then Triode strapped then a Triode/Ultra linear switch and now back to Pentode again!

[CoGT3]

Originally Posted by BearCityUSA

This seems a reasonable Chinese tube supply.

tube-sale.com/index.php/tubes/shuguang-replica-tubes Shuguang Replica Tubes | Psvane & Shuguang audio tubes

BTW, my PSE came with a Psvane UK 6SNy from DH that he highly recommended. I am fond of it myself.

I am giving them a try. Ordered a single Psvane CV181 II, grey bottle this week for the incoming PSE. Was going to try H Salience as FloridaBoy had suggested but they only had pairs available in the Premium grade.

Funn_Chen/tube-sale.com seems to have a similar setup to Grant Fidelity, namely taking factory tubes from Psvane and running them through an Amplitrex AT1000 before shipping from China. Theoretically screening out the bad ones and separating the the premium from standard grades. Couldn't find any bad feedback on the auction site, so we will see.

[Comzee]

Originally Posted by BearCityUSA

This brings up a question for all. Have any of you had a tube like comzee mentions that you left in and suffered for a while only to later be ecstatic you did? I recall being very disappointed the first listen to my now beloved Bendix Red Bank 6106.

I'm pretty new to tubes, I may not know the nuances. I've read burn in can make a difference, maybe I'm underestimating that.

Most of my impressions from the nos tubes were listening for around 4-5hr sessions. I only gave each tube one day, and moved on... Although, I've kept this Melz in since I got it yesterday. It's quite nice.

90% of my NOS tubes were bought from eBay, and I'm not sure of the reliability of those sellers.

I have another tube amp "Torpedo III" that takes 12ay7(6072). Bar none the best tubes are NOS, ge five star to be exact. I've also pumped around $400 into new prod 12ay7 to compare, so I have a reference.

In that sense, I do understand NOS can be exceptional. With the SE HO, it might be my bad luck with eBay tubes, might be I'm late to the game and all the good stuff was scooped up years ago..?

I have a suspicion that when eBay went live 21 years ago, I could have bought all my tubes for pennies on the dollar of today's value, maybe I'm wrong?

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by Comzee

I'm pretty new to tubes, I may not know the nuances. I've read burn in can make a difference, maybe I'm underestimating that.

Most of my impressions from the nos tubes were listening for around 4-5hr sessions. I only gave each tube one day, and moved on... Although, I've kept this Melz in since I got it yesterday. It's quite nice.

90% of my NOS tubes were bought from eBay, and I'm not sure of the reliability of those sellers.
I have another tube amp "Torpedo III" that takes 12ay7(6072). Bar none the best tubes are NOS, ge five star to be exact. I've also pumped around $400 into new prod 12ay7 to compare, so I have a reference.

In that sense, I do understand NOS can be exceptional. With the SE HO, it might be my bad luck with eBay tubes, might be I'm late to the game and all the good stuff was scooped up years ago..?

I have a suspicion that when eBay went live 21 years ago, I could have bought all my tubes for pennies on the dollar of today's value, maybe I'm wrong?

No, you are quite right. Not many e-bay sellers do thorough testing of tubes. A tube can have mismatched sections, be microphonic and still 'test good'. You can get lucky now and then though.