Aric Audio Super 2A3 owners - favorite tubes?
Hello all,
I've been enjoying my new set of Aric Audio amps (the Super 6SN7 linestage + Super 2A3 amp) and have been playing around with different tubes. I am curious what tubes anyone who owns either of these prefers.
I swapped from the stock 5U4GB to some NOS RCA 5U4Gs, but not sure if there's anything better out there that owners may prefer rectifier-wise. Asking Aric, he said GB or G works fine, but beyond that didn't offer any other alternatives as far as compatible tube options.
For my 2A3 tubes, I have a set of NOS Svetlana SV-2A3 (2C4C) and EML 2a3-S Meshplates and prefer the EMLs. The Svetlanas sound nice - they are a little more 'warm' sounding to me - but they lack the detail and wide holographic soundstage that the EMLs produce.
For the 6SN7 tubes on both the pre-amp and the amplifier (3 total), I've tried Sylvania JAN 6SN7GT VT-231 2 Hole Bad Boy, Black Plates an d NOS RCA JAN 5692 6SN7 (red base) tubes and prefer the Sylvania's by a mile. Swapping from the Sylvanias to the RCAs, bass thinned out quite a bit. Detail was great, and mid/highs were nice, but the Sylvanias are overall much nicer.
What have you tried and liked / tried and kept?
@carlsbad2 oh interesting. I'll take a look at those. I didn't even realize that was a thing! @tvad AFAIK 5U4G and 5U4 are one in the same. The G just refers to it being glass and the NOS G's tend to be the 'coke bottle' shape, with the GB being the straight bottles. Forgive me if I'm incorrect though. I currently have NOS RCA 5U4G (coke bottle) rectifiers in, which replaced the 5U4GBs that were in there stock (don't remember what they were off the top of my head though - nothing fancy). |
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@mmcgill829 I think that is why they don't sell a lot of them. the name makes people not realize what amp they are designed for |
@carlsbad2 that and the fact that they are near $900/each, which is probably an even bigger deterrent. Lot of money to spend for a test! 😅 I assume they'd likely be pretty difficult to re-sell too, if they weren't the right fit preference wise. |
Linlai 6sn7 are great. I also have and used Ken Rad vt231 black glas. I liked them a lot. But Linlai are even better. I also like Linlai 5u4g. They are affordable and really good, comparable to vintage Ken Rad and Brimar 5u4g. I didn't have EML 5u4 and Sophia Electric 'Aqua II' 274B. I am not ready to spend such amount of money for rectifier tubes. I tried once 5u4gbRCA it was the worst 5u4 I had. I don't recommend any 5u4gb. |
