Bottlehead Seduction and tube rolling help

Andy,

I have tried so many tubes in my Seduction, (huh, that sounds kinda kinky), that I would probably need a computer to keep track of them. My favorites are:

Amperex Bugle Boy 6DJ8
Amperex USN-CEP 7308 or the JAN 7308
Mullard Holland White Label PQ gold pin 6922

I'm sure that everyone will have different tastes in tubes, so you should get a good sampling here.

I am currently running the Bugle Boys and really like what they do.

I am truly a tube guy and I am wondering what a generic 6922 made in holland tube is. If it is not a blatant fake notably an upside flying saucer getter type thought to eminate from Slovakia (seriously there are tons of them labeled any way these guys wanted). Then what you have is almost certainly one of the Phillips factory tubes from Holland which are highly desirable. Look at the above list, by mofimadness.
What aspect of sound do you want to emphasize? Bear in mind that they are very popular with engineers and tube rolling maniacs like me have driven prices into the stratosphere.
I personally favor the USA Amperex which have the chalky white labels. But above all is my personal favorite which approaches the very costly Seimen 6922s or worse price wise 7308. Siemens is fleshier and has more "musicality' than it's compatriate and just as expensive Telefunkens . As for the ultimate a German 1960s or earlier Cca no longer have prices it's strickly negotiating teams.
My one very honest recommendation for a teutonic sounding tube in that family is one given a sepoarate designation og E88CC-01 a military spec Mullard also called a CV2943 note not the more common CV2942. The former is a different and to my ears better sounding tube than any of the ones I could manage note that means no Cca but 7308 which are also E188CC not E88CC-01. The last person selling them fairly recently was Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio. These are by no means a less expensive tube than an Amperex 6922 but should come in slightly less than a hundred a pop. I found my last quad Ouch! at Tango tubes in Sweden but they were almost certainly NOS or doing a great job imitating NOS. They are usually mid 60s to mid 70s but are supposedly unique. I like the 70s which is against tube rolling rules but hey. The problem is the ridiculous descriptions of there being rolled off or dark. It is not true at all, they are strong and slightly sterile with great treble energy . I think people can't hear and simply see Mullard and presume its a warm mushy tube. Agian not on your life they are detailed articulate and very very extended .As my old pal Joe would say they have sparkle.
I think if you are going to keep the price down I would still buy any of the JANs especially the green print ubiquitous Jan Phillips until the end of production. Even these are getting expensive.
I am sorry but no current production tube has caught my attention.
Over on Tube Asylum Jim McShane a dealer is very fascile with current production stuff and can select some tubes for you. He is good at it, throws out noisy tubes and really works to cull the best. His prices are fair for the service tell him the sound you want and he finds the tube. No financial or other conflicts to declare I have a spare CV2943 but I am not about to let that go.

Mofi, you cause me concern....and you critcize me for loving blue meters....uh huh..yep:)

An offbeat suggestion: Toshiba 6DJ8. A friend brought over his just-built Seduction and several of us volujnteered just about every 6922/6DJ8 in the book for comparison. He went home with a spare pair of Toshibas I happened to have. Their sound in this unit surprised the hell out of us :-)

Dave

I have one thing to add to what the others have said. I use my seduction as a tape pre for my R2R, and went through quite a few tubes trying to find the right sound. Well the seduction takes forever to break in, so you may want to wait until you have many, many, hours on it; then try some of the tubes suggested here. I still haven't finished trying tubes for mine, but I found a Tesla and a ECC 288 to be pretty good so far.

Thanks for the advice

This is a used unit and is broken in. I previously used the phono on an audible illusions 3a. This unit was touted as being in the same ballpark. Although the sound stage is good. The presentation is simple boring. I completely is lacking in dynamics and transparency. So I am looking for a tube that can emphasize these two aspects through out the spectrum.

thanks
andy

A follow up question is ... have other found their seductions this way? I don't really want to buy - sell and audition many different tubes. What tube will get me there the fastest to avoid the process of rolling tubes for months and months.

thanks

Talk to Jim on tube asylum he is very pleasant and will get you where ever it is that you want to go. The only requirement is that you already have a preference for the type/style of sonic you want. He will tell you what the tube to use is and can generally provide it. He won't sell a tube he wouldn't use himself. When he says tested for noise and microphonics he is telling the truth, this is a critical aspect in order to save a fortune by running though a string of noisy tubes which in your application are useless.
I assure you most everyone that buys from him are pleased.
You didn't notice CV2943 a couple of times!
A side to Dopogue:
I bought some Marconi Citation 6SN7 GTB because the 6SN7 has the tone timbre in general that I vastly prefer I already have many of them and you can always find some worthy of a listen. Marconi in a GTB I presumed was Marconi Canada not Marconiphone or Osram. I was right what I didn't expect was that the Marconi Canada which was a brand under the rebrander umbrella of Rogers brands outsourced to Japan. I was a bit surprised but the boxes alone are priceless. The sound get this is better than merely decent it is fairly good. I am pretty sure it is a Matsushita product. A lot of Japanese tubes were made on Phillips machinery and the tubes seem to be good in general. Remember this is pre Honda and Toyota becoming well known high quality if boring cars. The last thing you wanted to see in the 60s was made in Japan. I will go out on a limb many already have and say as a rule the bad Made in Japan monicker doesn't apply to their tubes.