Clio09 (Tony): Paul has heard from a number of TRL Family members that one or two of the well known tube vendors have raised their price upon word that Paul switched to the 12 volt variety. This kind of sucks. Unfortunately, such vendors are all that some guys have the time for. Myself, I've bought my 3rd RCA 12SX7 in less than 2 weeks on eBay. One was $4.99, another for $7.50, and a $15 "Buy it Now" for the third. You can also buy 12SN7's on eBay for less than $10. So there are less expensive means. Paul and I have a trip to Oregon lined up, and a friend there with several large boxes of NOS tubes, so we can replenish the TRL stock.
Grannyring (Bill): What do the plates look like? The Marconi branded 6SN7's that I've came across were made for Marconi by Sylvania, and have the Sylvania "T" style or triangle plates that are "V"ed as you look at them, from the front. I haven't seen any yet that aren't Sylvanias.
I haven't bought tubes from Andy in the past, but may give him a call on Monday. Thank you. |
The only Marconi tubes I have seen or used are the black base ones with either white or red Marconi lettering on them. Both sound great.
I am not sure about the detail of build and must let one with more tech knowledge answer about plates etc...
Sorry |
Long time no chat, Bill. Do your Marconi tubes have smoke glass or clear glass? Mine have smoke glass. They sound a bit too sweet and thick to my ears.
I still prefer RCA clear glass variants. |
Mine are clear glass. I have not seen a smoked before? Mine are not thick at all and rather neutral and tonally wonderful. |
What power cords are you using on your Dude's? |
Bug, try the TRL cords. They are relatively affordable and very good. The Dude, like most TRL gear, is less cord sensitive than other equipment I have owned presumably due to the quality of the power supply.... |
Agear is right. I use TRL power cords also. |
I use the LessLoss power cord for European Union. |
I did try a Lessloss cord and must share that the TRL cord was FAR better on the Dude. Not even close. The Lessloss sounded rather dull and lost focus and clarity compared to the TRL cord.
The Lessloss sounded better on my CD player, but did not work as well on the Dude. |
Did you use any power line conditioner? |
I like the Dude plugged into the wall usually, however right now I have it plugged into a BPT 3.5 Ultra to great effect.
Stronger bass and better focus. |
Bill,
Did you switch to TRL's IC's? How do you like it? I am thinking to upgrade the IC's between Dude and the amp. It needs to be 3M long. Other Dude owners, please chime in too. Thanks.
I sent my Dude back to TRL for power supply upgrade. It is exciting to know that it will sound even better. |
I'm still waiting for mine to be built!! |
Bug,
If TRL says 3 weeks then 3x3 and you are almost there LOL but the wait will be worth it.
My Dude is going to be together with the Little Lebowski stereo amp. 175W SS to drive my 101dB Zu speakers. I will hold on to the Atma Sphere S30 to make sure the LL kicks the living snot out of the AS.
I am doing the LL amp because you Samson owners rave about how great it is. You were right on the Dude and I hope your are right on the SS amps from TRL. |
Paul says some difficulty with the machine shop is slowing s down. The guts are wired up in the bottom chassis plate but we need the machined pieces to finish then off to anodize. |
I used to own Paul's IC and they are a steal and wonderful. I mean wonderful! I now own some Fusion Romance IC's that are also top notch. I say both are top contenders with the Fusion having a touch more beauty and warmth while the TRL IC's are more open and dynamic. |
I will say that Paul's power cord is a must on his gear. They really help the Dude and his amps come to life and fully reveal all these great pieces have to offer. |
Hello dudes, I mean the owners of the Dude, hope you are enjoying your Dude and sharing your thoughts with other dudes. There are so many duded who do not even know how good the Dude is. But, hey dude, that is life, so who cares.
After several months of tube rolling, what i discovered is the following: nothing.... except that you need to find your own tube that matches your system. Wow, is that a surprise? Nope, but it is also logical. Every system is different with different synergy between components. The Dude with stock tubes sounds great but if you want your it better *in your system* then you need your own tube rolling. I followed Paul's advice and some of the suggestions posted here but they did not work for me. For me the best tube is 5691. It gives my across the board frequency response that works great in my system, especially the highs.
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That is kool Gallant. I am still searching for the optimal tube. The Marconis are good but not perfect. Dale Pitcher at Intuitive Design has some cryo'd tubes that I am going to try. When I owned a Granite Audio 657, I used his treated 6922s and they were significantly better than anything else I tried.... |
Agear, please let me know how they sound. For me the Marconi's are the best fit thus far.You refer to the 5691, can you give me the details on brand and markings as I may order some to try. I think these are RCA's, but need more details as to the best ones. |
My Dude panels will be anodized next week so it should ship very soon. Candy apple blue!! You guys make a master list of tubes for me to try this spring!
Samsons in my sights in April as well. |
Wow! Candy apple blue! That is one fancy Dude. I think you must be getting a super Dude. Let us know how it sounds Bugredmachine. You have quite the username BTW. |
At the moment I'm taken by the 12SX7GT's. Thanks Glory!! |
In addition to tubes, how about tube tweaks? |
The 12sx7 is one heck of a tube in the Dude.
GD,
Did you try the RCA 12SX7?
Is this the Marconi tube to get?
NOS / NIB Chrome Top Marconi 12SN7GTB Vacuum Tubes Pair
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Glory,
If I'm not mistaken these are the Marconis made in Europe and I read somewhere these were the best Marconis ever made. I found a guy once who asked about $600.00 US for a mint pair. Not the kind of money I wanted to spend on tubes. I think they come up on eBay once in a while for crazy money too. The Marconis I tried were made in Canada and I think I still have the email address to the guy who sold them to me, he's from Quebec and often sells here on agon.
I don't see myself going back to Marconis now.....maybe in the future.
Cheers |
In my MW Transporter, my favorite 6sn7 type tube is the Shuguang BT CV181-Z. It has a TRL house sound. Neutral, tansparent, great extension in both ends, musical ... Many MW Transporter owners prefer it over the TS RP 6sn7gt.
Check with Paul if compatible with the 6sn7 Dudes. JFYI |
Yes sir, the CV181 does sound as good as the TS RP. Both are running in my AS S30 amp.
Paul is now making me a OTL amp in place of the SS amp I wanted. I do believe it should out run my AS S30. |
Knghifi, where do you get those Shuguang tubes?
Brian, can we use these in our Dudes? |
Bill: I'm not sure if they are able to run at the Dude's operating voltage or not. You'd better call Paul and ask him if they are compatible before trying.
I own 6 NOS Mullard CV-181's and didn't care for them in my Tube Research GTP-3 preamp. Then again, so much has changed since the GTP-3. The tubes that I'd hadn't liked in the GTP-3, I now like in the Dude.
King: Are these supposed to be exact copies of the Mullard CV-181's? |
Grannyring, Grant Fidelity sells them. Grant FidelityOccasionally you can find them on Agon ... search for Shuguang. They require at least 200 hours of breakin. My MW Transporter runs in class A so I just use my stock rectifier tube and leave it on for ~200 hours before any serious listening. Even if broken in, if remove and use again, it takes several days to settle ... I know, it's crazy. I think if you like the TRL house sound, you will love these. These ended my MW Transporter 6sn7 tube rolling :-) |
Interesting tube King, although I would like to know how they were able to measure reduced "electron swirl" that resulted from their proprietary carbon coating. Are they really $200 each? |
King, question: when tube rolling the Transporter, was this eval done with the LSA in the chair or your tubed pre-amp? |
King: Are these supposed to be exact copies of the Mullard CV-181's? I don't think so. Checkout the end of excerpt from Grant Fidelity website below. CV181-Z (pair)This tube is a true 6SN7 equivalent and you can use it in place of 6SN7 tubes of various brands. It has identical specification as RCA 6SN7. Do not use it to replace NOS CV181 tube. King, question: when tube rolling the Transporter, was this eval done with the LSA in the chair or your tubed pre-amp? Active preamp ... LSA is only use for background music. |
Finally!! The anodizer has completed my front panel w/o any defects and it will be absolutely cool beyond words. I'd post a pic here if I could to show you. Very blue indeed. Can't wait! |
I now have 6SN7 tubes in my source, preamp, and power amp. Beside my TRL modded Marantz SA11 CDP, I also have a ModWright Transporter, which uses a pair of 6SN7s in the signal path. Then the Dude preamp also uses a pair of 6SN7s in the signal path. My power amp is a hybrid power amp, a rebuilt Counterpoint NP100 by Mike Elliot. It, again, uses a pair of 6SN7s in the signal path.
I found tube rolling is quite interesting in this setup. For example, a pair of Russian 6H8Cs (metal base, round hole plates) may sound aggressive in the MWTP. But they make the NP100 more lively when used there.
For the Dude, I now use GE 6SN7GTBs. I have found that they are fast, neutral, and have nice harmonics in the Dude. |
Bug,
Put the Pic on your system pics under tweeks and we can see it from there. |
93,
What wire are you using for IC's?
The Aluminata would be nice, yes? |
Ya Bugredmachine, love to see a pic of your blue Dude faceplate. That sounds very interesting indeed. |
Glory, I am using Zu Audio Mission ICs. Aluminata is way too expensive.... |
Come on Bug you are killing us making us wait for a pic of your Blue Dude. |
Review: Tube Research Labs Dude Tube preamp
Come on Bug you are killing us making us wait for a pic of your Blue Dude.
Glory 02-21-11 Bug will post after you post your TRL OTL. What color is your OTL? |
King,
Pic is up and running on the BLACK FP of the TRL OTL 70W Little Lebowski.
Hey Brian can I get a pic of the top/sides?
Ok Bug man you're up. |
Gary, what type / how many output and driver tubes in the LL? My guess driver tube is either 6sn7 or 12sn7? |
Glory,
That is one cool looking face!Thanks for posting it so quickly. You have got to let us know how it sounds when ready. |
Okay, the blue photo is up in my system. Can't wait to see the final product. Planning silver knobs right now. Dual volume controls.
Now to decide on some mono-blocks. I'm teetering between DNA-750's and Samsons. BTW, Paul says they will discontinue Samsons. |
Thanks Bug,
Nice looking! I really like the look of this new front plate. |
Bug, I saw a photographic preview of your pre-amp minus only the top, and it looks spectacular. Bravo.
As for amps, I would snag a pair of Samsons. The synergy is glorious, and the two become more than the sum of their parts. Bill/Grannyring can attest to this phenomenon. Prior to owning the Samsons, I had Intuitive Design Coordinate monoblocks. Many philes consider Dale's SS creations some of the best in the world (at least during his Essence days). The Coordinate amps did some things better, but in terms of an organic, tube-like presentation with the speed and scale of high current SS, the Samsons are very hard to beat, particularly for the price point and the presence of the Dude. |
Paul said he will never go back to a silver or black unit now that he has the blue in front of him.
I am afraid to try and match Samson colors and have anodizer delays all over again so am thinking just plain black, which Paul says he has in stock (panels). I just sold my BAT amp and cannot be without an amp for very long - else you guys will be hounding me to evaluate and I will not be able to do so! |
Yes, the Samson amps are great with the Dude preamp. I highly suggest the match! I have owned many a great SS amp including top tier amps from Belles, Mac, Parasound JC-1's, Conrad Johnson, Electrocompaniet etc.. and the Samson amps are the best of the bunch.
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