What's with BAT?

rlb61-

the supertube, 6H30, is almost used exclusively.  Happy Listening!

All "super tubes" are not created equal. The last BAT VK-300SE I purchased (three years old at the time) had noisy 6H30s. I purchased a new pair from Audio Research which were gritty and progressively noisy after three months. I finally "bit the bullet" and acquired two NOS "DR" tubes from BAT -$300 a pop (these were stamped ’91 as the year of manufacture). These have performed well and sound good.

I'm not too thrilled with the sound of the 6H30, as I think it sounds too clinical generally. Makes me appreciate my VK-3i a whole lot more than I do already.

I love to roll tubes but 6H30 sounds excellent in my ARCs so I just enjoy the music.

My experience is similar to rlb61.  The 6H30 implementation that I've heard/owned in various preamps much too close to a transistor in terms of sound to justify the downsides of tube ownership, at least for me.

I got tired of worrying about putting hours on the tubes, etc.

The 6H30 certainly is in vogue however and there are many who love them, I simply wasn't one of them.  I guess I'm just a SS guy when it comes down to it.