Mullard cv4003 & 12au7 Blackburn

Edit...My bad, in looking thru my notes, it is the cv4004/12AX7 that Andy said was a lower grade Mullard. The CV4003 is a military spec box plate.

Thanks for all the info,Lowrider!

Because of this thread I called Andy and my order got a little out of hand!

I found him straight to the point and his reputation is that he can be very trusted. After chatting with him and asking opinions and such, this seems to be the case. Also from reading around here (and elsewhere) it might be awhile until I get the tubes but can hope sooner or later. I know he tests everything quite thoroughly, matches and the order I have is quite large.

Prices on his website need to be updated though.

Ended up with:
2 NOS Mullard rectifiers
6 NOS Mullard 12AU7/1960s (1950s too much for me)
6 NOS RCA Cleartops 12AU7

Shipping was pretty reasonable to Canada. Will report back once I've played around with them for awhile.

@msommers , well done. And it seems like his prices are only a rough number for the price of tubes. The price changes with the quality of the tube (how well it tests).

A couple of questions for you...
- What gear are you using?
- Why did you need all Mullard? Different amp/preamp stages can use mixed brands of tubes.

I'm using the Primaluna Dialogue Premium preamp.

This only has 4/6 gain tubes so I should of stopped there. But I asked him what he thought if the cathode followers were worthwhile to change out. He didn't know what the Primaluna stock brand tubes were but guessed they were modern-issues from Russia, China or Czech Republic. I don't know if anyone knows what PL's rebranded stock tubes actually are. His opinion, very boldly so, was that they're all crap in comparison to the older ones and won't last as long either. I kinda took this with a grain of salt but decided to go for it anyways because I'd wonder. In the end if the cathode follower tubes don't change anything, it wasn't a huge expense and if anything they'll last quite a few years.

Regardless for my setup, the highs were too shrill and the mids a little recessed. He said the Mullards would be a good match for this as they're the darkest tonally he has with a rich and lush midrange, with the RCAs second slightly more towards neutral. The Tele's Tungsols and Amperex were neutral to airier/detailed/forward.

I will mix and match between the sockets and see if there is any combo that sounds the best. Mullards have such a following that I gotta try them :)