Line Magnetic quality

@ geek101



Try Ssl7 first.

It has the most effect .

I am happy with Brimar

True NOS Gain Tested Brimar England CV1985 / 6SL7GT Vacuum Tube Brown Base | eBay


I also have ECC35 recommend by other folks. But it is in my storage. I may try it in 2 weeks to compare it with excellent Brimar.

I am also happy with Amperex Sn7

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-OF-6SN7GTB-AMPEREX-TUBES-NEW-6SN7-NOS-NIB-Vacuum-Tubes-Bugle-Boy/26392...

although I have Sylvania Bad Boys which I may try in a month or so.


Thomas

geek101

Although you didn't ask about the 518IA , for what it is worth in my 518IA I swapped out all of the tubes except the 845s and went with NOS Tung Sol 5751s (prefer the slightly lower gain vs using NOS 12ax7s in this amp) ,  RCA 5AR4 rectifier, and  GE 6L6GCs

@migueca

Your favorites are out of my budget, but I’ve been looking at the 88AI and wonder what the differences between 88AI and 34AI are. I can use KT88 in both, so what makes the 88AI a better choice if I wanna use KT88 tubes? The 34AI seems to be a better choice if I wanna tune the sound by tube rolling due to the many types of tubes I can use. But maybe there are only a few of the choices that really are interesting?

Do you know the brand of the stock tubes in 34IA?

I have a 216i and have changed out the LM tubes with Genelex Gold Lion reissue. Also for the preamp tubes I have found NOS military made USA General Electric and Sylvania tubes sound fantastic.

Simna,
Years ago, all Line Magnetic amplifiers were equipped with tubes from Shuguang and although these tubes were cheap and not the best thing in the market, the truth is they sounded really good right out of the box. Usually the advice was (and still is) to replace the input stage tubes first, because these are the ones that impact the most of the sound. 
I only replaced the small 12AU7 and 12AX7 for Gold Lions and the improvement was noticeable.
Nowadays I don't know if they still carry the Shuguangs from factory or if they use other brands. 

As as for the difference between those two amplifiers - 34 and 88 - I'm afraid I don't know. They belong to the new breed of amplifiers that I haven't experienced yet.