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Old Legendary tubes vs New Kids on the block Amperex/Siemens/Tele vs Psvane/TAD/Shugaung

Posting this on amps board, as pre tubes can make quite a dif on the amp ound. 
I just sent off all my oldstock tubes to a  guy who will sell them for me on ebay,,I am going all ~New kids on the block~ pre tubes. 
I am saying goodbye to my fav~ Amperex BB.s 
The only old stock i am keeping are the 2 tall bottle SQ Philips EC180's which will go in the AU section of the Defy,,i love the cool looking tall bottle of the EC180,'s, But i also bought some Psvane Au's , a sthey look quite impressive with taht double plate at the top,,,Will add some TAD AU's also on wish list, they also have thae cool looking double plate./high tech components.
I will roll the 3 labs, and see wich has the finer resolution/soundstage.
The 4 AX's will have to be the Shugaung, Maybe later on will add the TAD.
The cayin cd17 takes 4 6922's, for those I will go TAD, as they have the cool looking double plates. 
Which brings up this Q...will the old legends hold their top $ prices going forward, as folks begin cking out the new labs offerings, 
Psvane/Shugaung/TAD. 
I've not heard any of the new, as yet, I have the AU's/AX's arriving later this week. Since i sent all my old stock au/ax's off, can't compare to these new labs. Only compare from what i reacll the Defy sounding like  with Old stock. 
However as you guys know i still have that cheap chinese clone which is crippling the Defy's performance. 
The cayin SC6 is still a ways off, so a  true compare could only be made at that time. 
The cayin has 4 AU's, will roll both TAD and Psvane T series AU's. , Psvane has a  new ax out called T series,,,I will buy both the Psvane and the TAD, see which comes out for high resolution of fq's. 
Have you guys heard any of these newer labs, vs the old legends. 
On the power tubes, I have EH KT90's and also chinese KT88's i bought cheap off ebay,,so will roll those  when the front tubes arrive. 
Will not rebias the amp,,it will be a  justa  shortb 10 minute testing.
If I like the 88's over the EH90's,,I will add the Psvane KT88 C version to wish list, The C version is the newer KT88 from Psvane called the Classic 88, the older version is called the hifi 88. 
I will post notes over the comming year as these tests will be ongoing during the year 2020. 
What say you about these new kids on the block?
mozartfan
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
When you say *pinched* how does this translate in terms of muisc?
*glassy*? 
I try to listen for how the dif instruments/vocals are presented. 
Is the drum symbols rolled off? 
bass guitar lines, weak vs strong?
another thing is this. How strong is the NOS tube?
I have 14 Philips miniwatt, seller claims all NOS, my friend cked on his equip, found all ~~USED~~~. Not sure who to believe. But if the Philips are average and the Sylvania/RCA are NOS/strong,,,then this might explain the weakness in the base line guitar of the Philips AX's. ...

This is the problem with NOS, who can be sure what strength the tube really is/
 
I  look at the pins, if i see wear and tear, i know it has been used and not interested. 

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,907 posts
 
Pinched - slight tightness in the liquidity, slightly dry and constricted. 
Glassy - an artificial shininess

You're bang on using cymbals and basslines as parameters. Think about the size of the stage, the overall color or lack, air and transparency. 

Many NOS are not unless they are NIB (new in box). Some dealers will test and grade transconductance of tubes on a tester. 
bsmg
296 posts
 
Well, if you're getting your tubes on Ebay, you are right off playing a hit or miss gig. Unless you purchase from a reputable dealer like Brent Jessee, Tubeworld, Vintage Tube Services, or maybe even Tube Museum, you have no idea if the tubes you're buying are up to spec, microphonic, or otherwise undesirable. As an example of what I mean, Andy at Vintage Tube Services grades the tubes he sells for "line" "moving magnet" or "moving coil" for small signal tubes like the AX7. As for looking at pins, that's pretty much meaningless; I've seen pristine looking tubes that are dead. Appearance means pretty much nothing.
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
@ Noromance
Yes I understand what you mean now, For me, it takes some time to hear what each set of AX's are doing. 
You realize most tubes perform very close at 1st listen. Also I need to use 3 or 4 cds which i know very well how the muisc sounds.
One day i was driving and flipping through the FM channels, hita  country station, the song with female vocals, was engineered with super high fidelity, Super Reference cd, But as always, they never give name of cd.
I am using several cds which offera  wide range of expression in fq resolution. 
. Right now, i think the AX to beat is the famous, highly reputed
~~~RCA tall black plates~~~
Yes I know there are 2 models, 50's, vs the later 60's. 
The 50's is suppose to be 
~~Holy Grails~~~ = snakeoil? Not sure/don't know/can't say.

Once all RCA's arrive next week , along witha  bunch of Siemens. I will test Siemens in one channel, RCA is the other.
I will have 4 of each and so, will swap the pairs around fora  full fair evalutation. 
The Teles will be a  future project. 
The good thing about buying Siemens, Teles., RCA's, is that all 3 have very high reputation and so are not so dif to sell off to get at least near what you paid. 


@ Bsmg

Yes I agree, its a bit risky buying off ebay, already had 1 *bad* experience and another ($465/14 Philips AX's NOS??, not sure) i am trying to resolve with the swiss seller. 
I paid $465, asking $390 and I pay return. 
Lets see what he says...
Best to purchase from sellers you mention.

bsmg
296 posts
 
I will confess that I once bought two Valvo labeled EL34 Holland made tubes on ebay from a guy in Germany but he had pics of his test equipment with the tube actually being tested, tubes were in original box, and the brown bases were obviously free from color change due to heat. They are fine tubes but I've not bought any others on ebay. 
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