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Tubes

I have recently come upon a tube amp a yaqin mc 13-s. I have been reading up a bit on tubes and different things to get better sound. I have asked some questions about speakers on here and received great feedback and its all very much appreciated, you guys who gave me your best input thank you. 

I paired my yaqin with a pro-ject tube box s2. Prior to purchasing the pro-ject preamp I came across a shiit lyr 2 and used it for a short period, unfortunately I'm not into headphones and it didn't pair well in my system the volume just want there because it's not really a preamp it's a headphone amp. Long story short it had ecc88 orange globe amperex tubes and that thing sounded smooooootthhh. 

So I have a few questions?
1. Should I change all the tubes in my main amp to matching tubes? It uses qty 4 (6ca7's or el34b's), qty 2 (12ax7's) and qty 2 (12au7's) for example if I were to use tungsol 12au7's should I use tungsol for the 12ax7's and 6ca7's or could I use gold lions for the 6ca7's? Does it really matter?

2. How big of a difference does it really make changing preamp tubes? like I said earlier the schiit really sounded great and I could only attribute it to those tubes but correct me if I'm wrong? I didn't have any other tubes to try.

Thoughts and opinions are all welcome and appreciated. Once again thank you all for the advice.
gguy767
gguy767 OP
44 posts
 
@zkidd I love long winded answers! I read every bit of it and I appreciate it thank you very much for taking the time to explain to me your opinion it's very much appreciated. Perhaps I will just start with the smaller tubes and see how it goes and I won't break the bank I'll take you up on that to start I kinda planned on that anyhow. I did find some used tubes to give a shot I got them cheap and I only bought a pair for the preamp just to see if I could hear a difference. If they don't work out its no sweat I almost expect it with how many times I've been burned already haha. Yes I understand as well that tubes are going to be a journey but i seem to have a tendency for throwing myself into the lions den then going aww what the hell am I doing here haha. But I love the tube sound, I'm drawn to it, its amazing. I don't want the listen to music any other way now just vinyl and tube it is so amazing sounding to me. Even my  setup blows anything out of the water I've ever owned and I'm sure it doesn't hold a candle to so much out there but in my price range I'm enjoying it when I can. It has the potential to be much more than it is I thought tubes would be a simple thing to get after first. I could go with my record player stylist or my speakers but tubes just seemed like the easiest starting point mainly because I'll be moving and then I can upgrade speakers. As for the stylist well ingot plenty of question there too haha.

Thanks again for your input. 
gguy767 OP
44 posts
 
@zkidd makes perfect sense thanks.
zkidd
103 posts
 
You are welcome. This is why we call it a "community". There is a lot of information and opinions out there. I try to temper mine with experience rather than blind allegiance or romantic notion.  This can be a really fun hobby but also painful at times. I would hate to see anyone make the mistakes I made! Fortunately I have a forgiving wife (and one who does not ask a lot of questions!)
gguy767 OP
44 posts
 
@zkidd  amen to that haha. Cheers to the forgiving wives!
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Here's a significant fact: Modern production tube gear (ARC, CJ. McItosh, VAC ...) ALL come with current production tubes! None use vintage tubes! So I say go ahead and choose from among current production. Vintage tubes can be a crap shoot!
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