Seeking suggestions for 6922 tubes

     If you're interest is in keeping the very clear, uncolored presentation, that Tele's typically produce; you'd best retain either them or Siemens.

     Personally: even the very slight increase in, "warmth" of the early 60's Amperex Navy 6922, dissuaded me from choosing it over the early 60's, grey shield, Siemens CCa.

     The (same generation/construction) gold pin, Siemens E88CC, E188CC, etc, has the same sonic signature as your Tele, or my CCa.     

      I currently have Two early 60's Siemens gold pin, grey shield E88CCs, two E188CCs and two CCas in my BAT VK-D5 and am enjoying the same very clean, uncolored sound as with the six CCa Siemens, I removed to compare.    Those are now my backups.

      There's a reason for their popularity and (now) their scarcity.

       I've bought tubes from the following eBay purveyor, a number of times and found him knowledgeable, honest and dependable:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dmd=2&_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_ssn=audiotubes_de&store_cat=0&store_name=tubes

       He has a few NOS Teles and Siemens, of the 6922/E88CC family, toward the bottom of the second page.

       Regarding the Russian tubes that became so popular: It was obvious to me, a decade back, the cream of the crop were confined to just a very few years, the supply was largely exhausted and I MISSED IT.    Thus: no opinion.

        The following may be of interest:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/6922-tube-review-17-top-6922-6n23p-e88cc-cca-7308-e188cc-tubes.761078/

                  and:

https://www.tubemuseum.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SH%5FCCa%5Fsingle

      btw: Whatever level of Bass resides in your media (down to the Stygian); the early Siemens iterations will convey it, unhindered and not editorialized, in all it’s power/glory.

I’m using Amperex 6922’s with the gold pins from the early sixties in my preamp and am very happy with the sound. The only other advice I can give is don’t buy the cheapest EH tubes. They came with the unit when I bought it and were full and boring sounding.

All the best.

You may like Nationals made in India with Mullard tooling, I believe.  

I collected a lot of 6922’s in the late ’90’s. The best were all specially selected by HP (Hewlett-Packard) for use in their test equipment, the stuff which put men on the moon. Tales from that era were of co-op students testing boxes of 144 factory fresh tubes, passing 2 or 3, and tossing the rest in a dumpster.

That might be why they were so expensive, even back in the day.

IME, the best of the best were H/P selected Telefunken tubes - I think I bought the last sleeve of 5 (with BOTH H/P and Telefunken seals) for $500. 1962 vintage, IIRC. They sounded absolutely silent and absolutely grainless. A testament to the best tubes ever made.