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45 Lovers - what are your favorite tubes?

The "300B lovers" thread includes some passing discussions about 45 tubes that I found informative. Being relatively late to the "45 game" I only have a couple of pairs of ST 45s for use in my Alan Eaton monoblocks. 

Glow in the Dark audio has some wonderfully written and informative info about the 45 tube, but I thought I'd invite other 45 lovers to share their thoughts here about what tubes they are using, enjoying, preferring and saving. 

Thanks, in advance, for any information you can share.

markusthenaimnut
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 

@markusthenaimnut I ran the 45s in SET and PP configurations. The PP amp easily won out (makes about 6 Watts): obviously better bass, far easier to make out vocals, that sort of thing, with no hint of glare on top. There was no going back.

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

Well, I have to embarrassingly admit that I misidentified my 45 tubes above.  I pulled them out and they are national union.  

Listened to them for a while last night and bass was good but midranges were not as good as my sophia so I'm back to listening to sophia mesh 300b 2.5V for now.

thanks,

Jerry

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

@carlsbad2 

I have had a loaned pair of the Sophia “mesh plate “ in my SET mono blocks. I also have had the EML 300b mesh tube. Different construction between them. The Sophia is actually a perforated metal plate. The EML is a genuine mesh filament. I hope that you are able to experience the EML mesh and see what you think. Warning, the amplifier has to be 25 watts dissipation or less for the delicate mesh filament.

Charles

 

carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
2,023 posts
 

Charles,

I would certainly like it if someone loaned me a pair of EML mesh plates. I’m probably not going to put money into more tubes for this amp as my new amp will replace it in June. here is a photo of the Sophia Mesh plates.

with manual bias adjust I can always keep dissipation below 25 watts.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bGa2donCbzAfcv6C6

markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut OP
376 posts
 

Has anyone here heard the TJ Full Music graphite plate tubes? It seems that most folks who use TJ Full Music tubes go for the perforated plate tubes for the visual experience. I recall reading a history of the owner/founder of TJ Full Music and IIRC he was really a total tube nerd (I think he's deceased now) and I think it's interesting that he came up with the graphite plate design.

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