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6SN7 Tung Sol Reissue Mullard 12AX7 any comments?

Does anybody have any experience with re-issue Tung SOl 6SN7's??
How about re issued Mullards 12AX7's.
They're being copied to the smallest details (they say) or the opriginals in original Reflektor Plant in russia.
Just wantd to now If I should stop looking to spend small fortunes on NOS.
Are these guys a solution??
KT-88 GEC being copied also Golden Lions, any thoughts.
I headrd the guys at Sophia ELEctrric (famous for their 300B tube) are bringing form Shuguang a copy of teh GEC that kiks butt . .. .
I'm using their awesome KT-88-98 and like it very much so. . . the promise of something even better is very appealing to me, especially when looking at original GEC tubes beaten to a pulp by MacIntosh amplifiers for sale for many hundreds of buck sometimes even K$ . . .
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Wanted to give you a heads up on the new generation of chinese amplifiers tubed they are a fantastic value at their current prices, just make sure use them with a variac adn to 110 VOLts otherwise tube plate voltage is too high and destroys tubes in months.
my grid here is 119 to 124 volts and that is too much for these amps.

Thanks for the help;
God Bless!

Gonzalo
128x128gonzalo
maxmad
182 posts
 
Thanks Gonzalo, man, that you were back with your impressions make this thread realy special, thanks again! I am not like you, never tried any re-issues, except one time when I bought PrimaLuna Prologue Two, where the stock KT88 tubes seems to be a copy of Genalex. Well, let me tell you, they arent bad, but when I upgraded to NOS GEC KT88, there were NO WAY BACK to it, period.
I dont see Tung Sols Mouse Ears in your list, but also ECC33 Mullards are not there, so, if you still use 6SN7 based amp, try them out, best out there...love this!
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samzx12
1,220 posts
 
I agree that the older tubes do sound better. Have not heard the new Shuggie Treasures but from what I am hearing they are awesome. Not sure I can afford them but maybe one day I can catch a good deal. I agree with Gonzalo with his list of favorites. For the most part as I have not heard some of the tubes he has but the RCA grey glass are my favorites so far. The TS round plates are crazy expensive and the Bad Boys are quickly getting there. Not sure if the Bad Boy is worth it as I have found a Sylvania that is close at a fraction of the cost.
gonzalo's avatar
gonzalo OP
38 posts
 
Hey MAxmad you are right!! I neglected to put in my choices teh TS mouse ears, they sound as good as the TS tall bottles with top getters with more and tighter bass, so if you are a Bass freak like me you will love the tubes in my estimation they will come in the same line of preference as the TS tall bottle harp getter. mids not as sweet but the bass takes the cake, very similar bass to the Russian 6H8C form teh 50's though, mids more real than them and top end more open
Thanks for your input.
I also tried some other types, none of the european 6SN7 subs I'm sorry to say they are difficult to get
maxmad
182 posts
 
Hi Gonzalo,

Yes, EU NOS 6SN7 valves are getting madly expensive, but if you check online sales daily you may get lucky. One of those you may want to try, which sells around USD200 a pair ( still a lot of money ), are BRIMARS CV1988, check the link where you can see the exact pic of it pls http://www.upscaleaudio.com/Brimar6SN7GTCV1988_p_110.html,
which I found to be closer than any to ECC33 Mullards, however not the same, Mullard mids are simply better.

And yes, low end that coming from Mouse Ears is shocking good, TS are my favor US brand.
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