Elrog 300B vs Takatsuki 300B tubes

Ddriveman, one of the goals for the Elrog 300b was to exceed the performance of the old WE300Bs. The tube designer worked a long time on this tube until he felt like he had achieved his goal. I have not had the pleasure of auditioning the WEs, but I find the Elrogs to be superb in the Frankenstein amps. Given the price differential between the two, I'm happy to remain in my ignorance is bliss spot.

A few people who have compared the Vintage W.E. 300b and Takatsuki say they're very close. The Takatsuki more extended bass and the W.E. a tad more midrange magic. The cost of the W.E. is so astronomical that I had no interest in trying to get a pair. I appreciate the finer things in life, but only to a certain point. When cult status is reached things can get out of hand. I can live with the Frankenstein/Elrog pairing very happy the rest of my life. This is simply pure musical joy.
Charles,

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your feedback. Looks like I have to try the Elrogs. I do agree with your previous post that the reissue WE300B is not great. But I do have a few pairs of vintage WE300B with rectangular getter of 1950'd and early 1960's era. I also have 1970's era but these are not as nice. Bass and dynamics are the areas where the vintage WE300B loses out compared to Takat and EML. I haven't tried the Vintage WE300B wit my Berning SE OTL 300B amp. I should do so since the OTL amps have great bass since they do not have output transformers.

Ddriverman,
The issue of compatibility of the Elrog with various 300b amplifiers has been raised on this thread. Given that you have two different 300b Amps it will be very interesting to see how these tubes perform in two different amplifier circuits.

Bill(Brownsfan),
I received an interesting email today from audiogon member Mark who recently got a pair of the Elrog ER 300b tubes. He loaned these tubes to Israel Blume to try in his system. They both feel that these tubes were just a subtle improvement and did not justify their high cost. Israel, Mark and I agree upon the substantial improvement rendered by the Pavane W.E. replica 101D tubes in the Coincident line stage. I find the Elrog just as impactful (at the very least) so while I obviously respect their impression, I will respectfully disagree. As more people listen to the Elrogs it will be interesting to note their impact according to various listeners. Israel does not find the Elrog 300b upgrade that he does the Replica 101D in his components. For me, both were major and welcome additions in my system.
Charles