Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

Sakahara, I ordered the ceramic base version. I also found Sue very pleasant.

Charles1dad, I wish there was a way that I could have auditioned the Treasures to hear for myself, but as I stated on another thread, a manufacturer, who has an extensive history of using 300bs in his push-pull amps, told me that the Treasures were disappointing when used with his PP circuitry.

Well, there was nothing wrong with quality, but there were just to many that came broken, at least thats what Grant Audio stated on their website.
You know, I am in the tube hobby for some time now and strange thing about the tubes is, if you pack them well, they just dont broke, but if they are bad, they just bad:-)

Anyway, here is some nice article about Svetlana's
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1199/sv300b.htm

I don't have experience with KR 300B but I think there's enough customer complaints to support my little jab at them. I'm sure it's a good tube and I might even try it sometime given the experience so far with Sophia (I thought they made their own, or at least separate production at a factory). Maybe I should have bought KR, or EML as I'd originally planned, but the Sophia was based on my amps dealers personal experience with both EML and Sophia. He didn't care for Sophia years back but found the latter production to sound better then EML. The amp designer hates Chinese tubes, only recommending NOS WE, otherwise EML is used/supplied. Most customers buy NOS WE. I feel the same way with current Chinese tubes, also Russian made. But I have no other choice if I can't afford NOS WE. I seriously regret selling them. Now I'm considering returning the Sophia because of the issues and trying EML or KR. Maybe I should have just got the Shuguang Treasures. There's no way to know for certain what will work or be reliable until you try one no matter how many opinions are offered.

Is the Svetlana 300B still in production?

@Sakahara

Thanks for your replay. I am very sorry to hear that you having this issue and believe me, not trying to convince you to do anything, all I wrote is my opinion only. On the other hand, its very good/cool that you share your situation, cos folks should know about this, imo. I would say, take your money, never look back. Even I never have had any issues with Sophias Princess Mesh 300B/N with white ceramic base, which are top of their list and sells for USD450 with 1 year warranty, still think we dont have to support their kindness, no, we have to suport the quality of the product in the first place. If nobody buys their cheaper lines, it will disapear. Well, just forget it, dont want to people think I am Chinese hater or something.
If you are looking for WE sound sig I would go for Svetlana's, but than again, personaly I never tried any, so, thats where we have to believe this enjoythemusic guy. But the most important thing, buy from the trusty source where you can get your full deposit back if you will have some issues with them. This enjoythemusic guy also tested top TJ Carbon's that been mentioned already, but they were like USD 695 a pair and sounded better than WE's, but later same guy tested these KR Balloon's and ended up with them, where TJ's took 2nd place and WE's 3rd.
Why I stil telling you this? Simply because you seems to want WE's really badly, but you wouldnt find any of WE's sound in general line of KR, EML or Treasure, cos all of them having so called modern kind of sound and thats true. Personaly, I found a lot similarities between KR and AVVT's I own, but thats not that strange, cos KR and AVVT guy were working together in the beginning and AVVT guy left KR and started his own company AVVT. He also have had some issues, but after 1999 its been over, so, anything before that will be to risky. Same goes to KR's, where they also have had some problems, but this particular Balloon pair comes with 2 years of warranty, which to me is a lot. Of course you should ask them about their warranty policy first, so you know before you buy.
At the end, if you cant go for more expensiver lines of any been mentioned, Svetlana's, which are still in production, will be your only choice here or check the used market for other mentioned brands, however I wouldnt do that either, to much risk, imo.
By the way, WE supose to restart their production around May of this year, but than again, this is not sure yet, but also they, probably, will cost like USD 900 a pair at least.

One more time, many thanks for sharing with us and keep it up, its very important.

Good luck.

Sophia doesn't offer refund.

Looks like I'm stuck with ceramic base.

Who sells the Svetlana 300B? I can't find it, not even on their website. I've heard of AVVT but not familiar with tubes.

Fact is, none of these current 300B's are real (WE) 300B designs, nor can they be. Different time, manufacturing process, materials, design. There wasn't carbon/mesh-plate, globes, XLS,..etc. This is why many customers experience premature failure with their tubes because they don't match the amp. They want extra power, giant globes,..etc and end up burning them out due to incompatibility. I want the closest thing to WE 300B w/o all the glitz.