Manley 300B preamp


I have ordered and am waiting for the arrival of a dream object: Manley Neo-Classic 300B. While waiting I thought of inviting owners of this preamp a thread where we can hang around for the latest news. Please feel free to describe it's sound, matching in your system, experience with different tubes etc. I would love to read about your experiences while waiting: then at least I can do some virtual listening ;-)
128x128musicophile
Mtrspt5, it seems you have a great system. I'll check out some more about the EML 300B mesh. Could you swap in the EML directly or was it necessary to adjust bias?

My local tube dealer talks positive about the Golden Dragon 300B mesh. Any experience with this one?

I'll also check out the Brimar 6sl7gty.
I've read somewhere that you have to check out if your amp (in my situation: preamp) can swap directly to EML 300B mesh. That this 300B works best under specific conditions. Mtrspt5; how is this with Manley 300B, did you have to adjust bias in order to use the EML mesh?
Musicophile,

Sorry for the delay in my response. I did not have to do any bias change to the tubes. They work great in the preamplifier-very under stressed.
Mtrspt5: thanks, good to know that you don't have to adjust anything because of EML. However, I have just got a pair of Psvane 300B grade A from Grant Fidelity (great service) that need burn in time And, from my experience with Black Treasure it will take some time. At the moment I'm at holiday; so I'm abstinence after some listening on my system :-(. And since you have a Manley power, like me, that uses EL34 I can tell you that I also ordered a pair of quads of 6ca7 Black Treasure. So as you probably can understand, I'm eager to check out my system.

At the moment I only use a pair of Golden Dragon 6SL7 in the preamp. So I could check out your Brimar; is this the best choice?
I have the 300b preamp and really like it, mostly use it for headphones these days. My main preamp is the Allnic L5000 DHT preamp, which is almost too wonderfully special to describe, but the Manley isn't chopped liver and is fantastic with headphones.

I use Svetlana 300b, entirely too sensuous sounding and not bad on price.

JJ 300b's are models of clarity and space with the Manley.

I have been using the Manley 300b with Stax Lambda headphone. I took a Stax transformer intended for speakers, the srd 5, and soldered the wires to a banana jack to plug into the Manley 300b headphone socket. The Manley has more than enough juice to give a magnificent headphone experience with the Stax.