Preamp Deal of the Century

Asa, Thanks for your quick answer. - It's a big help.

Any clues on the best place to hunt up a pair of NOS WE350B's, WE 300VB's or Tungsol Brown Base 5881's ? If you were going to pick one of the group to start with, which one would you pick ?

I was told that the Neotron's are TungSol round plates. They are a French labeled product with the word Neotron & 6SN7 printed in red letters on the blackened glass. The base is black plastic like.

Hello Cello. Re: regulators in the supratek. They do indeed influence the sound of the pre,however...their influence is nowhere near the dramatic difference of the 6sn7 or the rectifier choice for that matter.I am using the syrah,not the cortese,however,I think the tube topology of the power supply is identical to both units, wherby the regulators are employed on the power supply chassis of the cortese along with the gz34.The syrah uses the regulators on the chassis of the pre and the rectifier is located on the seperate power supply.We have a large selection of different tubes and types that can be employed here for regulation duty.All of them being employed as a means of further smoothing the ripple of the rectifier.I believe this is why many believe that they have "no" influence on the sound of any given amplifier.The choice of rectifier and regulators can make a profound difference [as I am sure you heard when swapping out the stock 5ar4/gz34]. One can use an original NOS American [beam tetrodes] 6L6,G,GA,GB,GC, 5881, the obsenely expensive WE 350b and many others as well as their nos Euro equivalents like the el-34,el-37,Kt66,Kt-77 etc[read expensive again]. Most all of these tubes will sound a little different than the current modern equivalents like the eh 5881,russian or chineese 6L6's, kt-66 or el34's. I for one, cannot tolerate the russian KT-66,6L6,5881 as regulators in my rig, I do find the current chineese Kt-66 the most relaxed sounding of any of the modern made equivalents.All nos 6L6 will better "any" of the modern equivalents with the possible execption of the original nos 6L6 [metal] which... in my rig sounds very similiar to the sovteks. The tung sol 5881 is the tube of choice here, however the old 6L6g [ST-bottle shaped version only] is also a very nice choice and can be found for typically 20% of the cost of the tung-sols.Regulators will not influence frequency or tone like that of the 6sn7 tube types.Their impact or influence has more to do with air and spatial cues in a sublimal sense.A sound that is more relaxed and effortless in a musical way. Allowing one to hear very fine micro detail, nuance and subtle spatial cues that are burried in the texture of the music.This hidden imformation is definitively masked when the stock tubes are used...This hidden imformation or nuance per say is very clearly resolved ,its just simply "there" and coherent in a natural kind of way with out requiring one to concentrate in order to hear these artifacts in the recording. It seems to pull you in closer to the music and forget about your equipment.Really very obvious when one puts the stock tubes back in.The genelec kt-66 or mullard el 37 are probably the best of all of the types I have listed here and will get you very close to the greatest beamed power tube ever produced, The Western Electric 350b. A side note here for supratek owners... There is another nos tube that I am currently employing for regulation duty in the syrah that I honestly believe can hold its own with the esteemed WE 350b! The best of it is...they can be had for pennies. I will post my thoughts here after I have climatized myself with this particular tube.

Cello and others, the regulator tubes you select will make a big difference in the overall sound of your preamp. Both the Cortese AND the Syrah are rather responsive to these tubes.

You will have to try many to find out what's best in your system and for your tastes. While I agree with Asa that the 6SN7's make a more profound difference, the 6L6's, once you've heard what they do, cannot be ignored.

Right now, I find the clear glass Genalex Gold Lion KT66's to be the best regulator tubes. They are somewhat expensive but can be found on Ebay for around 200 a pair. This is money well spent. IMHO, The sound is legendary.

For those still using TS 5881's. PLEASE try something else you will be VERY glad you did.

Asa, Eccletique & Bwhite,

Thanks so much for all of the incredibly well articulated help. As a result, I am off to see the tube Wizard and take advantage of your collective advice. I will let you know where I land and how it all turns out.

Now that I seem to be in the tube business, I am thinking it would be wise to own a tube tester. Can any one weigh in on what would be the best tester to get ?

Thanks to all !

Cello - Try the B&K 747B. It is a solid-state design, is reliable, and low-maintenance. Alternately get a TV-7. It will test older tubes like the WE101D (used in the Grange) that the 747B cannot test. The TV-7 is very popular with tube sellers on ebay. There is a guy in Chandler AZ named Dan Nelson, who is nationally known for rebuilding and calibrating TV-7's. Dan calibrated my B&K 747B. Contact me if you want his info.

Ecclectique very eloquently stated the benefits of tube rolling the regulators but he didn't comment on soundstage stability during very large dynamic peaks. IMO, this is very important in an all-tube power supply. Just something else to consider.