Preamp Deal of the Century

Hey guys, any recommedation on the 6C4 for Chenin? Cheers~

Hi Ecmlee. I wasn't aware that Mick had chosen the 6c4 in the chenin.My understanding is mick had implemented the common 6922/6dj8,s along with the 6j6 for phono gain in the new chenin .The 6c4 is no longer being produced so I would assume Mick has a supply of nos tubes.What brand of 6c4 is in yours? The 6c4 is 7 pin single triode or basically 1/2 of a 12au7 dual triode. He probably selected this tube for it's superior linearity over the common 12au7. The 12au7 and deratives are rather mediocre sounding valves for use in high end audio circuits[especially phono stages]. That said: The 6c4 is notorious for being microphonic. I have repaired a few guitar amps as well as some older organ amps that used a 6c4. I think that Conrad Johnson also used the 6c4 in a few of their earlier PV series preamps if I recall???? The euro equivalent would be an ec-90. Mullard made a box plate version called the m-8080, this is a good sounding tube. Other equivalents for rolling the 6c4 would be a 6135 or a 6100.Because the 6c4 is prone to be microphonic and had me pulling out my hair on more than 1 occasion[read too many]. Are you experiencing any microphonics? I found the 1980's GE 6c4[grey plate] the least microphonic and most consistent of the bunch, however I preferred the extension and tone of the mullard 8080. Conrad Johnson should have a good supply of selected 6c4's. Hope this helps. cheers and all the best.

I have 6c4's on my Chenin. The JAN Phillips that comes with stock is reasonable.

At present, I am using the M8080 Mullard tubes. Very quiet and I am not having any microphonic issues. I posted a while back about several 6C4 tubes I tried in the Supratek. Up to now, I am still convince that they are the "money" tubes on the phono section of the Chenin and not the 6922's. Although I am using a Telefunken on the 6922 position, my observation was that the 6C4 gives immediate feedback as to the tonal quality of the phono section when trying different varities. I rolled 6 pairs of different manufacturers of 6922's and I end up getting confused trying to identify if there's an improvement doing so. Maybe there was but I cannot comment on which was the best tube for me on this position from my experoment. Whereas the 6C4, as I said, the difference was immediate!

My recommendations as of today are (in order of being the "best" in my system) as follows:

Mullard M8080 (so far the best for me!)
Raytheon Triple Mica
National Union (looks like an RCA)Black Plates
RCA
Tungsol

What I found a waste of time are:

Motorola
Crosley
RCA Gray Plates
G.E. (maybe not the same type as Ecclectique is refering to)

My new Chardonnay will be arriving next week.
Can't wait to experience first hand what you guys have been saying all along.
Hey, we have the "Preamp Deal of the Century".
What would be your personal choice for "Amp Deal of the Century" and "Speaker Deal of the Century"?

Hi Ecclectique & Amandarae, thanks for your valuable input. I am going to get the Mullard CV4058 and try them out. My Chenin was stocked with RCA 6C4 and they are the only stock tubes remain on the unit. I have no idea of how the other 6C4 sounds so I am going to give a try. Frankly speaking how big is the difference betweem the 6C4 model and the later one using 6J6?

Thanks again!