vendo81

Yes, everyone hears differently and there are too many variables with equipment/environment to pick out a favorite for another person. But when someone asks what you like, there is no problem telling them what your favorites are. You can take any or all answers with a grain of salt as it's always best to buy as many as possible and try them yourself. I did this with amplifiers and speakers over the years and it was finally nice to settle with a couple favorites and actually listen to the music.

If I find one that matches your tubes in storage I'll let you know as you need it more than me to complete your set. I can tell you those early script Amperex tubes are special and the pinch waist versions are almost never seen. I know I have some NOS pinched waist Amperex tubes but I can't remember what type of tube they are. I use the early cursive script ECC82/12AU7's exclusively in several of my amplifiers as I've found nothing better.

That early script was used on many of the early Amperex tubes as I have quite a few of the ECC83 and ECC82 types with it. Some are in cursive as well. Don't remember if they are pinched waist but I have quite a few that are. The Valvo CCA's are from 1956. They come in their own box with the serial number that is on the tube as well and a guarantee. I believe the guarantee is up now. Someplace I read where none that have yellow script and are NOS have been found in the US. I read that after I had used four of them. Only have 3 of them left as I've used the other 4 I had. I don't think I use the E88CC types in anything now.

I used to own a pair of Marantz EL34 mono block amplifiers that used one each of the E88CC/6922 types. Back in 1986 I had bought 10,000 NOS audio tubes from an estate and this guy must have used this type of tube as there was a lot of them. 99% of what I tried sounded nice, but the top of what I had, that were NOS were the Valvo CCA and the Telefunken E88CC. I have a couple sleeves of RCA branded "Made In Germany" tubes (not Telefunken) that sound outstanding as well. I never looked into what brand they are but they are West German, maybe Siemens or Lorentz. The Amperex 6922 "PQ" tubes were very nice as well and I'm sure I'd have a different opinion in different amplifiers. I sold the amplifiers many years ago but still have many of the tubes.