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what is the holy grail of 6922/E88CC's?


Schu

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I would give one word of advice on purchasing any of the pinched waist tubes out there.

Do not rely solely on pictures to analyze the tube, it's very easy to make a tube look like a pinched waist without even trying to deceive the buyer. It has to do with certain camera lenses and the angle the pic was taken at. So if you are going to drop that kind of dough, either see it in person or buy it from a reputable tube retailer instead of Ebay. That is one of the few times I would discourage using Ebay.

BTW: you have 3x more Pinched Valvo's in your single picture than all known 7308 Holland Bugle Boys in existence! :P

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for crispness, clarity, detail & black background I love electro harmonix gold pin.

music selection will also have an impact on type of tube to use.

since you say you're new to tube rolling I suggest trying a tube from each region

don't get too caught up in all the different halo types cause the differences will be hard for a novice, untrained ear to detect.

right now I have toshiba from japan, amprex from holland, brimar & mullard from england, electro harmonix from russia 

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On 9/17/2017 at 5:33 PM, robert_kc said:

Based on tube rolling my Inspire SEP amp, I like the Amperex 6DJ8, made in Holland.   (This is used with 6L6GC, and 5V4G rectifier.)


I wish I could get your thoughts on the sound of my mentioned at the end of page 1 since you are picking the little brother to my pride and joy tube, lol!

 

(1963 Amperex Holland 7308 w/ Bugle Boy logo)

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  • 4 months later...

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.

Amperex 6DJ8 web.jpg

RCA west GERMANY WEB.jpg

Valvo CCA WEB.jpg

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If you are intere

15 minutes ago, vendo81 said:

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.

Amperex 6DJ8 web.jpg

RCA west GERMANY WEB.jpg

Valvo CCA WEB.jpg

If you are interested in selling any of them, please let me know.

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My Millard 10m just gave up the ghost this weekend

 

33509839052_a114b74464_h.jpg

 

It began a month or two ago with intermittent muted static noise floating in the right channel... but it still sounded after the tube warmed up. 

Now the noise is constantly there and getting louder. 

I swapped many many tubes in the power and linestage until I was able to isolate it in the NBS.

Luckily I had a sq and pq as backups... but they don't sound anywhere near as good.

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53 minutes ago, geoffr said:

These are the rarest of the rare - 1957 Amperex 6dj8 pinched waist. Three of these test great, unfotunately, one is noisy and my phono section takes four.

2EF771D8-1A2C-4B2B-8482-53CC1AB3B60E.jpeg

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.

Edited by vendo81
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6 hours ago, geoffr said:

These are the rarest of the rare - 1957 Amperex 6dj8 pinched waist. Three of these test great, unfotunately, one is noisy and my phono section takes four.

2EF771D8-1A2C-4B2B-8482-53CC1AB3B60E.jpeg

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.

Edited by vendo81
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Mods, this thread should be moved to the Tubes section!

 

At risk of offending some I'll state that it is impossible to make a blanket recommendation for the "best sounding" tube.  A tube which has certain characteristics in one piece of equipment will behave very differently in another, especially if its operating points are radically different.  For example, a 12AX7 with a 100V plate supply may show around 3% distortion with 100 millivolts input.  With a 250V supply, the distortion will be around 0.3%.  That could be an audible difference.  Structural variations from one brand to another may influence microphonics, but that's a whole other area.

 

So, if you are going to roll tubes, you need to do it in a specific piece of equipment and draw your own conclusions.  Everyone has a different perception of "warmth," "brightness," or any other adjective you may want to apply.  I'd run from any dealer who tells you that a certain tube is the "best" regardless of how it is going to be operated.  It is simply not possible.

 

 

Maynard

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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.

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I'm done with some of these 6922's I have, mainly amperex... they cannot seem to hold a candle to a Millard in the 6dj8 position of my preamp. They all sound good, some slightly different than each other, but they all seem to lack a low end thickness I had with my Millard 10m. I would like to try an 803 telefunken but the banker in me says it can't be that good. I'd also love to try some psvane or shuguang e88cc equivalent, but they do not make one 

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