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Vexed by Valves

Juancho said:
For 12AX7s or ECC83s as we call them, Watford Valves do the very fine sounding Harma strs
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They do several different Harma ECC83s. Which ones particularly do you recommend for a valve phono pre? My search for a good matched pair of Mullards for ‘sensible’ money (i.e. No more than £60…) has proved frustrating.
 
I've not had great experience with valve kit so far and it's noticeable that every valve component I've ever bought is up the loft at the moment - either 'cause it's blown up (including my lovely sounding by temperamental Oto) or because I wasn't keen on the sound (the latter being a couple of cheap Chinese bits, a phono stage that's too noisy and a headphone amp that was also a bit hissy).

Actually there is one valve component that I have that is in occasional use and that's one of the Schiit headphone amps - that's pretty good.
 
moomaloo said:
They do several different Harma ECC83s. Which ones particularly do you recommend for a valve phono pre? My search for a good matched pair of Mullards for ‘sensible’ money (i.e. No more than £60…) has proved frustrating.
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Harma str. You can then decide on whether or not you want balanced or not.....
 
It depends a lot on the equipment but I also found that the 6922 / stock ecc88 is the most noisy and microphonic valve I've used in various phono stages and preamps. And unfortunately some nos valves despite often sounding much nicer are prone to both.
Someone above mentioned the NOS tesla valves above and agree these have been quiet and still remain decent value in the crazy world of valve prices.
 
I have used Russian 6N23Ps in place of 6DJ8s with great success. They're not cheap as chips any more but they aren't expensive (except the EV aka EB version) so given your spend to date I'd give them a whirl. If you like the basic ones upgrade to the EVs at some point.
 
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hi all i have just started to get into valves , i have a phono stage that takes the following : ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8, E188CC, CV4108, 7308, 6N1P and 6N23P. have you any favorite ones out of these, which make is best , can pcc88 be used or is the voltage going to be a problem , any help , will do , i have several pairs of 12ax7 and 12au7 ,no longer needed, 3 rare nos 12au7 1972 mullard holland , some brimars , electro harmonics, golden lion , which are no loger needed,
 
gwernaffield said:
hi all i have just started to get into valves , i have a phono stage that takes the following : ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8, E188CC, CV4108, 7308, 6N1P and 6N23P. have you any favorite ones out of these, which make is best , can pcc88 be used or is the voltage going to be a problem , any help , will do , i have several pairs of 12ax7 and 12au7 ,no longer needed, 3 rare nos 12au7 1972 mullard holland , some brimars , electro harmonics, golden lion , which are no loger needed,
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Does the phono stage manual say that list of valves? Just asking since the 6N1P has a higher heater current than the ECC88.

I'd hang onto your valves in case you change equipment in the future.
 
gwernaffield said:
hi all i have just started to get into valves , i have a phono stage that takes the following : ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8, E188CC, CV4108, 7308, 6N1P and 6N23P. have you any favorite ones out of these, which make is best , can pcc88 be used or is the voltage going to be a problem , any help , will do , i have several pairs of 12ax7 and 12au7 ,no longer needed, 3 rare nos 12au7 1972 mullard holland , some brimars , electro harmonics, golden lion , which are no loger needed,
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Some people claim the Matsushita PCC88 can be used in place of an ECC88. Running 6.3V heater supply on the PCC88 will result in cooler filaments, but he tube still turns on and conducts just fine.
 
Quick update: I sent my Cary SLP-2002 pre to Cary. It turns out some regulators were failing, so they updated them to the newest design. They're also replacing the output caps with some fancy Mundorfs, similar to those in the "Ultimate Upgrade" that can be done to their flagship SLP-05 pre. I'm hoping to get it back within a couple of weeks.
 
les24preludes said:
Does the phono stage manual say that list of valves? Just asking since the 6N1P has a higher heater current than the ECC88.

I'd hang onto your valves in case you change equipment in the future.
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this is what i had back from modwright 6922 tube equivalents are: ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8, E188CC, CV4108, 7308, 6N1P and 6N23P.
 
Mike Hanson said:
Quick update: I sent my Cary SLP-2002 pre to Cary. It turns out some regulators were failing, so they updated them to the newest design. They're also replacing the output caps with some fancy Mundorfs, similar to those in the "Ultimate Upgrade" that can be done to their flagship SLP-05 pre. I'm hoping to get it back within a couple of weeks.
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Let's hope it's as good as it sounds.
 
gwernaffield said:
this is what i had back from modwright 6922 tube equivalents are: ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8, E188CC, CV4108, 7308, 6N1P and 6N23P.
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If the maker gives you that list it's OK. This comes up quite often - the heater current of the 6N1P is 600mA, the E88CC, 6N23P, 6922 are 300mA to 365mA. So it's not exactly the same. A heater circuit should have some spare capacity but it's worth pointing out in case there are multiple 6922 valves in a circuit.
 
Mike Hanson said:
Quick update: I sent my Cary SLP-2002 pre to Cary. It turns out some regulators were failing, so they updated them to the newest design. They're also replacing the output caps with some fancy Mundorfs, similar to those in the "Ultimate Upgrade" that can be done to their flagship SLP-05 pre. I'm hoping to get it back within a couple of weeks.
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Hi Mike, I'd be really interested to know which model of Mundorf caps they use.
 
les24preludes said:
If the maker gives you that list it's OK. This comes up quite often - the heater current of the 6N1P is 600mA, the E88CC, 6N23P, 6922 are 300mA to 365mA. So it's not exactly the same. A heater circuit should have some spare capacity but it's worth pointing out in case there are multiple 6922 valves in a circuit.
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thank you for the reply , they sate i can use 7dj8 and 6dj8 , i think the voltage is different on the 7dj8 , of 7 v , and the 6dj8 are 6.3 would this cause any problems , ? i am grateful for any help with the valve choice , i have never used valves , until this year , total novice ,
 
gwernaffield said:
thank you for the reply , they sate i can use 7dj8 and 6dj8 , i think the voltage is different on the 7dj8 , of 7 v , and the 6dj8 are 6.3 would this cause any problems , ? i am grateful for any help with the valve choice , i have never used valves , until this year , total novice ,
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7DJ8 has a heater voltage of 7V. Not too different - it will work. Try it if you see any cheap. But 6DJ8 is the book choice.
 
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