THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

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Re: My Favorite Tubes

Postby Superman » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:51 pm

Thanks Phil!
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Re: My Favorite Tubes

Postby jadis » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:04 pm

Superman wrote:Thanks Phil!


Anytime, Jen.
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Re: My Favorite Tubes

Postby jadis » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:06 pm

A Real Virgin in the Box 8)

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A few years ago, I sold this sealed Telefunken EF86 to a friend. Snapped a pic of it before it went out. Notice the 'red band' to unseal the goodie. Parang yung sa blue seal na Marlboro din, pero ang laman nito, hindi pwede i-hithit. :D
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Re: My Favorite Tubes

Postby pigdog » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:37 pm

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i kept a modest stash of valves and over the past few days somebody offered me this wonderful sounding valve. this is a 5u4G rectifier, though not your usual garden variety 5u4g. this is in my opinion one of the nicest sounding rectifiers. initially i was skeptical about such a claims specially with rectifiers. but the guy who sold this to me convinced me to give it a try before paying for it, after two evenings of listening with my 2A3, i realized that this valve actually contributes significantly to the pleasing sonic qualities of my SET amp. this valve in my humble opinion, provides a more detailed music. i was initially opting for a 274B but these valves are expensive, with the original WE brands costing almost like the WE300B!
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another one of my all time faves is the venerable ECC32 by Mullard. this octal base valve is a near equivalent to the 6SN7 with a slightly higher gain. I asked Eric flores to modify the Isabel using this on the input stage of the preamp and the Ecc33 on the output stage. suffice to say, this experiment was a resounding success and perhaps the only one Eric has built around this valve.

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this is a fine example of vintage British electrical engineering, this classic Characteristic Valve meter is said to provide a more detailed reading for a huge range of valves. i bought this unit late last year from England and it was fully restored and calibrated before it was shipped to hong kong
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Re: My Favorite Tubes

Postby jadis » Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:52 am

Nice stuffs, Chester. Thanks for sharing.
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End of a Legend

Postby jadis » Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:50 pm

The End of a Legend...

Below, the legendary Mullard 17mm Long Plate Square Getter, a 12AU7/ECC82 variety. The most musical ECC82 I have used in my line stage. A few months ago, I noticed my sound turned to the thin and shrill side of things, and after verifying with a tube tester, the tube's quality indeed has dipped to the 'red zone'. Amazingly, it still plays without noise nor distortion, only exhibiting the above mentioned thinness and shrillness. But definitely, it has served its purpose. :clap:

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Close-up of the Square Getter:

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Another close 'peek':

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And for its fantastic musical performance, I envision an honor be bestowed on it by retiring it and hanging it above the rafters together with the other 'legends'. :D (With due apologies to the entire Celtics organization) :lol:

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Re: TU-BE OR NOT TU-BE

Postby jadis » Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:16 pm

COLD WAR TUBES: :lol:

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While cleaning out my tube storage bin, I found a troika of 'historical' tubes that were factory installed in my previous ARC pre-amps. All of the 6DJ8 variety, and all 'communists'. :lol:

From left-right: Yugoslavia (pre breakup), China, and USSR (pre breakup). I practically never used them as they were all replaced with Euro or US tubes. We supported the 'free world' then. :lol:
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TU-BE OR NOT TU-BE

Postby jadis » Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:13 pm

THE BEST REASON FOR BEING 'TU-BE'... :lol:

MULLARD LONG PLATE SQUARE GETTER:

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Had been waiting for ages to land a NOS 1957 Mullard Long Plate 12AX7 Square Getter for a long long while now. And this one came with one of the earliest date codes on acid etching, the famed MC1 marking. 8) It has been a slow and painful wait for these kinds of things as finding even one in NOS condition can take eternity, amidst all the risks to those fake produce so rampant now in the net clouds.

SOLID COPPER POSTS & 'GOAL POST' SQUARE GETTER ON TOP:

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BOTTOM VIEW:

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MILITARY MARKINGS 'CV492' & 'KB/DA' on the back side:

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EYE CANDY WRAPPER

Postby jadis » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:46 am

EYE CANDY WRAPPER :lol:

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We've heard of eye candy, but this is better in the eyes of a tube-aholic - eye candy wrapper. :lol:

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Because it's the original, waxed paper wrapper of my favorite lush-0-matic tube, the long plate square getter ECC83. Finding this breed with good NOS readings and good prints are hard enough, but finding them with these 2 qualities plus an original Mullard box plus its 'warranty card' in printed in waxed paper is next to impossible, akin to finding the Holy Grail itself. :lol:

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Inside, a pristine looking 17mm long plate square getter tube with the fabled 'mC1' acid etched code, the most sought after of all Mullard long plates, and Made in the Blackburn, UK plant in 1957. :inlove: :inlove:

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More Tube Candy Wrapper

Postby jadis » Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:26 pm

Previously, having dug up an authentic tube wrapper from Mullard, which only had a tag of BVA on top, the 'expeditioners' got more intrigued with the possibilty of finding the real thing, with the Mullard logo inscribed in the wax paper. So, lo and behold, and seek and ye shall find, they found a nice piece, with the original logo on top, plus to add to its 'authenticity' and maybe even 'antiquity', a small piece of the paper had be torn off probably by 'snatching' hands when it was being grabbed and contested by the finders. :D


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A whip solved the issue and secured it to its proper home. :D A closer look.

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And it reminded me of yet another important find in the annals of history - a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. :D Here in a more tattered condition. :lol:

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The difference is, that piece of the 'scrolls' has no guarantee and cannot be returned. :D
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Heath by Mullard

Postby jadis » Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:25 pm

In the older days, The Heath Company, makers of Heathkit electronic products, would have Mullard tubes marked Heath in their tube products. Too bad I was not able to use any of these amps or preamps before. But lucky to have found a long plate 17mm halo getter ECC83 tube bearing the Heath marking.

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Tele Macro

Postby jadis » Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:32 pm

TELE MACRO SHOTS... :)

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Or Macro shots of Telefunken, as the case may be. :) Close up view of a low-noise selection ECC83 as designated by a 'red tip'.

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Smooth Plate:

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The famed diamond mark engraved at the bottom of the tube:

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The other side of the smooth plate shows a number written in pencil:

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The red tip, definitely not done by pentel pen, :lol: and it does not rub off or melt down even after all those hours of heat:

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THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby jadis » Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:41 pm

TUBOLOGY 101... :lol:

To me the joy of finding rare old old tubes is to find them intact in its original packing form. I found a pair of 1957 Mullard ECC82 Long Plate Square Getter tubes with a lot of proof of 'intacticity'. :D

Blue tube pins protector:

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With the Mullard mark:

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Faded yellow tape on boxes, dinged corners, and other signs of old age. I love these things. :lol:

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And my favorite oldie sign of all, the cute little price tag. Here with staggering price of $2.20 Net. :D Maybe it means VAT inclusive. :D And a mark of 7-56 which I believe is the date code, as it matches the 1956 production acid etch code on the tubes itself.

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The whole kaboodle. :lol:

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THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby jadis » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:44 am

I'm glad to read about these bunch of people who are 'tube crazy'. Makes me feel 'normal'. :D

http://hktubeaudio.homestead.com/files/12AX7.html

http://hktubeaudio.homestead.com/files/6DJ8.html
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Re: THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby jadis » Tue Apr 08, 2014 11:25 am

On the left side, 2 big purple boxes housed the Mullard ECC83 10M Series. Na de-own ni Morita 10 years ago! :o Ibalik mo na yan sa Barangay ko. :D

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THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby jadis » Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:02 pm

COLD WAR GERMAN TUBE:

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Found this rarely labelled 'Made in Western Germany' Telefunken tube in my tube box, smeared printing and all.

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And I learned from an anonymous tube-aholic that this bigger box that houses 5 smaller boxes of tubes is called a 'tube sleeve'. Parang 'outer sleeves' ng plaka. :lol:

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Mullard EZ90/6X4 Rectifier Tube

Postby jadis » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:31 pm

MORE TUBE PORN... :lol:

MULLARD EZ90/6X4 RECTIFIER TUBE

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This is for those who love tube porn (I'm not exactly a porn director or producer but a an obsessive tube lover)- this one's for you :D

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The name is Mullard. Synonymous in tube lore as the most musical, lush, and hypnotizing tube ever made. 8) The 'achtung' tube, Telefunken, has other attributes, similar to the Luftwaffe - agile, lightning quick, and fantastically 'disciplined'. Owners of these should know what I mean. :)

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Finding one in its original box, with the wax paper of guarantee, is a dream. Makes me smile for no more other reason. :lol:

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Square Getter:

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Black Plates:

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This completes my tube puzzle. Provides gloriously musical sound and spices up the audio life. :inlove:
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Re: THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby uniboy » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:51 pm

Thanks for the porn :) ...almost gave me a hard-on :sweat:
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Re: THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby jadis » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:56 pm

uniboy wrote:Thanks for the porn :) ...almost gave me a hard-on :sweat:


Thanks for visiting too, uniboy. I'm glad...that you liked the pics. :)
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Re: THE TUBE WILL SET YOU FREE

Postby keith » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:12 pm

Excuse me sir. Are these for sale? :wasntme:
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