Your favorite 6SN7 tubes for the Tono violin

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Your favorite 6SN7 tubes for the Tono violin

Postby TonoMan » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:23 am

I've been asked which tubes are "best" for the Tono violin. Well, I like a lot of them...but mostly NOS. We use the russian tubes as stock on the Tono violin because they are cheap and considered "best-sounding current production 6SN7". Tube-rolling with NOS is advisable on the Tono violin. VD's personal favorites are highlighted in red.

Here's a ranking from TubeWorld. Note where the russian tubes are (bottom of list :-( )- consistent with Patman's observations. Net, tube-roll!!!


"SONIC RANKING
BEST SOUNDING 6SN7 AND EQUIVALENTS (6SN7GT/GTA/GTB/WGT, 5692) ARE THESE:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ECC33=CV2821 Mullard (direct 6SN7GT equivalent, superb sound, the best overall, 1950's)
ECC32=CV181 Mullard (can be used in certain applications in place of a 6SN7, superb sound, 1950's)
6SN7W Sylvania "chrome top" 1940's (metal base and black base)
6SN7GT/GTB/WGT Sylvania "chrome top" 1940's-1950's
CV1988=6SN7GT/GTY Brimar England 1950's and early 1970's (Y=brown base)
6SN7WGT Raytheon ribbed plates 1950's

VT-231=6SN7GT Sylvania, Tungsol, Ken Rad, RCA 1940's
5692 RCA Red Base (early 1950's are best)
5692 CBS-Hytron and Sylvania Brown Base (1957-early 1960's)
6SN7GT/WGT Tungsol 1950's-1960's
6SN7GT Ken Rad
6SN7GTA GE early 1950's (black plate)
6SN7GT RCA early 1950's
6SN7GTB Sylvania late 1950's-1970's
6SN7GTB RCA late 1950's-1960's

6SN7GTB GE side-getter late 1950's-1975
6SN7WGTA Philips USA made by Sylvania 1970's-1980's
6SN7GTB RCA, Sylvania, GE coin-base 1970's-1980's
6SN7GTB Japan 1970's
6SN7 Russian (harsh highs, thin sounding)
6SN7 Chinese (junk, do not use)"
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Postby marty_e » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:45 am

Here's another care of tubeseller.com

Tung-Sol Round Plates, VT-231 or 6SN7 - Clean, fast, the best in everything, wide bandwidth, great resolution. If you can’t find the Music, it’s not the tube’s fault.

RCA VT-231, black plates, rich harmonic structure, beautiful timbre and voicing, wide soundstage

6SN7W or WGT Sylvania black plates – Tied for second and came in first if your system sounds a little laid back, especially some single ended amplifiers – Excellent low level detail resolution, very immediate sounding with a lot of Slam. There are three types of these tubes, two large bottle types, one has a metal ring and one smaller bottle with smaller plate structure. The smaller one has better low level detail and the larger ones have more slam.

Raytheon VT-231, black flat plates - like the Tungsol a little sweeter, nice balance of detail and timbre

Ken-Rad VT-231, flat black plates - Great Bass, drive, sweet midrange, good bandwidth althought micrphonic tendencies on preamps.

Sylvania VT-231, black plates, wide bandwidth, well balanced, excellent sound stage and air.

Sylvania 1952 JAN-CHS-6SN7GT bottom getter: construction identical to the earlier VT231 but sonics are not, exceeds the VT231 in every respect, real bad boys excell in every area, big tight bass, warm detailed mids, extended smooth highs, very open

National Union VT-231 - good drive and great midrange, softer bass and a touch euphonic

Tung-Sol 6SN7WGT, Black Plate, brown base – Sounds similar to the Tung-Sol VT-231, not as clean

Tung-Sol 6SN7WGT, Black Plate, brown base – Very good bandwidth, bass, detail and soundstage,

CBS/HYTRON 6SN7GT, Black Plate, quiet and musical, the best of the non-military tubes

Ken-Rad6SN7GT, black base, bass a little tubby, but clean with great ambiance and air

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7GT, first top getter on the list, non-fatiguing, smooth, with good detail resolution and bandwidth, plus its easy to find and afford.

RCA Black Plate 6SN7GT, still a side getter, rich harmonic structure and maybe a little too sweet.

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7GTB, rich harmonic structure, good midrange, decent soundstage

General Electric Black Plate 6SN7GTA, the great driver tube? Fast, wide bandwidth, smooth sound at the expense of the of low level detail. Along with the Sylvania 6SN7GTB, a great “fourth” tube in Atma-Sphere amps.

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7WGT, Top Getter, “silver top” , very clean with great detail resolution and speed. Bass can be a little tubby and midrange a little congested.

6SN7WGTA, Sylvania black base green label, clean and fast with great drive, good bass

CBS-Hytron 5692, fast, good dynamics, lot of air and great timbre

RCA Red Base 5692, very warm sweet sound, great on voices and jazz

RCA 6SN7GTB, rich midrange, warm sound, likes being combined with other 6SN7 types, likes the Atma-Spheres

G.E 6SN7GTB, Gray plates, work horse, lacks refinement, a good tube
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Postby vintage_dog » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:59 am

marty_e wrote:Here's another care of tubeseller.com

Tung-Sol Round Plates, VT-231 or 6SN7 - Clean, fast, the best in everything, wide bandwidth, great resolution. If you can’t find the Music, it’s not the tube’s fault.

RCA VT-231, black plates, rich harmonic structure, beautiful timbre and voicing, wide soundstage

6SN7W or WGT Sylvania black plates – Tied for second and came in first if your system sounds a little laid back, especially some single ended amplifiers – Excellent low level detail resolution, very immediate sounding with a lot of Slam. There are three types of these tubes, two large bottle types, one has a metal ring and one smaller bottle with smaller plate structure. The smaller one has better low level detail and the larger ones have more slam.

Raytheon VT-231, black flat plates - like the Tungsol a little sweeter, nice balance of detail and timbre

Ken-Rad VT-231, flat black plates - Great Bass, drive, sweet midrange, good bandwidth althought micrphonic tendencies on preamps.

Sylvania VT-231, black plates, wide bandwidth, well balanced, excellent sound stage and air.

Sylvania 1952 JAN-CHS-6SN7GT bottom getter: construction identical to the earlier VT231 but sonics are not, exceeds the VT231 in every respect, real bad boys excell in every area, big tight bass, warm detailed mids, extended smooth highs, very open

National Union VT-231 - good drive and great midrange, softer bass and a touch euphonic

Tung-Sol 6SN7WGT, Black Plate, brown base – Sounds similar to the Tung-Sol VT-231, not as clean

Tung-Sol 6SN7WGT, Black Plate, brown base – Very good bandwidth, bass, detail and soundstage,

CBS/HYTRON 6SN7GT, Black Plate, quiet and musical, the best of the non-military tubes

Ken-Rad6SN7GT, black base, bass a little tubby, but clean with great ambiance and air

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7GT, first top getter on the list, non-fatiguing, smooth, with good detail resolution and bandwidth, plus its easy to find and afford.

RCA Black Plate 6SN7GT, still a side getter, rich harmonic structure and maybe a little too sweet.

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7GTB, rich harmonic structure, good midrange, decent soundstage

General Electric Black Plate 6SN7GTA, the great driver tube? Fast, wide bandwidth, smooth sound at the expense of the of low level detail. Along with the Sylvania 6SN7GTB, a great “fourth” tube in Atma-Sphere amps.

Sylvania Green Label 6SN7WGT, Top Getter, “silver top” , very clean with great detail resolution and speed. Bass can be a little tubby and midrange a little congested.

6SN7WGTA, Sylvania black base green label, clean and fast with great drive, good bass

CBS-Hytron 5692, fast, good dynamics, lot of air and great timbre

RCA Red Base 5692, very warm sweet sound, great on voices and jazz

RCA 6SN7GTB, rich midrange, warm sound, likes being combined with other 6SN7 types, likes the Atma-Spheres

G.E 6SN7GTB, Gray plates, work horse, lacks refinement, a good tube


hmmm, interesting. i own most and like them all, except maybe a GE i tried last night which sounded a bit sibilant...may be my tube. :-)
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Postby marty_e » Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:08 am

hmmm, interesting. I own most.... :o :o :o

V_D i guess only you can validate or dispute the above reviews. :lol:
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Postby vintage_dog » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:08 pm

marty_e wrote:hmmm, interesting. I own most.... :o :o :o

V_D i guess only you can validate or dispute the above reviews. :lol:


my probelem is they all sound good. actually, if you read their description, pare-pareho din. nalito din sila. :-D


my personal favorites are:
sylvania 6sn7w
sylvania vt-231
tungsol blackglass
cbs hytron vt231
tungsol brownbase

nakalimutan ko na iba...

i dont have the coke bottles and mullards. am also not a fan of the rca redbase
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Postby TonoMan » Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:54 am

The following vintage tubes (VD's) are now being auditioned by 3 violinists:

- Sylvania VT-231

- RCA VT-231

- Tung-sol brown base

Please post impressions at the Reviews section.

Thanks
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Postby vintage_dog » Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:43 pm

WARNING: There are FAKE "NOS" tubes out there. A pair with Mullard printing and Mullard box is actually fake russian tubes.

If in doubt, consult the Tonomen - they have one of the largest collection of 6SN7 varieties :-)
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Postby JackD201 » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:13 pm

Balita nga sinimot ng Tonomen lahat ng 6SN7 sa Pilipinas :lol: :lol: :lol:

Is it true? :D
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Postby vintage_dog » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:48 pm

not true...someone else cornered all the 6SN7s at raon/divisoria :-D

sino kaya?...p500 each lang nabili ung NOS tubes. i tested some of them ...they are matched and test very strong! swerte naman. ;-)
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Postby unity » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:59 pm

any info on kenrad 6sn7?
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Postby vintage_dog » Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:26 pm

to all violin tube-rollers:

what are your favorite tubes?

my vote:
sylvania 6sn7w
sylvania vt231
raytheon vt231
tungsol 6sn7wgt
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Postby marty_e » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:44 am

Mullard ECC32
Sylvania 6SN7GT
Sylvania VT231
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Postby pigdog » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:44 pm

my favorite 6sn7 that i keep:

cv1988 60's vintage with brit military box and wrappers equivalent to 6sn7gt i keep 2 matched pairs in my collection--liekly to be mullards sourced in australia.

6sn7gt GE side getters 8 pcs NOS

recently acquired and still awaiting delivery:
ECC33 mullards matched pair bloody expensive B|LOODY HELL~ :twisted:
will source some more in UK around may 2006
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Postby TonoMan » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:57 pm

we got good feedback omn the RCA black base clearglass with orange print. nice warm sound with tight bass.
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Postby pigdog » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:11 pm

vintage_dog wrote:WARNING: There are FAKE "NOS" tubes out there. A pair with Mullard printing and Mullard box is actually fake russian tubes.

If in doubt, consult the Tonomen - they have one of the largest collection of 6SN7 varieties :-)

here's ,y thought on the mullard 6sn7. Brimar made a 6sn7 way back in the late 40's to early 50's and was labeled as mullards. these are rare and hard to find. brimar and mullards have a history of sharing brandings on their valves
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Postby John Martin » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:28 am

My favorite is the Sylvania 6sn7wgt coin base. Lush midrange.
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Postby pigdog » Sat Feb 11, 2006 6:29 pm

just got a pair of ecc33 and ecc32, after an A/B comparison test, I like the ecc32 and in my opinion is the best 6sn7 variant on my LEAK TL10.1, although i have yet to try the Tungsol Roundplates
my current list of favorites:

Ecc32
ECC33
Cv1988
Kenrad Vt231 40's vintage

also am expecting some Marconi B65 metal based.. will have feedback on these valves once i received them
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Re: Your favorite 6SN7 tubes for the Tono violin

Postby BingoDelMar » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:32 pm

Sir,

Please let me know how much do u think a pair of this -
CV1988=6SN7GT/GTY Brimar England 1950's and early 1970's (Y=brown base)...if ever available.

Thanks & regards
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Re: Your favorite 6SN7 tubes for the Tono violin

Postby brady » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:30 am

hehehe. Bay, the last time I saw that in partsconnexion, it was US$99 ...
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Re: Your favorite 6SN7 tubes for the Tono violin

Postby BingoDelMar » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:48 am

Bai maayong buntag diha... have you bought one already? Any good?
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