NEED HELP WITH TUBES

[CDweller]

right. and that's why i prefer nos. all tubes sound basically the same to me and i can tell very little difference between one or the other, so you'd think i would be happy with the cheaper chinese and russian tubes. but i'm not nearly as happy with them as i am with nos's. you can just look at old tubes and tell they're better quality. some newer gear does work better with new tubes, i will give you that. but i really don't trust new tubes like i do old ones, and a fairly large amount of failed tubes in proportion to working tubes is why.

and it isn't a usa thing...mullards were from england and telefunkens were from germany. they're the two most expensive and loved nos tube brands you can find.

+1

 

[twinfallsbass]

I might have made a mistake with my Mesa 400+, as numerous posters have claimed that it's designed for the newer tubes, and doesn't particularly sound good with the old stuff. We shall see!

I have heard that the 400+ was designed around the chinese tubes because that's what was available at the time. I personally have a complete set of four Amperex tubes in the pre section of my 400+ and it sounds GREAT. It's all personal taste if you ask me. The new production of tubes have not been around long enough to compare them to NOS reliabilty. Who knows, fourty years down the road we might be saying that the stuff made in the 90's and 00's are better than the NOS and current

 

[The Mouse]

mmmullard...

 

[okcrum]

I have heard that the 400+ was designed around the chinese tubes because that's what was available at the time. I personally have a complete set of four Amperex tubes in the pre section of my 400+ and it sounds GREAT. It's all personal taste if you ask me. The new production of tubes have not been around long enough to compare them to NOS reliabilty. Who knows, fourty years down the road we might be saying that the stuff made in the 90's and 00's are better than the NOS and current

Here's the thing, though. If Mesa had to change their design for the Chinese 6L6s, then those Chinese tubes were out of spec for the tube type. I had some bad experiences with Chinese product in the 90s, like 25% fail rate. From what I've read here, they've improved their QC somewhat, though the Chinese Penta tubes I've used recently are not as good as the originals for durability. At least they make spec.

So, do you have NOS Amperex or the Richardson-branded Amperex?

"You do use tubes, don't you?"
Captain James T. Kirk, sometime in the future