Quote:
Originally Posted by jdandy
Charles.......I am not surprised to hear the Mullard's are more to your liking than the Amperex tubes. I have had good experiences with Mullard tubes, although like all things electronic, how a tube sounds is dependent on the circuit design as much as the tube design, construction quality and materials.
What is the actual tube number on the Mullard tubes? I am assuming you purchased them from TubeDepot.
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Yes, from Tube Depot, as are all the tubes so far except the Amperexes, which came from Lyric HiFi (where I got the 2300). The Mullards are new production 12AX7 ECC83 tubes. In addition, these triode numbers are from off the boxes:
gm Triode 1 – 110, gm Triode 2 – 105
gm Triode 1 – 105, gm Triode 2 – 110
gm Triode 1 – 105, gm Triode 2 – 100
gm Triode 1 – 100, gm Triode 2 – 105
I
just noticed that the second pair listed is marked "high gain" on the box. Truth be told, I don't remember specifying that when I ordered them, only for matched pairs, which is what the invoice says. They're in the line stage. The previous pair of Mullards doesn't say "matched" on the invoice, nor was I charged for it (they're in the MM section). And on one pair of the Gold Lions, the boxes are marked "high gain" and "balanced"; I didn't request that (I wasn't charged for it either).
Since tubes are new to me, I don't know if there will be much of a difference. I
did like what I heard last night very much, and am looking forward to what else comes as the tubes get more hours on them. I
think that "matched" means the above numbers should be within 10% or less of one another; whether there's any benefit depends more upon the particular equipment the tubes are in. You or another tube expert could correct me on that if needed.