Is tube rolling purely a McIntosh activity?

[oddeophile]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Stefan.......Tube rolling is great fun, educational, inspirational, and expensive if you become addicted. I have rolled tubes in all of my preamps and power amps. It is part of the joy of owning valve gear.

+1. Absolutely!!

[SteveSem]

There is a thread in the Cary Audio section of AA focusing on the new Dennis Had amps dealing with tube rolling in those amps, especially the power amps. It currently has run for a few years, has over 100 pages of posts, and remains active.

[Spirit Crusher]

Stefan.......Tube rolling is great fun, educational, inspirational, and expensive if you become addicted. I have rolled tubes in all of my preamps and power amps. It is part of the joy of owning valve gear.

Yeah, well said! After my short experience with tube gear (less than 2 years) I have to say : there is NO WAY to live without...

[bILLwOJO]

I have a set of Mac MC40 monoblocks that have been restored electronically. For tubes I went with vintage good stuff. From all the reading that I have done on Mac tube amps, they seem to be the least responsive amps when it comes to tube rolling. The sound is shaped from the circuitry and the massive output transformers.
On the other hand I have several SE amps that respond well to tube rolling. I just took delivery the other day of a Dennis Had KT66 FireBottle amp, this amp is supposedly a tube rollers dream.

BillWojo

[joe_marsh]

I've rolled mostly in my MFA Magus with great results. I'm currently using a Siemens CCa in the 6922 spot, a Siemens E81cc triple mica in the 12AT7 spot and a pair of Telefunken ECC83 medical grade ribbed plates. I use this preamp as a phono stage only and I love it!

[Antonmb]

Have rolled tubes in my Luxman integrated and two Woo headphone amps.

[PlanarSpeakerFan]

Tube rolling appears to be prevalent with Lampizator DAC users as well.

Ken

[robfine]

If no one has mentioned PrimaLuna, well then-- PrimaLuna is well suited for tube rolling as well.

[MC-3500]

I own vintage Mcintosh amps but I really don't tube roll 'em. Tele smooth plates all the way in the Mc225's. Sylvania JAN 12AX7WA & GE 6DJ8 smokies in the Mc-3500's.

Just recently rolled a pair of Tele's ECC88 in a Lamm LL2 and a "huge" difference. Out go the stock Russian 6H23, whatever these are who knows. The LL2 also came with GE 12au7 that just ran out of steam after ten years, replaced with RCA clear tops. Nice neutral tube with a little zip on the top end.

The biggest improvement, replacing the GE 6X4 with a british GEC 6X4 from Upscale. tightened everything up.

Next up the Manley Steelhead but waiting to purchase a new cartridge first. Possibly Amperex 6DJ8 Bugle boys or a fresh pair of Tele E88CC gold pins from Kevin at Upscale. Also waiting to go in, a quad of 1949 Tung-sol 5687 ladder plates. Don't want to waste time on these tube over a Denon 103 cartridge, so tube rolling on hold for the Steelhead. May pop the Bugles in as I have extra pairs.

[MtnHam]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

Is tube rolling a McIntosh activity or do owners of other brands of tube equipment do it as well?

Why would you think it might be limited to McIntosh owners? The fact is, it is common amongst almost all tube gear owners, and has been for years!