Hi Patrick ,

The ECC40 isn't that hard to get over here in the Netherland and
Germany . Most of the time the "rimlock" socket is the problem .....
The "normal" prices for the ECC40 are about the same as the SQ
versions of the ECC81/6201/12AT7 . But you might get lucky also .
I use an ECC40 in my CD player (home mod. on old 16-bit) and
it sounds great . At first I used a Tungram but the Valvo I'm using
now sounds (just) a little better . I'm using the ECC40 in my favorite
"Alan Kimmel" mu-stage (= almost CCS) and you hardly can go
wrong then with the ECC40 . Its Mu is almost scary constant so
both halfs (plus and min) of the inputsignal will get about the same
amplification . The ECC40 might just be the tube if you try to get
around the ECC88 and there seems to be no option with Mu =30 .
Personaly I like its sound much better than the (over the top priced)
E80CC .

Best regards ,

Ronald .


"Patrick Turner" schreef in bericht
...


Sander deWaal wrote:

Patrick Turner said:

The same applies to most other tubes, and to come to some general
oppinion that all 12AU7 suck is to oppine negatively without sufficient
basis.
The big plate versions are very similar to big plate versions of 6CG7,
some
of which
have long plates identical in everyway to those used in some 6SN7, and
the
12BH7.
It seems to me that the only thing that is different is the grid wire
size,
wire spacing,
and size. I bet the cathodes are fairly similar.
The 12AU7 is simply a generic low U signal triode like so many others,
and thus possibly conveys the best of audio like any of the rest,
depending
how
discerning you are.

Don't forget the rimlock type ECC40.
With specs similar to the 6SN7, it's a very sweet sounding tube and
useful in many applications.
I think this tube is one of the most underestimated tubes for audio
use.
This has advantages, too. You can buy buckets full of them for next to
nothing.

The ECC range of tubes isn't seen in buckets no matter how long you leave
a
bucket
out and wait for them to drop into it during the stormy weather in Oz.

Maybe heaps of them exist in europe.

But anything is worth the try, imho, if it has the basic useful features.

Patrick Turner.





--
Sander deWaal
Vacuum Audio Consultancy