The Tube Store
I still prefer the NOS Conn/Sylvania tubes to the Gold Lions.
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Thanks. The price is going up.
Newb question: For the ECC82 tubes what is the difference between 12AU7 vs B749?
You may find this site from Brent Jesse Tubes helpful. I found this on there.
B749: This is made by Genalex (Marconi-Osram Valve Co. of England) and is extremely rare in the USA. The B749 is in the “Gold Lion” series of audiophile tubes, and has the gold lion and gold script on the glass. Inside it looks similar to a Mullard 12AU7, and has a red Genalex decal across the bottom. These are said to sound the best of all 12AU7 types, and this reputation, coupled with it’s overall scarcity, has driven the market price of this prize tube to extreme heights. Worth seeking out as these may be the first out-of-production classic European tube to go totally extinct over the next dozen years or so.
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So how do the Gold Lions compare to the stock tubes in the BHK amp?
I bought the Gold Lions from The Tube Store a few weeks ago for my BHK Pre. They are outstanding!
Same here, just replaced the stock BHK preamp tubes with Gold Lions from The Tube store, they sound amazing. Currently running Jan Philips tubes in the BHK 250, which was an improvement over the stock tubes, but thinking of trying the 6922 Gold Lions.
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Found a used pair of Gold Lion 6922’s in my stash and decided to try them in the BHK 250.
I like the sound of them, but they’re kind of noisy. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re past their prime, or if that’s how they normally behave in the 250. Previous pair were Jan Phillips, and I had to put my ear right up against the drivers to hear any noise. I can hear tube hiss from my listening chair with the GL’s. Anyone else find that to be the case with the GL’s?
Gold Lions are what the amp was shipped with.
My BHK 250 came with Psvane tubes. This is the first time I tried the GL’s.
Mine came with GL’s which I took out before even firing it up and replaced them with NOS tubes. Not a bad tube and probably the best of the “new stock” ones but shouldn’t be as good as your military contract Phillips tubes. My favorites of the ones I tried when I had the amp were the NOS Matsushita 7DJ8’s
Our 250 has Siemens E188CC 7308’s. Along with a set of Mullard 7308’s that were made for the French Signal Corps in our BHK Pre, our Sopra 2’s sound fantastic.
If I was keeping the 250 I would put another set of Mullard’s in it.
There are a lot of similarities in the sound of the Matsushita’s and the Mullard’s due to Mullard being involved in the set up and tooling of the Matsushita factory.
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That’s been my experience too.
I really like the ability to fairly predictably tailor the sound of my rig with tubes.
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Sounds good to me, think I’ll seek out a pair.
I’ve got the Siemens 7308s (1960s) in the 300s, with a pair of Siemens Ccas (1960s) in the BHK pre. Best. Have ever heard them. Only step higher would be Ccas throughout!
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Try Parts Connexion, Chris usually has them.
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Is the voltage different on the Matsushita 7DJ8’s compared to the 6922?
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Yes it’s the same as BHK’s recommended Tungsram’s at 7 volts and completely compatible.
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