The Amprex 6922 tubes I’ve been using in the BHK 250 needed to be replaced and I haven’t been able to find the tubes I wanted to replace them with so threw in a pair of Gold Lions I had lying around. The GL’s in combination with the Apos 12AU7s in the BHK pre I installed awhile back sound amazing, a combination I hadn’t previously tried. The combination sounds so good that I think I’ll pass for now on replacing the Amprex tubes.
I recently ‘upgraded’ to this combo of tubes too. I agree these sound amazing! With tubes, one never knows when it’s time to exchange them, but once they’re overdue and you do, you know!
I am curious whether your opinion of these tubes has changed? I might try them because they are comparatively less expensive, and due to your suggestion.
I confirm my opinion. I kept the same tubes. They correspond to my taste: clarity and flesh. Be carefull to use 1974 or 1975 tubes. Other more recent tubes do not have the same flavour
Hi everyone. Do you get the same impression as I do. I feel that PSA is heading away from tube gear. BHK 250 sold out, now 300. Tube preamp replaced with solid state. I got the M1200 over the M700 because of the tubes. Love my BHK 300’s as well. Will upgrade to the 600’s if they are fading away next!
For sure. Bascom was a big believer in Tubes and Paul let him have his line. I think the PGM line is Pauls new flagship and its going to be Solid State. The 600’s are the only ones left in production. Nothing announced yet for those.
Brian is correct.
I don’t know how many of you remember the story of how Bascom and Arnie swayed me into including tubes in the (then) new BHK line. Short version is we had a shootout: my best efforts at a preamp vs. Bascom’s. The winner take all and set the direction of the company’s products for the next decade. I designed a high voltage FET based input stage convinced that the tube sound was duplicable via the same characteristics as a vacuum tube: high voltage on the B+ and voltage style amplification (as opposed to a BJT’s current amplification). I lost.
When Darren Myers presented me with his design of the new PMG Signature line we had the same shootout: his radical new design vs. the best of the BHK (along with some tweaks we never released) and again I lost. Darren’s new design just kicked the living sh*t out of the BHK. I mean, not just by a little.
Interestingly enough, he was smarter than me. Instead of my tack of duplicating the behavior of a vacuum tube—now in retrospect a dumb idea (why replicate when you can use the real thing?)—he figured out it was having crazy high bandwidth/slew rate, coupled with nearly no feedback AND using FET voltage amplification where needed that was the key.
And, he was right.
At the end of the proverbial day, it all comes down to that sonic shootout. It either do or don’t. 
And BHK lost. Big time.
Paul does this mean Darren has also designed the PMG amplifiers? Will the stereo amp be first? Do you have any ETA ?
It does mean that. The new amps he has created are extraordinary—a whole new experience and one that’s got me scratching my head over how it could have been this different. My reference is the BHK600s, which I love, but this new design is a league above in ways I am still sussing out. Darren and I worked for some time on the format.
One cool innovation is the use of a Hypex SMPS instead of the giant power transformers. I recoiled in horror at the thought until Darren did the famous shootout between the two and then I was hooked. The thing is, a class A/B amplifier—or any amplifier for that matter—is completely dependent on the power supply.As I have said more than a few times, an amplifier is really nothing more than a valve turning on and off the power supply which is connected, via this valve, to your loudspeakers. Using a giant transformer, diode bridge, and massive bank of caps looks impressive but it struggles to keep up with what a SMPS, properly built, can deliver. Plus, we can now oversize it, using a 1200 watt supply for an amp that outputs half that!
Crazy stuff. I don’t yet know the order of what ships first or when. I do know how crazy good the power amp mules I am listenin g to sound. Addictive.
Thank you for the update Paul. Will it be a dual mono design and will it have good synergy with BHK Pre?
Thanks Paul for that update on the new amps! I have a BHK 250 for my FR20 but was thinking the logical upgrade was BHK 600s. I cringed at the power draw though, as if $30k isn’t a cringe moment, but electricity costs are rising at an astonishing rate. I frequently have the amps on for 14+ hours a day and that cost adds up along with the scolding from the provider on how bad I’m doing on conserving energy …. I’m assuming the amps are arriving some time early next year.
If you power up your BHK 250’s prior to listening, and do the same with the 600’s, you probably wouldn’t notice the additional power draw. Keeping a similar Class A amp on all the time would up your electric bill considerably more.
No argument there, I have avoided Class A for that very reason. My (rather weak) point was the 250 draws 75 watts at idle (stand-by) and 175 Watts at “play” (but without a signal). The 600s draw 75 watts at idle (each) and 225 watts (each) at “play”. Not a huge difference, but over thousands of hours it does add up. Of course, I have no idea how much the new amps will cost, hopefully monos are way less than $30k, so my “math” may be for naught …
One of the Gold Lion 6922 tubes started getting noisy in my BHK 250 so I rummaged through my stash and found a pair of Electro Harmonic 6922 tubes that I had used for brief time in an Ayon CD player I had before replacing them with some Amprex tubes, so I knew they still had plenty of life left in them. I was expecting much but was more than pleasantly surprised when I fired up the amp and started listening. The tonal balance is very even from top to bottom, along with a very toxicating mid-range, and excellent imaging. Bass is also really tight and punchy. I’m surprised how good these tubes sound, especially for how little they sell for.
After listening to lots of music over the last 24 hrs, I would definitely pick the Electro Harmonix tubes over the GL 6922 for the BHK 250. They’re superior in almost every way., and less expensive to boot.
Silly question perhaps, but I am wondering when I will need to change out my BHL250 tubes… sounds amazing still, does the sound slowly degrade over time, or is it more immediate?
Am a former solid state guy so just wondering… many mahalos in advance for input.
Yes the sound will slowly degrade. I replace the tubes every year if they’re new production tubes. NOS last a lot longer.
Purchase a new set of tubes. Put them into the unit and listen if you can tell an improvement.
If so, it is time to replace the old tubes. If it sounds the same, continue using the old tubes and keep the new tubes as backup.
I have a new pair of the same tubes and will do that - mahalos