Back from our Door County jaunt, and Dengue Fever’s latest release, Ting Mong, seemed to be a fine way to kick-off the wet week in Central Wisconsin.
Grateful Dead “Grayfolded” disc 1
A headphone listen as one of my 300B tubes died on Monday. . . after only 3 months of use, a real bummer.
But . . . this one is made for headphones in important ways. Always a trip.
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Yeesh! We mourn your loss.
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Thank you for your sympathy. I should have a cheap replacement set in today or tomorrow. A more expensive set ordered originally as a backup or main pair two plus weeks ago should arrive next week.
Within warranty period hopefully. OG 300B from Decware? Lousy luck all the same. For my tube gear I have a stash of back-up. Depending on how the tube fails they should keep me up and running within minutes.
No I bought the amp without tubes from Decware as I have so many tubes to use in the amp except the 300B tubes, which he is only selling in a bundle with all other tubes. In December, waiting for the amp to be delivered (arrived in July) I bought a pair of discounted demo 300B Classic tubes from Sophia Electric, because I use their Aqua 274B rectifiers and these Classic were designed to work well with those, and they do, and sound great, but this one failed. Sophia Electric’s response was basically “sh*t happens,” and offered to have me ship the tubes back and they would match me another tube for the same price (half the pair).
I have literally hundreds of tubes on hand but this is my first 300B amp and after weeks of research and correspondence with 300B users I had ordered a pair of Wathen Cryotone 300B-WC as back up tubes as three persons including Steve Deckert said they felt it would be the best tube for my tastes. However they don’t prepare and ship tubes speedily, I had waited weeks after ordering and I probably have to wait another week or so before they ship. So I ordered a cheap pair of Psvane 300B Hifi tubes that should arrive tomorrow.
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I’m surprised Sophia doesn’t stand behind their product. Did the tube fail on power-up or while listening? Hopefully no speaker damage, depending on how it failed. Seeing the price I’d be reluctant to stock too many spares as well.
It failed shortly after power up. There was no warranty offered on this demo tube, and I assumed that as it was used as a demo it was a good tube. . . didn’t expect it to fail in about 700 hours. Sophia only ever offers–at a premium–a year warranty. I have used their rectifiers in all components for over five years and have had no failure so I expected more. Don’t think I’ll buy their 300B tubes again; I may take them up on getting a matched replacement as another backup pair. If I’m not enthralled with the Cryotone (I do expect to really enjoy them) I’ll send them back and order a pair of Western Electric WE300B new production; I have a ten percent discount code from them through Decware, and they have a five year (pro-rated) warranty.
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I think you should buy several sets of Western Electric 300Bs, one set to use and say…3 or 4 to keep on hand. Yeah, that’s what I think. 
Yes indeed! 
That’s what I did with EI KT90s, and then there was this little skirmish in the former Yugoslavia, something to do with Serbia and Croatia. Still have them NIB.
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Sure, just send me that 6000 dollar gift check.
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Have you not heard of The Audiophile Diet? You know of course that fewer calories are better, especially as we age. Think of how much one can save on meals.
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Obviously you are still not married or re-married. 
J. R. Monterose “Body and Soul” Munich/Solid Records Japan cd
Bass – Henk Haverhoek
Drums – Pierre Courbois
Piano – Rein De Graaff
Tenor Saxophone – J.R. Monterose
Trumpet – Jon Eardley
Recorded: January 31, 1970 (at the Auditorium of Wageningen Agricultural University).
The most “Coltrane-like” I’ve heard Monterose.
As a replacement pair for the Sophia Electric Classic 300B tubes I ordered a pair of matched Psvane HIFI 300B (the bottom of their lineup I think) and these arrived today and I’m listening to them now. Honestly they sound decent. Not quite as good as the Sophia Electric so far but they’re also not broken in and I’m so eager to listen to speakers that I am cutting them some serious slack. Ah. I’m listening to the amp again, and that’s certain happiness.
I’m looking forward to testing the Cryotone 300B-WC. If they don’t knock my socks off I’ll return them and order a pair of WE300B. But I think from what I have read from Steve, et al that I’ll be happy with them.
Til then I think that for about 260 a matched pair the Psvane HIFI are a good backup pair.
$260 for a matched pair of 300 B tubes is small change, compared to WE300B prices.