My target was to have my system mid and low end to sound fuller and was looking at changing my Tambaqui with an MSD-8. I got an AI advice to try rolling my preamp tube so I swapped the TungSol 6sn7 with PSVane 6sn7-UK and heard a slight difference with these fully burnt in tubes. Today I just got and now trying Linlai E-6sn7 globe balloon black plates and I am hearing the sound signature that I have been looking for. I wanted new production product, but I may try Sylvania bad boys 2 or 3 rivets at a future date. I can’t wait to get 150 hours of burn in time on my new tubes. They are a matched quad set, but I gotta learn to make a best matched pair with these numbers: 16.3/16.5/1642/1860 to the other 3 tube numbers.
I’m doing same thing in that my new 12AT and AX arrive today. Switch from EH and Sovtek to Mullard. Looking at power tubes also.
This is kinda how I envisioned what it would be like getting into vinyl. One minute your pretty comfortable in your area of knowledge and then you step into a whole different aspect of audio you (or at least I) know very little about. And there is a ton to learn…
Good challenge though.
My experience with the Sylvania’s you mentioned interest in were the exact opposite of what you want. In both the preamps I’ve used them with, they favored the uppermost frequency range and sounded brighter than most 6sn7s I’ve used. I’ve only used old 6sn7 tubes so I can’t comment on the comparison to your new ones. The National Union black glass 6sn7 from the early 1950’s have been stellar examples of what you might like. I prefer those to the oft mentioned and highly lauded oval plate black glass Tungsols.
@Photon46 , thanks for sharing your experience and helping me reducing a large collection of unused parts.