View Full Version : Nice Tesla tube, just nabbed from ebay (inc. certificate of authenticity).....
(Genuine) NOS Tesla 1960s vintage [not JJ] ECC803S, for £55.00. Quite a rare find:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/910/HfaH2f.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/537/W1o6gm.jpg
I used to use (with great success) the original Tesla E83CC, 'box-plate' types, which sounded superb, so I'm looking forward to hearing what this little baby is like, and whether it gets near to what the famous Telefunken (of the same code) is capable of! :)
Full write-up when it arrives and is popped inside the Croft, where it'll be going up against my rather more expensive 1961 Mullard CV4035/M8214 (shown below).
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/540/kCW6CK.jpg
Marco.
I bought three Tesla Rosnov E83CCs frame grid valves for my phono stage, and I have to say that they are sublime, so the ECC803 should be great The ECC83s are still some available at sensible (£24) money via Peter Cruh @ Edicron.
Some interesting info about the TFK ECC803 and the Tesla ECC83 and ECC803 here: http://www.jacmusic.com/nos/ECC83-part-numbering1.html
Cheers, Alex. Yes, I've read that site - and most interesting it is, too! When you gain some experience, it's fairly easy to spot the fakes :)
Yup, looking forward to see how the 803S compares with the E83CCs :cool:
Marco.
Cheers, Alex. Yes, I've read that site - and most interesting it is, too! When you gain some experience, it's fairly easy to spot the fakes :)
Yup, looking forward to see how the 803S compares with the E83CCs :cool:
Marco.
Hi Marco - damm you beat me too them:) They should be superb mate. Just had another pair of Tesla ECC83 gold pin 32's which have beat all my other valves I have tried by a large margin. The clarity and soundstage of these NOS Teslas is outstanding.
I saw a pair of those ECC803S on ebay recentley fo £160 for a pair and was tempted but not sure of provinence!
Can't see from your excellent photo if those ECC803S have gold plated frame grids?
Err when you come to sell them - think of me:lol:
Hi Jim,
Hi Marco - damm you beat me too them:) They should be superb mate.
Cheers, but there is only one (used in the PSU section of the Croft) ;)
Had you been looking at this one yourself?
Just had another pair of Tesla ECC83 gold pin 32's which have beat all my other valves I have tried by a large margin. The clarity and soundstage of these NOS Teslas is outstanding.
Yup, that's what I remember about the E83CC I used in the Croft, before getting the Mullard CV4035, so thought I'd find out what the ECC803S was like!
I saw a pair of those ECC803S on ebay recentley fo £160 for a pair and was tempted but not sure of provinence!
Yup, you need to watch out for fakes....
Can't see from your excellent photo if those ECC803S have gold plated frame grids?
Dunno... I suspect not. I don't think they went in for that in the 1960s! That's also one of the attractive things about this tube, as the NOS Teslas that are available are usually 1980s vintage, so this older one is liable to be somewhat different. IME, the earlier valves usually sound the best :)
Marco.
I think jacmusic are wrong. As I have said here a few times I ran the TFK and Tesla 803S in an Air Tight ATM2 and they sounded absolutely so close I could not tell them apart. This was about 10 years ago +.
The Tesla is excellent IMHO - cost no object.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-Boxed-Mullard-CV4004-ECC83-M8137-Box-Plate-Valve-Tube-/311373226535?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item487f4a6227
I also highly rate the ECC81 and 82 of these 80s Mullards. Watch the price on these you can sometimes pick them up for much less than the link. I paid £12 each for some (quite a few) about 15 years back..
Really thick glass, beautifully made. And just gloriously neutral sounding (is that possible LOL?) in the circuits I have tried them in. Absolutely fantastic.
Hm just noticed Marco's are NOT the same as the Teslas I had. They won't sound the same I bet. Which is not to say they will sound bad.
The ones I had looked much more like the Teles I had internally i.e. very close indeed - almost identical.
In fact, they looked exactly like these gold pins. They were made with Telefunken machinery so I read somewhere,
http://hn85016362.myweb.hinet.net/47.jpg
All interesting stuff, Justin! Although there will undoubtedly be differences in sound between them, I think we can safely say that the ones above you've just posted, what you had, and what I've just bought are all genuine Tessies, and as such will sound superb in their own way :)
Marco.
Might even be better to your tastes. Who knows. I think we're bloody lucky Teslas are still widely available at reasonable cost TBH.
Yeah... I dunno about 'widely available', though. The genuine (non-JJ) ones are pretty hard to come by - even more so, the ones from pre 1980s.
Marco.
Justin,
Those look identical to the E83CCs I have, but with gold grids and pins.. nice. Even my cooking version is a fabulous sounding 12AX7 - very open, clear and detailed. Yours is a frame grid tube, and is very similar to the TFK ECC803S structurally. Here is a picture of all three together: TFK ECC803S, my E83CC and Marco's ECC803S
http://www.alextubefotos.gmxhome.de/Trioden/ECC803sb.jpg
Tesla E83CCs are some of the best around, and although supply is drying up, there is still reasonably priced NOS around.
Regards,
Alex
Justin,
Those look identical to the E83CCs I have, but with gold grids and pins.. nice. Even my cooking version is a fabulous sounding 12AX7 - very open, clear and detailed. Yours is a frame grid tube, and is very similar to the TFK ECC803S structurally. Here is a picture of all three together: TFK ECC803S, my E83CC and Marco's ECC803S
http://www.alextubefotos.gmxhome.de/Trioden/ECC803sb.jpg
Tesla E83CCs are some of the best around, and although supply is drying up, there is still reasonably priced NOS around.
Regards,
Alex
Just had two of the gold pin ECC83 NOS Tesla 32 ( Middle picture) for £50 each. The 32,s are much better than the 37,s presumably as they are earlier production tubes from late 60,s / 70,s.
I concour they are very open and detailed and transparent. Wonderful sounding in my Croft 25R pre. Also stuffed a couple in the regulation section and they made a huge difference which I wasn,t expecting.
The ECC803s was manufatured for Industrial long life usage so should be higher specification still . Not heard thise Tesla tube but would like to get my hands on some!
Yeah... I dunno about 'widely available', though. The genuine (non-JJ) ones are pretty hard to come by - even more so, the ones from pre 1980s.
Marco.
The penultimate time I did a search on ebay there was an absolute mass of eastern block sellers offloading Tesla valves - at least for E88CC. That was about a month ago. Now there aren't that many but they are still 'easy'. They seem to come in waves. But it does depend on which Tesla valve you are searching for.
Justin,
Those look identical to the E83CCs I have, but with gold grids and pins.. nice. Even my cooking version is a fabulous sounding 12AX7 - very open, clear and detailed. Yours is a frame grid tube, and is very similar to the TFK ECC803S structurally. Here is a picture of all three together: TFK ECC803S, my E83CC and Marco's ECC803S
http://www.alextubefotos.gmxhome.de/Trioden/ECC803sb.jpg
Tesla E83CCs are some of the best around, and although supply is drying up, there is still reasonably priced NOS around.
Regards,
Alex
To be a complete pedant, mine were actually these, but still very similar looks / construction wise to the one I posted earlier.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5217/5482088610_4209b4b11c_z.jpg
Well, it's here! :thumbsup:
I should get a chance to pop it in later, so will report back with the results :cool:
Marco.
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