Valve recommendations

[nuff]

I fancy trying out some new tubes in my BigBottle MK1 MC phono.
I’d like to achieve a warm valve sound so I require some help as my knowledge of valves is very small.
I’ve been told Mullards are very warm sounding but I don’t want to spend £150-£200 a pair kind of money. I’m hoping there’s some cheaper alternatives that you know of.

The valve needed are. 1 - ECC83 and 2 - PCC88

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers :cool:

[graham67]

Try Philip's ecg for ecc83. The matsushita pcc88 is a warm valve, way too warm for me but cheap enough to try out.

[nuff]

Try Philip's ecg for ecc83. The matsushita pcc88 is a warm valve, way too warm for me but cheap enough to try out.

Thanks for the quick response Graham. I’ll look them up.
Cheers.

[nuff]

Try Philip's ecg for ecc83. The matsushita pcc88 is a warm valve, way too warm for me but cheap enough to try out.

So am I correct in saying that would be a 5751 valve for the Philips?

[graham67]

Sorry for being too vague. It's a us valve so is known as the Jan Philips 12ax7wa. They were last gasp of us made valves from mid 80s and used to be cheap but prices increased as stocks dwindled.
Some silly prices on Ebay but they crop up for sensible money.
You can also get Philips sylvania round edged folded style plate 7025 which are basically the same valve.
And there is no shortage of Philips 12ax7 with the mullard style plates.
The 5751 is a 25% lower gain (usually us made) tube that can usually be subbed for a 12ax7 as its otherwise electrically similar. Ime its usually cheaper for a given age, and tend to be warmer sounding but can result in a slight loss of impact. My fave 5751 is the windmill getter Raytheon which has amazing tone but it's silly money. I fluked a genuine nos one at the jumble many years ago for 20£ and can see why people seek them out.

[nuff]

That’s very informative Graham. thanks for the information. It helps me a lot.

I’ll have a look about.
Thanks again :thumbsup:

[chris@panteg]

I use a combination of a Brimar ecc83 and a Mullard Ecc88 in my Puresound P10, sounds lovely, as an alternative I also have a pair of Philips 83's and a Tesla 88 also sound lovely and smooth.

[Firebottle]

I fancy trying out some new tubes in my BigBottle MK1 MC phono.
I’d like to achieve a warm valve sound so I require some help as my knowledge of valves is very small.
I’ve been told Mullards are very warm sounding but I don’t want to spend £150-£200 a pair kind of money. I’m hoping there’s some cheaper alternatives that you know of.

The valve needed are. 2x ECC83 and 1 PCC88

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers :cool:

Are you sure that's not 1x ECC83 and 2x PCC88?

[bob4333]

Big thumbs up for Tesla. Got my Icon Audio phono stage back from being overhauled and re-valved (it's a very early model): understandably it had been returned to OE spec.

All OK but it had lost it's creamy, extra punchy delivery. Ordered 4 new Tesla ECC88's from Watford Valves as replacements and bingo! Same valve spec - different manufacturer. Now who would have thought that........?

[nuff]

Are you sure that's not 1x ECC83 and 2x PCC88?

Yes your right, It’s been a long week already :doh:
I've just corrected the first post.
Thanks Alan!

[nuff]

Ok. I’ve gone for the Jan Philips 12ax7wa and matsushita pcc88.

There not silly prices so give me the option to tube roll on a low budget.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Much appreciated :cheers:

[chris@panteg]

Jan Phillips is a fine choice I have a pair of those, lovely sounding ecc83.

[nuff]

Thanks Chris.
I’m hoping they will be here tomorrow so I can have a play on my weekend off, But no doubt they’ll next week when I have to work and have no time to listen.

[vinyl]

Mullard ECC83 tubes being warm sounding is a myth. Genuine NOS new in box Mullards ECC83 tubes have a fullness to the sonics and have no peers for a reason, they were and are the best. And they last for years.

Unfortunately genuine NOS new in box Mullards are hard to come by - so what you find is folk hearing well used tired sounding tubes passed off as new, they sound 'warm'.

I've been fortunate to have had most (genuine) Telefunken, Tesla (majority are sadly fake, probably EI) etc etc. Yes the Tele's are nice, but not 'better' than Mullards in my opinion - no chance. There is a lot of expectation bias with some German tubes, you 'expect' them to sound good. Apologies for name-dropping but this reminds me of a conversation with my dear friend Glenn Croft and he loves the Mullards too - and additionally the only time I've made Jac van de Walle go quiet when he waxes lyrical abot the Telefunken ECC803S (https://jacmusic.com/JJ/803S-FAKE/). Jac van de Walle is a really nice guy though!