Act II tube rolling

I have the ACT2 and the only choices for the 6H30 that I know about are the 6H30pi-EB and the 6H30pi-DR. The EB is the stock version that comes with the ACT2. The DR version is a NOS version that comes out of the original Soviet military batches.

I have tried cryo'ed EBs from a vendor other than CJ along with a quad of the DRs. To my ears there was little discernible difference with those EBs vs the tubes that came with the preamp. The DRs *may* have a faintly greater extended top end. The DRs have been promoted by Viktor at BAT and recently the price has sky-rocketed, as purportedly the last batch of these has been bought out of Russia.

I'm aware of no particular reason to choose or avoid 6H30 replacement stock from C-J versus a reliable tube dealer.

Rgds,
Tim

instead of retubing, why not get a new preamp ?? just kidding.

i have owned cj preamps. the older preamps seem to be somewhat tube sensitive, such the premier 2 and premier 3.

the newer preamps may not change much, sonically. save your money and replace the tube with the same tube you are currently using.

Mrtennis , the new CJ preamps are completely different sounding than earlier models from the company. The direction of the new gear leans to transparency but retains their signature musicality . The usage of teflon caps and new topologies has changed the direction for the better IMO. I would certainly not advise leaving CJ if preamps are of interest . I have found Cj preamps a strong suit of the company.

Gthgmg, I would try a silver treatment to the tube pins, AC connectors, and RCAs. I had alot of luck with QuickSilverGold, but SST is very good as well.

It significantly increased the dynamics, but initially brightened the sound. The brightness disappears but the improved dynamics remained. It's a cheap enhancement. If you don't like the sound you can remove it with Detox and use some ProGold instead.

Be very careful though, you don't want to over do it.