Jolida jd-502p

Thanks for the tip Ghosthouse. I hadn't heard of tubemonger. I checked out the site and they have quite a bit of NOS tubes that are a bit different than what I saw on other sites. I shot them an e-mail about my JoLida 502P and the power tubes I'm going to use with it and to my surprise I got an e-mail reply back with suggestions a couple of hours later. Here is the suggestions I received:

12AT7 tube suggestions:

Siemens & Halske E81CC - 1966 MINT NOS 3-MICA 6201 Munich W. German Prem. ECC81 12AT7 (neutral and very musical)

BRIMAR CV4033 - MINT NOS 1960-62 Military Black Plate Prem. Grade Long Life ECC81/CV4024/12AT7 Halo Getter STC Prod ENGLAND Factory Tested (more British sound with emphasis on midrange)

12AX7 tube suggestions:

MULLARD CV4035 M8214 - MINT NOS NIB 1961 Military Box Plate Prem Grade Long Life M8137 ECC83 CV4004 12AX7 Wrinkle Glass Halo Getter Whyteleafe Prod. Dual Logo Old Shield and CV - Gt. Britain (rich midrange)

BRIMAR CV4035 - MINT NOS NIB 1961 Military Box Plate Prem. Grade Long Life ECC83/CV492/CV4004/6057/12AX7 Halo Getter STC Prod. ENGLAND (neutral and very musical)

Tungsram ECC83 12AX7 - MINT NOS NIB OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1970 - Hungary (great tube at midprice)

Between Brent Jessee's recommendations and tubemonger's recommendations NOS tubes for my JoLida are going to run me over $250 easily for pairs of 12AX7s and 12AT7s.

Hey Jedi - glad the site was helpful. I think you will also be pleasantly surprised how fast they deliver if you do order from them.

Wilson,
I also have a Jolida 502 (but the CRC integrated version). I have bass heavy speakers, so I'm set up to (I think) do the opposite of what you are trying to do, but for the record: Soviet tubes from Jim McShane for power amp [I highly recommend these economical tubes -- even though I can never remember their actual name], either JAN Sylvania 12AT7WB to tighten up the base or Ei Elite Gold 12AT7 if I want more top end sparkle, & I switch between RCA long black plates and Amperex Bugle Boy 12AX7 for the rich midrange. Good luck.

Batch

Please don't lure me into the lurid world of Old Tubes. It just seems like an network of crazed and sweaty audio geeks yanking dusty old tubes from abandoned 1950s radios to put on questionable testers while trying not to knock the painted logos off. Give me a New Sensor shiny glass product instead!

Although Philips "Mini Watts" are on my short list of things to try someday...is that so wrong?