mixing tube brands

Hi Shel50

With My Jolida 502P amp I mix tube brands all the time with varying results.

I always keep the power tubes the same brand and type but change around the driver etc.

E.g. I'll take keep 4 Tung Sol KT-120 tubes in the power section and put in a pair of Penta Labs 12AT7 tubes and a pair of Preferred 7025 tubes up front for a more detailed presentation. For a more relaxed presentation I'll swap in Mullard CV4024 tubes with Tung Sol 12AX7 tubes. All the while I'll keep the power tubes the same.

Sorry if you know this already but be careful when making preamp tube changes or tube changes in general. Never switch them out while the amp is on or has not been powered off for a little bit.

Enjoy the tube swapping. It can make you crazy sometimes. At one point I had to write down all the different combinations and keep them separate.

Hi Shel50

I agree with Rrog. It is totally your choice to mix and match brands in your gear or keep them all from the same maker. A lot of it will depend on how the music will sound with all the tubes and gear in place. Currently right now I have a XiangZheng 728A preamp. In this preamp I've got Sylvania JAN 6X4 tubes with the proper adapters, Tung Sol re-issue 12AT7s from New Sensor and vintage Tung Sol 12AU7s. It just worked out like that and I find the sound in my system to be ok but I'm noticing a bit more bass then I would like. I'm going to spend more time with this combination before changing stuff out. I've had a very good run with JAN Sylvania and GE tubes so in the future I may go for an entire run of JAN tubes in both preamp and amp. This has potential for being costly but I did like the sound of the music in my system when I had JAN Sylvania or JAN GE tubes from the 60s-80s in my system. So again it is a bit of trial and error as well as preference.

I don't know how the other tube guys deal with all the combinations. I've seen some systems with a Tube DAC or CD player then they have a tube phono preamp, tube preamp and then tube amps. If something goes awry sound wise all of a sudden where to you make changes?