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Tube Rolling - Any tips or caveats

I recently purchased an ARC SP-16 and have decided that I would like to upgrade the tubes, essentially I will begin tube-rolling.

I purchased some NOS tubes to replace the phone stage tubes, but before I do, I was wondering if anyone has any tips or caveats regarding tube rolling. Things such as:

- Should I A-B test different tubes, swapping in/out quickly?
- Can I mix & match brands, or NOS vs. New etc...?
- Should I start from source and move downstream (ph-stage, Line stage,... power amp) or vice versa?

In general any tips would be welcome.
nick_sr

Showing 1 response by xti16

xti16
1,525 posts
 
- Should I A-B test different tubes, swapping in/out quickly?
1 - I would not swap tubes quickly especially NEW/NOS because I have found they need a couple of hundred hrs to break in.
Can I mix & match brands, or NOS vs. New etc...?
2 - If you can manually adjust the bias you should be OK BUT I would not mix brands (although it may produce some interesting results). I have found different brands of the same tube types have their own distinct sound.
Should I start from source and move downstream (ph-stage, Line stage,... power amp) or vice versa?
3 - I have an integrated amp so I have no experience here
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