Tube Rolling for TAD-150


I will receive my TAD-150 tomorrow. I read some great reviews on this unit. Has anyone had the chance to do some tube rolling with this unit. How do the stock tubes compare with other NOS tubes?

Other components; Vandersteen 2CE sigs, McCormack DNA-1 AMP, Adcom GCD500 CD, Thorens 160 C with Goldring 1012 cartridge and LINN Basik plus arm. XTC interconnects, Signal cable and FRO-ZEN power cords....

Eagleman
eagleman6722
I rolled the stock tubes out of the 150 with a set of Tele 12ax7s and as one might expect they were a huge improvement over the stock at7s. The at7s seemed to put all the instruments in the middle. It was all depth with very little width. The Tele ax7s widened the sound stage considerably while keeping a nice center image. Right now I have a pair of Sylvania 5751s in there and they are excellent too (the teles went back in my Fisher 400). Sound stage is wide, excellent center image and wonderful detail. These also give you slightly more play with the volume knob. 11 o'clock is very loud though.

I also have the TAD-60 amp and have changed out the Sovtek 12ax7 to a NOS Mullard and the 12au7s to a pair of GE. A nice improvement again over the stock tubes. I run a quad of Valve Art KT88 and I like them much better than the stock EL34's. The bottom end is now to die for.
Ldatlof-
What difference are you hearing between the Tele 12ax7s & the Sylvania 5751s? And how do they compare to the stock tubes?
Ldatlof, I never got around to trying x7s cause i was concerned about the volume being uncontrollable as they push a little more juice than t7s, but I'm going to give them try. Nice to see others posting. Btw, which Teles did you try the smooth or ribbed plate?
I've tried the following tubes;
Stock chinese 12AT7-dry and quite harsh
Brimar 13D5-not much better than stock
RCA 12AU7 cleartop- nice tube, good bass extension and great highs.
RCA 12AU7A- same as the cleartop.
Tunsgram ECC81-much more interesting. similar sound as RCA cleartops with more gain
Sylvania 12AT7WA green label-now were talking great tube.good bass extension,lush mids and crystal clear highs.
Sylvania JHS 12AT7WA-even better than the above tube. It was described to me as the Bing Crosby sound. It is that.
Last I tried a pair of GT12AX7M that I had originally had in my TAD-1000 amps. This was quite a shock as it was very near to the Sylvania JHS tubes, readily available, cheap, and more gain.
Yes I've been very busy this past year
Ecruz: The 5751s are much better than the stock tubes in every way. Comparing the 5751s to the Tele AX7s I would say that the bass is tighter and more defined with the 5751s. They both put out sweet mids and highs. I'd probably give the edge to the Teles in these departments though. Both tubes are excellent.

Onotu2: I used smooth plate Teles. I like the Teles better in my Fisher 400 than the 5751s. So I made the switch back. I am very satisfied with the 5751s in the TAD-150 though. You really never know how a tube will perform in a circuit until you try it.