Lab12 Melto 2 - tube rolling


Just acquired a well cared for Melto 2. Wanted to give a tube phono stage a try in my system. 
The unit comes with stock 2 Electro Harmonics 6922 and 2 OTK1 Russian military 6n23p EB tubes. 
I’d like to hear from the Melto 2 owners, or owners of phono stages that utilize 6922 tubes, about your experience with replacing EH 6922 with better tubes.

Sound characteristics - what changed, what was the improvement?

Considering current production Gold Lions as I remember liking them in the Rogue line stage…but those were 12AU7 and not 6922. 

Table/cart - VPI Prime X/Hana Umami Blue

Cables - kimber carbon phono from table to Melto2, kimber carbon XLR from phono stage to integrated

Any thoughts? 

audphile1

@audphile1 

Instead of EH, I recommend JJ E88CC / 6922 Gold Pin tubes as base line reference. 

@lalitk thanks. Back when I had the Rogue separates, they came equipped with JJs. Very quiet and reliable tube, neutral but somewhat sterile sounding in Rogue gear…that is my recollection. Those were standard JJs and not the Gold Pin version you recommended.
When I replaced those standard JJ 12AU7 and 12AX7 in preamp and amp with Gold Lions I was really impressed. Let’s see how the Gold Lion 6922s that are en route to me sound. And I will compare them with the NOS tubes I have now.

@lewm is the sound signature of the Siemens you’re running in your steelhead similar to what I described earlier?

I dunno. Words fail to convey that sort of information, and I don't think the overall SQ depends solely on the tube; it depends at least equally on the circuit in which the tube functions.  Why different people prefer different tubes. I did not experiment with a great many 6922s in my Steelhead; I just used the Siemens because I was able to acquire them at a reasonable cost and knew them to be good tubes.

@lewm cool.
 

Testing the NOS Russian 6H23P EB tubes today. I prefer the EH.
So at this point the Siemens are excellent with a nice vintage flavor to the sound (sweet, big and meaty), the stock EH are actually very good (modern, neutral sound with good dynamics, fast transients and clarity).

Hopefully the new GLs will arrive in a few days.
So far it’s been fun. And I find that I prefer a slightly bigger presentation of the Siemens. Might also give the Amperex and Mullards that @lalitk recommended a try soon, based upon the results achieved with the Lions.