2. tech-talk
  3. 1348518601

Upscale audio advice

I have been looking to change the tubes on my BAT VK-30 from the Russian made 6922/6h23 which work fine but am looking into upgrading them. I looked at the Upscale selection and a few options initially caught my eye. These are as follows:
1)Amperex 7308 vintage gold pin
2)Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88 Bugle Boy
3)Ediswan CV2492/6922
4)Mullard 2493/6922 & Mullard E188CC/7308

All of which, if I choose their Platinum grade, range from $70 to $110.00 each which seemed pretty reasonable to me. The problem is, their sales guys tells me that none of these are suitable for my Pre-amp. He goes on to tell me that the only units that will work are the very same 6H23's that I already have. Is this sound advice from them given the fact that I would like to spend some decent coin to upgrade or do they not wish to deal with me? I have seen in other forums that they tend to want to sell to customers who have purchased equipment from them. Is this true? I do want to change my tubes given the fact that they are about 5 yrs old and definately are due for a change. I find it hard to believe that the only option they have that will work with my VK-30 would be these cheaper $35.00 per tube units. Any further comments anybody may want to add to this or advice you may have for me?
vinylmad814
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,222 posts
 
Well with a reply from BAT like that, now I understand why you`re quizzing the panel. Good luck.
Regards,
djohnson54
396 posts
 
Well, I re-tubed my VK-3i with tubes from Upscale just a few months ago. I called, left a message for Kevin and he called me back. I had an idea what I wanted and we discussed the merits of various tubes. He then put me on hold to go and check his notes about another customer who he seemed to recall had problems with a particular tube in my preamp. In short, I seem to get great service from Kevin but maybe you spoke with someone else. Mofi may be right in that whoever you talked to thought you had the SE version. There are other good tube sellers out there too but Kevin is definitely a good one as well. BTW, I didn't buy the BAT from him - this is my second set of tubes from Upscale and he never asked where I bought the preamp.
bizango1
276 posts
 
This certainly sounds like confusion over SE version vs. non SE. One of the things I like about my VK300xSE is that I like the sound of the tubes but I don't have to fret over which ones to run because there aren't a lot of options. I doubt that Kevin is coppin' an attitude to alienate BAT owners who will buy tubes just because he's not carrying BAT components anymore.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
You talked to the experts and you didn't get the answer you wanted, so you came here? Now that's funny! Do you really believe the higher priced tubes are better? They cost more because there isn't as many.
rodman99999
5,977 posts
 
Viktor may have been hesitant to recommend any certain tube, because you may not appreciate the difference in presentation. All of the tubes that you referred to, are direct replacements for the Russian 6H23, as they are all iterations of the the 6DJ8/6922. The tubes mentioned will all provide a warmer presentation than the Russians did, when new, with a better sense of venue ambience & sound stage(if your amps/cables/speakers/room are up to it). The only currently manufactured 6922s that can compare(in sound quality) to NOS 6922, are the EATs(high dollar)(http://www.musicdirect.com/p-5315-eat-cool-valve-ecc-88-aka-6922.aspx). They, NOS Telefunkens and Siemens(E88CC/E188CC/CCa)ie: (http://www.tubedepot.com/nos-7308-siemens.html) will provide a more neutral(less warm than those you asked about) sound, still with better ambience/staging. Anyone that tells you that NOS tubes don't sound any better than the common, presently manufactured 6DJ8/6922, is either deaf or simply knows not of what they speak. DO be certain to purchase tubes that are graded for preamp/phono stage use(the way Kevin does).
More to discover