Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => Reduction => Topic started by: M42 on January 19, 2016, 12:48:26 PM

Title: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: M42 on January 19, 2016, 12:48:26 PM

Hi, I have discovered I have a bad tube in my Reduction. I was wondering what knowledgeable folks on the forum might recommend as an upgrade tube.

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: Paul Joppa on January 19, 2016, 03:45:31 PM

The 7308 (a.k.a. E188CC) is the gold standard. That means if you have a lot of gold lying around not doing anything, you might be able to afford one.  :^)

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: M42 on January 19, 2016, 05:23:59 PM

No gold I'm afraid. Any suggestions/sources for a more affordable step up from the stock tubes?

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: Chris65 on January 19, 2016, 09:56:53 PM

I've been using the Russian 6n23p-ev, the upgraded military/industrial version of the tubes supplied with kit. Whether they are actually a better tube than the standard 6n23p I don't know, but they sound a lot better to my ears.
Parts Connexion sell matched pairs for $55. If you're not already signed up to their email newsletters, you can sign up & get a $25 store credit, so you could get a pair for $30.

Btw, I also have some 7308 & Telefunken E88CC gold pin, and I don't feel the 6n23p-ev is far behind, but YMMV....

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: corndog71 on January 20, 2016, 08:49:33 AM

I got a pair of matched gain SLN 6922 tubes from Ram Labs.  Pricey but RAM ensures these are the lowest noise tubes.  They sound fantastic!

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: M42 on January 20, 2016, 10:36:26 AM

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate the information.

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: amerk84 on March 22, 2016, 01:40:42 PM

This was a nice read and thanks to everyone who contributed so far. I'm curious what brand of tubes comes standard with the Reduction kit?

Also, how much of an improvement will I get by switching to a $90 or greater pair of tubes?

Title: Re: Recommended Replacement Tubes For Reduction
Post by: Paul Joppa on March 22, 2016, 04:54:01 PM

All of the many different 6922 and 6DJ8 types are slightly different sounding; the only one I know to be almost always superior is the 7308 - it's also called E188CC but I have not compared them to each other.

Do be aware that these are probably the most widely faked or misrepresented tubes around. The demand is high relative to the numbers available, so even the ones that are really what they claim to be, might still be rejects from someone who sells tested tubes. Jac at EML has a useful cautionary white paper on his site:

http://www.jacmusic.com/nos/images/Fakes/index.htm