What tubes / tube combinations are you using in your Einstein?

Let me just start by saying, my Einstein has all the stock Ruby tubes (EL34's) and preamp tubes as well (except I put a tung sol gold in V2, which gave channel 2 a slightly more open tone and not quite as compressed feeling. I really like it.) The amp sounds GREAT, but my power tubes are a year old now, so I'm starting to think about what tubes to try next. Just curious if anyone has tried anything other than all EL34's or all 6L6's. With so many possible combinations, I'm wondering if anyone has messed around with any odd combinations? And what conclusions did you arrive at?

Thanks, Brian

Peter, are you still putting the Ruby's in the Einsteins?
I hear alot of good things about the SED Winged C's.

We put Chinese EL34´s in the power stage.
I like also the SED 6L6, but cannot get
them constantly in the right amount.

I prefer the Chinese over the SED EL34.
Too much screen shorts on the SED and
the Chinese sounds better to me.

The Chinese 12AX7A-STR is first choice
but too much microphonic for V1.
Therefor we use E833-Cz from JJ. The
disadvantage on this tube is that it can
get noisy after a few weeks and JJ is not
willing to work out that problem.

I get 100 tubes:
10 to 15 are bad
25 to 35 don´t sound good

The bad ones I can replace for warranty, but the bad sounding
ones I put into the trash can.

If I have a warranty replacement outside Germany we have
to pay for the reshipment. In worst case I have no more profit
on the amp.

That´s about tubes

Thanks for the information, Peter. That's just crazy how many bad tubes you receive and have to return or throw out. That's got to be a downer.

I have had my Einstein for 1 and 1/2 years and play it all the time, both at gigs and at home. All the tubes are stock but I changed out V-1 and V-2 for NOS Mullard 12AT7's for a change in tone, not because the original tubes were going bad.

The amp sounds as fine as the day I received it.
I don't understand why people are having tube problems. I have never had tube problems with any amp I have ever owned in 50+ years of playing. And I certainly have never had to replace power tubes, unless one shorted out, for at least two to three years. (It's a good thing as I do not know how to correctly bias an amp...yet, and I would trust no one anywhere around where I live to bias my Diezel.)

:|::QBB:

C-4":45e8a said:

I don't understand why people are having tube problems. I have never had tube problems with any amp I have ever owned in 50+ years of playing. And I certainly have never had to replace power tubes, unless one shorted out, for at least two to three years. (It's a good thing as I do not know how to correctly bias an amp...yet, and I would trust no one anywhere around where I live to bias my Diezel.)

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Hello Stephen,

It's not that I'm having any tube problems as of yet. It's just that I've read that if you play through an amp alot, it is recommended that the power tubes be replaced every 6 months to a year of use. That being said, I've never actually had a tube go tits up on me, but I do think they lose something over time. Just like srtrings, fresh ones always sound better. I'm really just trying to look ahead and get an idea of what I may want to try next. That's all.

I've always appreciated your comments on the forum and would love to hear you play sometime. Any clips or weblinks of your music?

Thanks, Brian

mine came with all Rubys, pre and poweramp. I changed V1 against a NOS Ei 12AX7 which improved the string separation and crunch. Ordered some more to put them in all major positions.

Power tube wise I didn't like STR6L6, also not SEDEL34, still looking ...