[RoninChaos]

I 100 percent agree with Ripper2860: never use cheap socket savers! The link provided above is what I have. That said, I don’t use mine currently. Got them to pair with the adapters to allow me to use 12Axx tubes. (Mostly for aesthetic reasons - like the back tubes higher).

I have used them before and heat was reduced and sound was definitely not affected that I could tell.

They don’t make them like they used to. Get some of the good ones while you have the chance! Same re: tubes!

My VH2 is running Voshkod Rockets and whatever power tubes it came with. Bifrost MB feeding it and Senn HD6XX on the output and I have yet to hear a setup I like better than this one. I’m in audio nirvana. I just enjoy my music for hours on end, no fatigue, no stresing about sound quality. I love it.

I don’t love being a gearhead and having lots of equipment and comparing and contrasting and searching searching searching. I do it when I have to, but when I find a place to land I stay there as long as the powers that be will deign to allow me to.

At work I have a Bifrost MB —> Lyr2 w/ 12Axx adapters and Brimar CV4033 tubes (Rochester plant I think?) powering Senn HD600’s and I also love this setup. All in all I’d pick the VH2 home setup if I had to pick just one.

But I don’t. And I have settled on acceptably good setups for both home and office. Very happy!

Where can I get the tubes you’re talking about?

 

[_js_]

So I bought mine from a head-fier, but Pulsetube store sells them:

https://pulsetubestore.com/collections/all

You need the 12Axx to ECC88 adapter and then one of the Brimar CV4033 from Pulsetube store

OR

The Brimar CV455. Langrex still has them:

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/12at7-cv455-kb-fb-brimar-rare-triple-mica-1956-nos-valve-tube/

 

[treys1]

Anyone here with a Valhalla that has had an Eddie Current ZDT Jr. as well? Just now starting to play with one of those, fed by a Lokius. Wondering if anyone had comparisons.

 

[_js_]

Oh! It dawned on me you were maybe asking about the Voshkod Rockets? I have multiples of them. They’re my favorite. I won the tube lottery and got them stock with my VH2. Didn’t realize what they were at first. Assumed they weren’t anything special. But they are. The good ones—Soviet era / grey shield / etc, are getting near impossible to find now. Langrex has them, but they’re very expensive: (but worth it)

https://www.langrex.co.uk/products/6h23-6h23n-6n23p-6922-ecc88-voskhod-nos-matched-pair-valve-tube/

For a while Vivatubes had some grey shields for sale but they’re all gone now.

 

[RoninChaos]

I would never advocate 'cheap socket savers' for use with any gear. These have graced my VH2 for years with no regrets, lowering internal and case temps considerably.

https://pulsetubestore.com/products/plug-play-novib-socket-saver©-1960s-nos-british-mcmurdo-phenolic-socket-on-top-plus-vibration-reduction-base-9-pin-b9a-noval-not-made-in-china?_pos=2&_sid=bdbc8fd1a&_ss=r

But then again, I'm OCD.

And those fit your Valhalla 2 and the original style tubes?

 

[Ripper2860]

Yes. These are Noval (9-pin) socket savers. Straight pin-to-pin -- not adapters.

 

[Lvivske]

Have you tried the swapping without the socket savers in place?

dont use socket savers on those tubes, just adapters, but that didnt change anything

however....right now swapped out the IR tubes for standard 6Ns and it sounds good now. I noticed when I turned the unit off the right channel would suddenly clear up before the volume eventually started fading (because no power). So I'm going to assume the IR's were pushing too much voltage and there was a mismatch with that 1 brimar tube pushing it too hard.

Of course, I can just switch back to the config that worked... (edit: or back to the original Fotons, which work great too, and I did)

 

[regaet]

One thing that is driving me nuts though is - and I think its been the same problem for years now that led me to recap and swap some resistors out to identify the fault - is this muddy farty sound I get in one channel

that is, right now it sounds amazing, but when I swap the Brimar tubes to left to right, the right channel sounds muddy and broken. I switch them back, and it sounds fine. Why the hell would a tube malfunction only in one channel but not the other? head scratcher

It might have something to do with the first Valhallas not being designed to tube roll all the different variants.

 

[stuck limo]

Hey everyone, sorry, I know almost nothing about tubes. My Valhalla 2 has a right channel going out, so I'm not sure if it's the input power tube or the output tube. I'd have to experiment and start pulling and swapping, I guess. Is there an easy way to tell which tube exactly is going out?

My question is: I have a bag full of tubes I got from a meet. These consist of what looks like 2 power tubes and a bunch of output tubes:

Power tubes: 6H6N VII-66 and B82N - XI-66
Output (smaller) tubes: 6H1N XI-60 (assorted) OTK , etc

Will these work in my Valhalla 2 or will I need a converter? I think everything here is Russian but I'm not sure and I'm looking online through Google for information on these.

Edit: Right now I'm using: 6H6N so I guess that WILL fit in the power input. What about the 6H1N? I'm using Jan 5670W as the output tubes and they're on a 6N3/396A - ECC88/6922 Tube converter

 

[Fertamblez56]

Please post your thoughts on the EHs as I am considering them also
Thank you…..

They're good. I haven't felt the need to roll tubes anymore and assume them as the defacto tube in the amp. Lots of dynamics and bass. They were a little crude with treble out of the box but they settled down after 50-60 hours run-in.

I've been playing around with them (genres and phones) and don't mind them with either my Amirons or DT1990s, pretty much a neutral reference.

Paid $80ish dollars for them though so I can't guarantee they're going to outpace something like an RCA NOS set of tubes, I like my RCA 6SN7 in my Lyr quite a bit, which has been gathering dust in favor of my Asgard 3 with my other set of phones.

Sorry about the late response but all my stuff broke and then I had to burn them in and then I didn't have much time to listen to them.

I would go gold pin in comparison to the regular EH brand, it's a little bit nicer of a sound and less 'raw' in comparison to a non-gold pin EH tube in my Vali 2. Upscale audio treated me very well and delivered quick and EH has proven to be a real set-it and forget it brand.

I could do tube rollers at this stage (those extension things that sit the tubes above the amp) but I've forgotten about it. The NOS sound can be more 'warm' or bring more spice on occasion but with these new production tubes I feel like I'm getting holography in the stage as well as more sharp and concise dynamics. Enough that if I were to do my Lyr again I might go with the EH gold pin 6SN7. I just feel like I've found my brand pretty much and there's no need to think about the dicey selections on Ebay.

For a long time I considered my Valhalla a mistake but now that I have these tubes in there I don't have to worry about tube matching for phones anymore, which was a bother. The whole rolling thing gets in the way of the tunes. I plug in my Aeon's and the sound is terrific with K-Pop. My DT1990s are good for a more raw feel with punk or metal. My Amirons get the golden oldies very well, and I don't touch the tubes anymore.

The amp is just giving me a euphoric double-tube sound that is basic and goes along with anything. I obviously really wish I had gone down the rabbit hole earlier and done my research on tubes at the start. But you don't have to take my word for it, there's also good word on these tubes in other forums that aren't this site and Passion for Sound said he really liked the EH6SN7 gold pin in the Lyr, I think most people generally enjoy these tubes.

They give me peace of mind which is all I ask, but who knows maybe the exotic $300 tubes out there bring something else to the game. I just think the amp sounds great now in general. EH is WAAAAAAAAY better than the JJ tubes recommended on here, frankly I think that was a myth started by a JJ exec. My JJs have always collected dust and found their way out of the amp as fast as possible. The stock tubes are great with 'vinyl' music from before digital but I don't need a mythic warm sound since I'm streaming 100%.

I feel like the stocks probably fit with a turntable very well, those rockets and such. I don't miss them at all.

 

[Lvivske]

anyone gonna try these out?

 

[old guy 42]

They're good. I haven't felt the need to roll tubes anymore and assume them as the defacto tube in the amp. Lots of dynamics and bass. They were a little crude with treble out of the box but they settled down after 50-60 hours run-in.

I've been playing around with them (genres and phones) and don't mind them with either my Amirons or DT1990s, pretty much a neutral reference.

Paid $80ish dollars for them though so I can't guarantee they're going to outpace something like an RCA NOS set of tubes, I like my RCA 6SN7 in my Lyr quite a bit, which has been gathering dust in favor of my Asgard 3 with my other set of phones.

Sorry about the late response but all my stuff broke and then I had to burn them in and then I didn't have much time to listen to them.

I would go gold pin in comparison to the regular EH brand, it's a little bit nicer of a sound and less 'raw' in comparison to a non-gold pin EH tube in my Vali 2. Upscale audio treated me very well and delivered quick and EH has proven to be a real set-it and forget it brand.

I could do tube rollers at this stage (those extension things that sit the tubes above the amp) but I've forgotten about it. The NOS sound can be more 'warm' or bring more spice on occasion but with these new production tubes I feel like I'm getting holography in the stage as well as more sharp and concise dynamics. Enough that if I were to do my Lyr again I might go with the EH gold pin 6SN7. I just feel like I've found my brand pretty much and there's no need to think about the dicey selections on Ebay.

For a long time I considered my Valhalla a mistake but now that I have these tubes in there I don't have to worry about tube matching for phones anymore, which was a bother. The whole rolling thing gets in the way of the tunes. I plug in my Aeon's and the sound is terrific with K-Pop. My DT1990s are good for a more raw feel with punk or metal. My Amirons get the golden oldies very well, and I don't touch the tubes anymore.

The amp is just giving me a euphoric double-tube sound that is basic and goes along with anything. I obviously really wish I had gone down the rabbit hole earlier and done my research on tubes at the start. But you don't have to take my word for it, there's also good word on these tubes in other forums that aren't this site and Passion for Sound said he really liked the EH6SN7 gold pin in the Lyr, I think most people generally enjoy these tubes.

They give me peace of mind which is all I ask, but who knows maybe the exotic $300 tubes out there bring something else to the game. I just think the amp sounds great now in general. EH is WAAAAAAAAY better than the JJ tubes recommended on here, frankly I think that was a myth started by a JJ exec. My JJs have always collected dust and found their way out of the amp as fast as possible. The stock tubes are great with 'vinyl' music from before digital but I don't need a mythic warm sound since I'm streaming 100%.

I feel like the stocks probably fit with a turntable very well, those rockets and such. I don't miss them at all.

Thank you very much for this great info! Much appreciated!!

 

[Unterstuffz]

Thanks to this thread i found the perfect combination (for my taste) in my Valhalla in 2x GL 6922 as Input and EH 6CG7 as Power Tubes

im Happy now ... the GL sounded so good even right out of the Box...

 

[loki993]

The back tubes, I think, are causing a little intermittent static on the amp. The also wiggle more than I think they should so I think there may be a bit of a bad connection. What can I swap them out for? Any way to make the connection tighter?


If I do have replace all the tubes what are some good sounding ones. I'm currently running the stock tall ones and the short ones NOS Philips JAN 6922 which I am using because I felt they sounded a bit better than the stock ones.

 

[GumbyDammit223]

The back tubes, I think, are causing a little intermittent static on the amp. The also wiggle more than I think they should so I think there may be a bit of a bad connection. What can I swap them out for? Any way to make the connection tighter?


If I do have replace all the tubes what are some good sounding ones. I'm currently running the stock tall ones and the short ones NOS Philips JAN 6922 which I am using because I felt they sounded a bit better than the stock ones.

You're not going to see (hear) much difference if you try rolling the 6n6p power tubes. It would be best to stick with them. You can get them directly from Schiit if you want to get them now. The preamp 6n1p tubes are the ones that make the difference. You do want to get matched pairs of either one though.