Project Ember II Discussion Thread

Listening to the new Sgt. Pepper's remix with an Amperex Orange Globe 6DJ8 generously given to me by Wilson. The 24/96 files from the Blu-ray Disc. Heaven. Liquid smooth but clear. The veil has been lifted. The plankton are swimming tonight. Ember II rocks with HD800.

 

Mhm, I got to hear my First HD 800 out of my Ember II, great combo!!!!

If any one has a Sylvania 6sn7GT Jan-CHS VT 231 Green Label, tall bottle bottom getter flashed spare please let me know. I THOUGHT I'd purchased one on eBay. But it turns out my seller... sent me the wrong tube and didn't actually HAVE that specific variant :/ I was going to post impressions of both the Green and White Label Jan CHS vt 231s but... I only have the white label'd so I'll upload my thoughts on it shortly... still if you've got an extra green label I'm in the market for one again

 

Doing my first listen finally with my White Label Sylvania 6sn7GT Jan-Chs VT 231, I can kinda see where people complain about these lacking bass, it also lacks some... hurrah in percussion like I'm used to with my 6sn7W

The tactility though is impressive the micro dynamics are cleaner and faster. Pulls detail out a little bit better,

Well the gain is higher on my 6sn7W, not by much... and it is a little bassier for sure. But it's a shame to say the 6sn7GT Vt231 Jan-Chs does have better overall detail, less bass but also faster transients >.> which sucks cuz it was CHEAPER than my 6sn7W AND had it's original box!!!!! Oh well, I'm still very curious how the Green Label VT-231 Jan-CHS 6sn7 GT sounds vs the White Label.

The moral of the story here is the price'r options is not always the subjectively better sounding one. Still though, if you want a funner tube the 6sn7W is great, it's like a SUPER DUPER 6sn7GTA still I'm liking this white label variant more my self

 

I have found this out the hard way too many times. Some of my favorite tubes were relatively inexpensive or even free! (Thanks Wilson).Then there is the pair of 6922's that I paid a ridiculous amount for that were so harsh that they only lasted an hour (or more correctly I lasted) before I pulled them out. Luckily with this pair I was able to return them. Funny how some sound good in one amp but nasty in another. But that's part of the fun. Up to a point. One can go overboard on tubes and end up spending more on them than the amp without realizing it.

 

I did that pretty easily, but knowledge is power and now I know

 

Woooooo!

The only seller that actually has Green Label Syl 6sn7 GT Black base bottom getter tall bottle tubes finally sold me ONE. Guy's been selling them in pairs for around $155 a tube! But he finally listed one and accepted my offer on it.

 

Wow! The price on those has really gone up! Guess I have some retirement money sitting in my box of tubes. Enjoy @Mshenay. I think they are one great sounding tube in the Ember. But I will only be using them for special listening sessions.

 

YOU HAD ONE!!!

I paid $90 for the one I got <.< and that was for a green label, only because I couldn't find any one else actually selling a green label. Other wise I'm content with my $60 white label, which is a 2800/2800 match, my green is like a 2400/2500 :/ so here's to hoping it sounds better

 

I have two actually. They came as a pair. One tested O.K. The other almost NOS. I don't remember what I paid, but I am a cheapskate, so I know it wasn't close to current prices. But that was several years ago and they weren't as scarce as they are now. Hope yours sounds great. They really are a nice paring with the Ember II. IMO.

 

I got my Green Label 6sn7 GT, sound wise it's a little thicker on the low end than my White Label. Bass is more robust, but it's lacking a little in the low end clarity honestly. I still preffer my white Label over the green label... not to mention the green label was a smidge noiser than my White, I had to re-install my little foil shield to help silence the green label variant

though they each measure a little differently. My green had 7.2 and 7.6 mA measurements for each side, with a 2400/2500 measurement, my 1944 White label was 2800/2800 no idea on the plate current sadly. Still it's not a HUGE difference, and I like redundancy... so it's nice to have an acceptable spare. An I frankly wouldn't recommend buying a green over the white Label... as the price difference is around $20, assuming you even have the option to make an offer on a set of Greens.

Speaking of detail... I spent an hour listening to Miles Davis so what with my Green Label... upon switching back to my white I noticed... some kind of weird... thinness or rattle sound in the Piano I'd never heard before -.- going to download a different master and see if that helps... but yay detail... I did switch back to the green label and sure enough the paino didn't have any of the rattle... ugh another download... and it was even worse <.< oh well I guess I'll chalk it up to a detail I hadn't noticed before...

 

Yeah. Tubes are weird sometimes. I once bought a quad of Amperex 6DJ8's. All measured NOS. Good section matching. 2 were great. The other two sounded the same except they were microphonic as hell. No slamming doors. You couldn't have used them in a speaker rig. Worked fine in a headphone amp as long as no one walked to close to the stand. Never had a white label only the greens. Funny how changing tubes can effect those hidden details.

 

Seriously I'm hoping it's not the tube... and I know that it isn't. The part of the song that has that touch of rattle repeats later and it doesn't rattle then... so who knows what happened during recording to cause that. But I'm damn impressed that it was my Ember II and ZMF Eikon that brought that detail out! NOT my HE 4, though if I had to guess it could be distortion throughout the mid range on the HE 4

Non the less, moving forward. Listening to my newest acquisition an RCA Grey-glass black Base vt231 Jan-Chs with my Modded ES10 and Metallica's Shortest Straw. From my understanding @Bill-P modded this headphone with a thicker sounding tube so it's only natural I use it to demo this bad boi, off the bat it's not as "warm" still getting good echo on Jame's voice and frankly I'm missing a little sweetness in the guitars...

Though I will say this particular tube is... #1 lopsided... it sits a little funny. #2 has a dark spot at the top of one of the plates and not the other :/ usually you'll get these after a lot of usage... I mean I only paid $28 for it, so I guess I shouldn't complain but... either way I'll give it another 3-4 listens of this song and swapping back....

The biggest difference is clarity, the RCA Grey Glass doesn't have the transient response and tactility the Sylvania has, it's a lot smoother with more bloom in the mid-range for sure. But it's not MIND altering, it doesn't make my already warm ES10 magically syrupy, but horns and guitars aren't quite as creamy