Lol starving student. Tube amp is good for a starving student. they can warm themselves by the tube.
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well, if I can ensure I won’t accidentally kick it, I’ll probably put my better tube amp (thinking Crack w/Sb) under my desk to warm my toesies in the winter!
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So the Amperex Bugle Boy that my father had, NOS, was great sounding, I think the harmonics in tubes affects the soundstage, because the big thing with it was that it had more forward projection and the 45 angle was close and then far again beyond that on both sides. Almost like a triangle with a narrow point in front etc. Good tonality as well-natural etc.
edit: i use the same socket saver that M0N linked. no issues.
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any brands for the 6CG7 / 6FQ7 to consider? the stuff coming up on Amazon.ca are expensive. two Westinghouse vintage for $210 and then another for a mix of 6 vintage for $300.
edit - heh. on VivaTube, they have them for as low as $5 and are calling them ‘vintage’ as well.
also, how good / bad is this socket saver?
are there any tricks to ensuring you don’t pull out the tube with the socket saver when trying to swap?
might as well ask how good / bad Genalex and Electro-Harmony are as well. EH have 6DJ8 tubes coming up for about $35 CAD whlie Genalex are closer to $80.
edit - heh, TubeDepot has the EH for $18 USD…and give me two more brands. how good are GE and RCA tubes? also I see one listing saying it’s a pre-amp tube. that just muddies the water for me. is a 6DJ8 a 6DJ8 a 6DJ8 or are there amp / pre-amp variants I need to watch for too?
Try to get the black one M0N linked as that one clears the top of the Vali 2 chassis. I can not confirm compatibility with the one you linked. Also with 6CG7/6FQ7 they are all good, like I prefer US tubes or Japanese tubes, but I know European is highly sought after. Like RCA, Sylvania, Matsushita, basically anything that isnt late jan-philips etc. Literally any of them sounded good, but its that wow how rare is this one factor etc. They are a miniaturized 6SN7.
On the other tubes mentioned I believe they are both made in Russia, even if they are clones etc. The genlex one is really good, 6DJ8, and I tried a east European JJ. the Genlex had a flatter response and more etched out highs. The JJ was kinda what I expected a tube to sound, warm, thick, but the highs were not very resolving and it didn’t sound like it extended well on either end. I called it the treble tamer LOL.
As far as tube sellers, they seem to be considerably cheaper than what you are listing for 6CG7 so maybe look around to find some good deals. Always remember that if you dont see a center plate its an FQ7 which is not quite as good supposedly… gotta keep em seperated 
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thanks again, Mt! for clarification…do I have to worry about any of these if one is listed with ‘pre-amp’ in the description?
where are JJ tubes from? I want warm / thick sound…soundstage too and then imaging if I’m not asking for too much, LoL.
I believe all the current production Russian tubes including the JJ’s are made in the same plant, the old Reflektor plant.
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no doubt I will have more questions…but I have this JJ tube come up when I did a search for 6DJ8, but the listing only refers to 6922 / E88CC. how do those translate to 6DJ8?
Do 6922 / E88CC / ECC88 translate into referring to 6CG7 / 6FQ7 products too?
this listing also says it was made at a Tesla factory. does JJ always mean Tesla?
Well no, its a preamp tube so that perfectly fine. JJ is from like Slovakia. I dont think the 6DJ8s provide a big soundstage compared to 6SN7/6CG7 etc. They are expensive, but in my own tube rolling, a SN7 is prob. the most ideal(for exactly what you want) so you will have to get an adapter as well. Its very hit and miss though so you have to be able to try may. I would say for consistency go with a CG7 and something like the JJ DJ8. I think the JJ will be warmer, but it wont be as clear or as open as the CG7. Again in my experince, and of these the SN7 is most inconsistent in sound, then DJ8, then CG7.
JJ was tesla, their new name is JJ after the eastern bloc fell.
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I thought they were owned by the same conglomerate that owns all the old Russian Valve companies like Tesla, Sovtek and Silvana. But I could certainly be wrong about that.
Sylvania was american if I’m not mistaken…
okay. so then, how do these numbers,6922 / E88CC / ECC88, relate to CG7 and such?
I have dyscalculia, essentially dyslexia but for numbers, so when I see too many numbers, my eyes cross. I have dyslexia as well, so it makes for fun times on occassion.
Yep your right, thinking of Svetlana I think
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Svet is a cutie pie too!
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No worries, different parts of the world use different identifiers for the same tube.
Here is some stuff on the DJ8:
Also when you get military spec or a better version is generally all numbers(may not be universal)
6SN7:
The first number is the filament voltage of the tube.
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ahhh…excellent. so what other numbers are used to describe the 6CG7 I should be hunting for.
also, if a tube is said to be an Amperex, that means it’s Philips? and visa versa…Philips meaning it is an Amperex?
if you know the other names tubes go buy…can you share that? like how Tesla / JJ are the same…or whether there are others that Tesla / JJ are also known as?
edit - ugh…wiki doesn’t seem to have anything for 6CG7 
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Well for companies you get alot of re-branding, and they may make tubes in many countries as well. so its not that easy. I’m not as well versed as my father on that stuff. ie you could get a Philips tube made in Holland, or a different location etc. and if the tube doesn’t have identifiers its harder to research. It may say X but really be from Y company etc.
Edit: with almost the entirety of tube history taking place before the internet it makes it difficult to research and track.
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are there ways to find out the place of manufacture if a listing doesn’t state it? will it be printed on the box or have a marking on the tube itself?
and are there other numbers / terms I can use to look up 6CG7 FQ7 tubes? want to make sure that if something else comes up, I’m not confused into thinking it’s something it’s not because someone added my term in the meta data.
8CG7(8 volts for the heater) is a different voltage so it may not work, keep that in mind. I will say that a 7DJ8(7 volts for the heater) did manage to work fine in the Vali 2 tho. The default tube is 6 volts in the circuit. 6DJ8, 6SN7, 6CG7 etc. all 6 volts so they match in that regard. EDIT: the pin out matters too for the circuit. so if the pins don’t match it wont work either, and possible “boom!” too boot so be careful and generally use what others mention as being compatible and safe…I am not the sage in that regard LOL.
I dont know, I’ll check with him to see how he learned about some of the manufacturer stuff, I will say the box doesnt mean much tho. Paint on the tube, construction of the plates/getter, makers marks on the base stuff like that does play a role.
I always look for a tube’s datasheet. Most relevant and useful information should be on it.
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