Yeah biggest thing for me is I’m still waiting on my desks to show up from the movers so I can actually setup everything and spread it out. I have a feeling my tube stash is going to grow as well lol.
Tubes are a hell of a drug.
Lol and definitely not as cheap as the hard stuff
I rolled the 1950s Sylvania 6SN7 tubes last night, and with quite a few genres of music it pairs very well with the AO. More time is needed to come to a conclusion, but that pair might end up in my regular tube rotation.
I am not 100% sure, but I believe Aegis takes 6SN7 tubes as well (possibly with adapters). So I may end up rolling some more 6SN7 tubes which I will be able to use in both amps eventually. I am already running out of room in the storage case I got for my tubes, so I will have to consider some of the storage suggestions others have given me.
With those Sylvania 6SN7s and my AO, it is like I am listening to this album for the first time.
I grew up listening to Pink Floyd on my mother’s two channel setup, and I can’t count how many time I have listened to The Wall. This might be the best presentation I have heard yet.

Ordered a matched pair of Sylvania ECC88 (JAN 7308) tubes on eBay. The seller gave the results of the tests he ran, but not the manufacturer date of the tubes. After looking at a few other listings of similar pairs, they seem to be from around 1969. Few options state side (on eBay), and I was trying to avoid tariffs so it is what it is.
The Etsy sellers I normally buy from had even fewer options available for that socket, and very few matched pairs. I will try some of the other sellers some have mentioned recently, but that will be for another day.
I think I will look at 12AXX offerings next, as they seem to be more plentiful by comparison. I have seen a matched pair of the 1950s Raytheon 12AU7 I use in my Vali 3 pop up on the regular. That might be my next purchase.
In other news, I will need another tube storage solution in the near future, as I am one purchase away from running out of space in my current case.
I believe the 12xxx adapters work for the ecc tubes. I have a set of ecc80 phillips harlens I need to try and have the 12xxx adapters.
Like these?
Yep those look about right and yeah I labeled it wrong E80CC is what I meant lol.
I will keep an eye out for a pair of those when I am ready to purchase my next pair of tubes. The following are another option I am considering as well.
Edit: As a side note, I just looked up the heater current draw of the 6085, and it is as much as the 6SN7 tubes. Well at least I know that my unit is handling said current thus far.
I am also curious about 12BH7 options.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1846560604/matched-pair-lansdale-12bh7-12bh7a?ga_search_query=12au7&ref=shop_items_search_6&frs=1&sts=1&logging_key=66ab44c533acb5c59e973b73be75a0e4b795cd14%3A1846560604
Someone is going to be having fun. I need to expand my small tube collection lol.
Waiting on my recent purchase to arrive, but I am planning on averaging a pair of tubes every paycheck (depending on price). It will be fun for sure.
You probably have more tubes than I at the moment though. I have only been rolling tubes since July of last year. Those were singles, so I have to build up a collection of matched pairs. With my last purchase I am sitting at 4 matched pairs of tubes.
I have a bunch of cheap 6sn7s nothing fancy but I really like nos RCA and Sylvania tubes if you want some cheap ones.
@MindBreak Have you tried the Valhalla with IEM’s yet? Curious on the noise floor with no music playing and armed with quiet tubes. I guess it would also depend on how sensitive the IEM’s are.
I haven’t tried IEMs on the Valhalla 3 , but more sensitive headphones you can hear a hum with some tubes past 75% volume attenuation. I would assume that most IEMs will pick up the hum at much lower volumes.
Gotcha, I had a feeling that was the case. Another reason I love Vali 3 as a hybrid amp, gels a bit better with IEM’s in that regard as it is quieter (depending on the tubes). Another reason to have multiple amps in ones collection.