Tube Top Ten
| Below are lists of tubes and
their applications in order of my own personal taste. As the result
depends not only on the tube in question but also the rest of the setup,
it is hard to judge a tube as being generally not as good as another.
Even my taste will change over the years, so this list will too.
The "Cool Tubes" section has nothing to do with sound, but everything about appearance. I am a sucker for light shows (tungsten, mercury etc). |
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OUTPUT TUBES |
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| 1 | RS241 | Telefunken | Great warmth in mids, detail in highs. Great tube all-round! |
| 2 | UX-210 | RCA/Cunningham | Great on voices and highs, gives off light!!! A winner. |
| 3 | UX-245 | RCA/Cunningham | Nice tube, round/warm sound, detailed, very musical. |
| 4 | VT-52 | Hytron | Great detail in mids, a little coarse in highs, good bass. |
| 5 | 45 (ST) | RCA | A bit lacking in sweetness, otherwise very musical and lively sound. |
| 6 | UX-171A | RCA/Cunningham | Excellent all-rounder, highs a bit less articulated, very nice mids. |
| 7 | |||
| 8 | 31 | RCA | Very clear and detailed, a bit dry in the mids/lows. |
| 9 | 275A | Western Electric | Good mids/bass, weaker in highs. |
| 10 | 300B | Western Electric | Middle of the road. Warm bass, fuzzy warm mids, laid back highs. |
|
DRIVER / GAIN TUBES |
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| 1 | UX-226 | RCA/Cunningham | My favorite. A pain in the behind on hum, but sound is like an angel. |
| 2 | UX-112A | RCA/Cunningham | Very close to the 26, easier to use, not as focused on the voices. |
| 3 | KC3 | Telefunken | The perfect gain tube in specs, very clean and even sounding, sweet. |
| 4 | VT67 | Hytron | A bit lean on the bass, nice voices, highs are so-so. |
| 5 | RE134 | Telefunken | Very neutral, can be a bit dry in the voices. |
| 6 | 1H4/30 | RCA | Clarity and detail, microphonic, dry int he bass/low mids. |
| 7 | 1G4 | RCA | Very neutral, less detailing in general. |
| 8 | KC1 | Telefunken | Closed in, no air, very lovely tone otherwise. |
| 9 | 6C45 | ? | Great in DAC's etc. Detail, speed. |
| 10 | 5842Q | Raytheon | Good for DAC's, nice details in high, speed, pace. |
| - | 437A | Western Electric | Very bland compared to the 6C45. |
|
RECTIFIERS |
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| 1 | RGN2504 | Telefunken mesh | My favorite, best articulation, detailing and life. |
| 2 | RGNx004 | Telefunken mesh | 2004 and 4004, almost identical in sound, very clear and clean. |
| 3 | AZ1 | Telefunken mesh | Really nice rectifier, clean, musical, liveliness. |
| 4 | UX-280 | RCA/Cunningham | Very musical, sweet, detailed in mids, highs are pretty good. |
| 5 | 83 | RCA | Very detailed high-mids/highs, good response. |
| 6 | 80 (ST) | RCA | A bit more mellowed than the 80 globe, not as precise/accurate. |
| 7 | UX-281 | RCA/Cunningham | A bit like the 80, somewhat warmer, more force in the lows. |
| 8 | 866A | RCA | In big amps only. Very clear, sometimes a bit noisy. |
| 9 | 5Y3GT | RCA | Very neutral, good for preamps etc, clean, a bit dry. |
| 10 | 5U4G | RCA | Sound is dull, not as detailed, warm. The 300B of rectifiers. |
| - | GZ34/37 etc | These types all sound very grainy and closed in, just not my cup of tea. | |
|
COOL TUBES |
see ''Extreme Tubes'' for pictures | ||
| 1 |
UV-202 |
RCA | The grandfather of all power tubes. |
| 2 | Ce | Siemens | The first ones with seperate anodes/grids. To die for. |
| 3 | RG1-250 | Mullard | Globe, spiral filament, mercury, blue light. Need I go on ?! |
| 4 | 212E | STC/WE | Ah, what can a guy say? |
| 5 | UV-203 | RCA | Ancenstor of the 211. |
| 6 | GM100 | ? | Argh, BIG. |
| 7 | 866A | RCA etc. | Big bottle mercury diode. WOW!!!!! |
| 8 | 100TH | Eimac | Weird, round, big, bright lights... |
| 9 | 126 | Arcturus | My favorite preamp tube, in a blue globe!!!! |
| 10 | |||