Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono Preamp

So I received this unit from Shannon Parks a couple of weeks ago. I'm really enjoying it, but of course I'm thinking about upgrading the tubes. Not sure I want to spend the money for NOS Amperex tubes just yet. Has anybody put the Genalex Gold Lion 6922s in one of these preamps? Those seem to be the best reviewed current production 6922s. Would they be a step up from the stock Electro Harmonix tubes?

 

I'd pick the third option - not-technically-NOS-but-mostly-new tubes. Once you remove "NOS" from your ebay search, it gets a lot easier, and you'll find prices to be the same or less then gold lion reissues.

That being said though, 6DJ8's don't tend to be as expensive as other preamp tubes. I got a pair of NOS Mullards for about $90.

 

Keep us posted about what you go for. The Budgie Phono Pre has been next on my to-get list for months, but other things keep getting in the way!

 

Jim McShane stocks the Genelex 6922's. He'll match and balance them, which is important for a phono stage. Shoot him an email, he's a super nice guy. http://www.mcshanedesign.net/tubes.htm

jeff

 

I've owned a Budgie for over a year now and couldn't be happier with it. It's a bargain for the price. I think the Electro-Harmonix tubes it ships with sound good. For what it's worth, I swapped out the tubes with some NOS JAN Sylvania 6922 tubes and didn't hear a difference, so I put the EH tubes back in. I'll be interested in finding out what tubes you decide on and how they sound in the Budgie.

 

Jim McShane is great! When I need tubes, he's my source.

 

Thanks guys! I'll check check out Jim's site.

 

Saw you mention, @Leviethan, in the other recent phono pre thread that you had started rolling some tubes in your Budgie pre. What tubes did you end up going for and how're you liking them, or is the jury still out?

 

I've been trying a bunch of NOS tubes that a friend loaned me, but I have yet to find a pair without issues. Amperex tubes sound great, but I don't have a perfectly matched pair. I'm probably going to stick with the stock tubes for now, but I might grab some of those Genalex Gold Lions.

 

PM @indy mike - I have bought several tubes from him and all are outstanding. Heck, I even sent him my tubes for testing to be sure of what I needed since the local yocal here said they were "ALL bad and nothing is better than these JJ's I have in stock"

FWIW, only a couple of them were bad of the 16 or so I sent him.

 

The trusty B&K 747B tester comes in handy when it comes to weeding out the dead/weak tubes from the good ones. The Maximatcher power tube tester has upped the game as far as accurately matching up tubes for amps.

 

6DJ8 tubes can be had for not too much in the way of $$$ with some work (you can find Amperex and Mullards rebranded for companies like RCA, GE, Sylvania, Westinghouse, Tung-Sol and many other firms that sold tubes), while 6922s are pricier (the trade is getting a 5000 hour tube with more tightly matched sections); you can find rebranded 6922s for less than the pricey Mullards and Amperex branded tubes (all from Philips factories, just a different paint job).

I have a nice stash of 6DJ8s from different manufacturers like Amperex with O and A frame getters, Mullards and probably some Siemens, and 6922s from Siemens, Telefunken, and Amperex (maybe even some Mullards). I've also wired up some 7693 subminiature tubes (the 7963 is a "super" 6922 type tube made for military missile guidance systems with superior specs that unfortunately has a different pinout than the 6922 - some creative soldering to route the 7963s pigtail leads to the correct pins on a 9 pin socket and off to the races): http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/9798/sylvania-7963-best-e88cc-planet

I have some listed back in Classifieds, and more in stock - PM me if anyone is interested in trying some tubes form the Golden Age of tube production.

 

I bought a pair of NOS Amperex 6922's from indy mike to use in my Budgie and have been very pleased with them. He had a single one for sale which I was very tempted to buy and put in my Peachtree Nova which uses a 6922 in the input stage but since I'm in the market for a new integrated I figured I'd wait and see what kind of tubes I'd need down the road. That and getting the case off a Nova is a royal pain. I never did a shootout between these and the stock tubes that came with it but what I'm hearing now sounds damn good.

 

Still have that Amperex 6922 - those were the absolute nicest quality tubes I've had.

 

I've used the budgie for over a year myself. Great value for money as far as I'm concerned. If only the old NOS tubes were'nt so pricey. Old Philips Miniwatts/Amperex are my favorite as well. Secondly Telefunken 7308.

 

I realize that this is an older post, but here is some information that may be helpful to you.

Opening the Nova is easy. Just place your unit upside down, on a towel. Use a medium phillip's screwdriver and remove the 4-screws that hold the feet. Once the feet are removed, just slide the unit out of the case.

Here is some information directly from Peachtree about using other tubes:

Here is a little more information regarding the different types of tubes that you can use with the Nova. You'll just need to make sure that it is in the 6922/6DJ8/6n1p tube family.

Telefunken 6DJ8 (NOS)-- (make sure the "diamond" shape is molded in the glass on bottom by pins)---Has a nice rich tonality-"warm sound" and great sound stage. Bass is deep-not exaggerated.

Amperex 7308 (NOS USA White Label)--Similar to the tele 6DJ8, but sounds more "vintage tube gear". Highs a little less defined. Sounds good on MP3s.

Siemens 6922 (NOS)--Fast,linear,transparent sound.

Should give you a general idea, what you might expect.

Since the tube is just a buffer that can be taken in and out of the circuit, with the switch on the remote, most users don't hear much difference either way, with the stock supplied tube.

The buffer was designed to be engaged, when playing a digital file that was recorded at lower resolutions and is harsh sounding. With today's 320kbps files, you don't have the harshness that they had with compressed digital files from 10-20 years ago.

Since the "tube" is generally not needed on an every day basis, I see no reason not to replace it with a tube the has inherent coloration. This way, you can engage and disengage the tube with the remote depending on what you are listening to. The key here is to find the replacement tube, which matches your listening preferences.

S&G

 

Ive had a Budgie for over a month now. I think the stock EH tubes are very very nice. Bought some Amperex 6922 NOS White label PQ which took it up another level. But still the stock are nothing to scoff at. I like the Mullard sound so considering...

 

I have been really wanting to get into tube amplification and from what Ive read, the Budgie preamp is a good place to start. I currently have a Music Hall PA 1.2 and am looking at a Budgie. Will I notice a lot of difference? Is this a good move?

 

Not familiar with your current preamp but I will heartily recommend the Budgie. I rolled in some Telefunken 6922's and really enjoy them. The tubes couldn't be easier to swap out and the build quality is superb.
Shannon Parks the owner/inventor will give you settings tailored to your equipment.

 

Awesome. Appreciate your comments.

 

Did you go with the regular Budgie or the Hybrid? Not sure I understand the difference.

 

I switched my original EH tubes to the Gold Lion's and actually liked the EH tubes better. I thought the sound stage was wider. My Budgie is sn 00039.

 

The hybrid is a hybrid solid state/tube device, with extra solid state gain in front of the tube gain stage (but only enough really for HOMCs, not LOMCs) and a solid stage buffer at the end of the circuit, because the original circuit has a very high output impedance, 6K ohms, but with the buffer -- and all a buffer is is a 1:1 amplifier circuit used for exactly this sort of purpose, to switch impedances in a circuit to keep one circuit from loading down another. 6K ohm might work OK with cables, low cap cables and a line pre that has has a high input impedance, like a tube pre. Less than ideal for a typical solid state pre with a 50K ohm input impedance, to the idea of an output buffer on a Budgie seems like a good one. Not sure why he only went to 46 dB gain with the solid state head amp circuit in the hybrid. LOMC's would be better off with 56 or 60 dB gain. A higher gain pre-pre that could be switched out would have made more sense to me.

 

Interesting. Trading one brand of Russian-reissues for a different brand of Russian re-issues wasn't really what I had in mind when I wrote that post, however.

 

I have the regular (not sure he made a hybrid when I purchased) but I use a MM cartridge so I would have gone with the regular either way. As Chervokas stated above, the hybrid is for HOMC carts.