Which Pro-Ject tube preamp do you recommend?

Hi, Octavius any info about Tung-sol? Thanks

 

Hi, I´m very pleasured with Tung-Sol!!! They are more gain and low noise than old NOS RTF tubes! Bass is big with nice crisp treble. Also mids are very nice overall I like the sound so much. I do not plan change them.

 

What about Yaqin MS-12B?

 

I hope you meant "pleased". Getting "pleasured" by vacuum tubes is rather a dangerous proposition...

 

Some feedback. As you remember I wanted to taste some tube sound, so I got myself PRO-JECT Tube Box DS which is a hybrid and paired it with full tube amplifier - Yaqin MS-30L. This was my first and only experience with tubes. Before that I was using solid state preamps like Rega Fono MM MK3 and Cambridge Audio 651P paired with solid state amp - NAD C 356BEE.

Now, I love that hybrid/tube combo so much, that I wanna go 100% full tube combo. (I guess tubes should be paired with tubes right?) Tube Box DS is so organic, warm compared to Rega and Cambridge, so I keep coming back to it

What do you think about Yaqin MS-12B, which seems to be a full tube preamp? My budget is $700.



Should I check any other full tube preamps?

Thanks!

PS. I have not rolled any tubes in PRO-JECT and Yaqin yet.

 

I know nothing of the Yaqin unit. But I have rolled tubes in a P-J Tube Box S - Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7's, they're great. I also have some NOS Sylvania 7025's - a premium version of 12AX7's, but have yet to try them.

 

Which one would be best for my PRO-JECT Tube Box DS?

This? - 12AX7 Genalex Gold Lion gold pins?



There are more, maybe one of these? here: ECC83 & substitutes - Shop Toroidy.pland and here: Lampy małej mocy - Lampy Elektronowe On-Line. Największy polski sklep z technik

 

These Gold Lions are what I use in my Tube Box S - they're great.

I also have two pairs of these, NOS, but haven't used them yet. Supposedly they're sweet:


7025 is a "low noise" version of 12AX7.

 

So you use these?:

 

Yes.

 

And they'll fit to my PRO-JECT Tube Box DS?

 

Yes. Any 12AX7 will fit.

 

Ok, got'em. I think I'll try to roll some tubes instead of buying new preamp.

 

I have Gold Lions 12AX7 with golden pins, which are fine, Psvane MK II 12AX7 matched that come in a box, they're also fine, and TJ Full Music 12AX7 and these outperform the other two in my opinion. They are dead quiet (the other two are too) but they have a warmth, a clarity and they make drumn's cymbals so great that I love them. And if you are wondering, they are not Shuguang made.
These are the ones I'm talking about just in case you're interested: € 60.66 |Aliexpress.com: Comprar Tianjin música completa 12AX7 tubo de vacío HIFI EXQUIS fábrica completa emparejado lámpara de Amplificador fiable proveedores en HIFI EXQUIS

 

Thanks.

 

You're welcome. I hope to be of help.

 

Hi Benzion yes of course pleased it was small small typo

 

Anyone tried change the capacitance on Tube Box S2 - lets say on the fly? I mean during listening the music change dip switches on back side of Tube Box S2 with impact on sound.

 

Messing with dip switches on the fly? - Why? Besides, most modern carts specify no more that 150-200 pF capacitance in total. So, I always set mine to the minimum setting and forget about it, because your cables add capacitance to the equation, anyway.

Some of the older MM carts like more capacitance, sometimes up to like 500 pF, IIRC. I think Shure and/or Stanton were in that group.

 

Benzion, got'em:

 

How do you like 'em?

 

had some trouble with takin' them out:



Stock tubes were glued to the rings, when pulled out the seal (orange stuff on the pic below) got broken so now with new tubes the rings are loose - is that a problem?



All installed now, they work, but will chceck them tomorrow.

 

Those are dampers. Tubes will work fine without them, but they're also readily available for sale, including from Pro-Ject themselves, as well as other vendors.

 

How much did you pay for them? I have a pair with under 100 hours of use in my "tubes drawer" that I suspect will be there forver along with a boxed set of two matched Psvane 12AX7 Mk II. Since I got into NOS tubes, even inexpensive Japanese ones (Matsushita, Hitachi, NEC) the only new production tubes I've used are TJ Full Music 12AX7.
Don't take me wrong, the golden pins Gold Lion 12AX7 sound fine, but once I got my first pair of NOS Matsushita 12AX7 (55 Euros a pair includding shipping to Spain) and my two sets (for 12AX7 and two 12AU7) of Hit Ray, a joint venture between Hitachi and Raytheon in the 60's, I felt something was missing with either the Gold Lions and the Psvane.
On my EAR 834P "clone" that has a peculiar topology (V1=75% of amp, V2=25% of amp plus RIAA de-eq, V3=buffer tube on a cathode follower config.) I use one NEC 12AD7 (a very low noise and hum version of 12AX7 from the 1950's) as a V1, an Ei ECC83 as a V2 (Siemens branded) and a RFT ECC82 as a V3. I've been tube rolling for over a year between all the 12AX7/12AU7, I lost track of how much of them I own, and that's the combination I like the most as it sounds warm, not overly sweet, deatiled and dead quiet thanks to the NEC's 12AD7. And fortunately by selling some of my tubes I got six pieces of NEC 12AD7, Ei ECC83 and RFT ECC82, I think I'm more than set for life.
I'd advice you to get a pair of inexpensive pair of NOS tubes, you may never want to go back to new production after that.

 

80 Euros a pair includding shipping