my 300b tests

Petro85

Petro85

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i figured i would put up a thread to document all my 300b testing. i have 3 pair now(2 borrowed) and will be buying 2-3 more pairs in the near future. id like to be able to go back and see my results.
im also testing several pairs of 6sn7's but for the 300b tests all the other tubes will remain the same. which are. 1964 mullard gz37(cv378) rectifiers, 1960's brimar 6sn7's for input, and 1950's MELZ 6sn7's for output driver.

first up is the tubes that my amps came with when i bought them and the least expensive i will test.

electro harmonic 300b gold-$225 a pair

these are no slouch and were what made me know instantly i had a more preferred sound than i had with my snappers. gave a classic 300b smooth midrange, beautiful highs, and did some good low bass , although a little loose. they are the best type of E.H. tube ive ever used. when i pushed these hard into my just 90db speakers, i would get a upper mid grain on some vocals, but that was measured at around 97-98db range(give or take). especially joni mitchells vocals. made me know i was pushing these 15w amps a little too hard through these speakers. overall i will keep these around for backup and to use to break in equipment in the future. but they just dont match up with the other 2 pairs im testing right now.

psvane 300B T-2- $425 a pair

these tubes right out of the box were across the board a little better at everything than the EH's. but i broke them in for about 40-50 hours of music playing, another 20-30 hours of on, but no music, and about 20 hours of on, but in standby mode.
after they were broke in i got out my test records, and holy crap!!! these have better clarity and resolution than i ever heard with tube amps, the soundstage is so big, there is a guy playing harmonica and he sounds like he would actually be standing outside my house beyond the right wall, the drums on some stuff is set back that it sounds like it in the room behind my frontwall. and on that cowboy junkies trinity sessions record, there is a guy sitting 2 rows behind me to the left tapping his foot, and annoying the crap out of me. i keep looking back.lol. now ive felt this with the other tubes and even with my old snappers, but it was never this pronounced. its is uncanny how these tubes throw such a soundstage and mke my room way bigger than it is. the clarity is outstanding and very focused and the instruments and vocal separation is just incredible. also i can now get up to the levels that are way to loud for me personally, but got rid of that mid grain grit
now the cons are with that much focus and accuracy is comes across as analytical, and not quite as musical, because of this some of the songs i often play come across as bright and a little sharp now. very metalically cd sounding. and not all were like that but some were, and i didnt like it. overall a great pair of tubes with loads of strengths and a couple weaknesses. i would buy these


genalex gold lion px300b- $330 a pair

now these are some serious tubes.lol. right away smooth beautiful and sweet sounds across the board. much more musical than the psvanes. the flow and pace of these are not quite as fast as the psvanes , but are smoother and mellower and just better.
they are not quite as clean as far as clarity and overall dynamics and resolution as the psvanes, but they are still a better more enjoyable experience to listen to.
i can generalize them by saying one sentence-"they are not as good as the psvanes but they sound better" lmao!! i know its a weird thing to say but other than that i can not explain it.
the soundstage is spectacular yet not as wide and deep as the psvanes. the separation is awesome yet again not quite as separate as the psvanes. the guy sitting behind me during the cowboy junkies record is gone but i can still feel him walking around back there, just doesnt annoy me as much. if i could only have one pair of 300b's the gold lions would be the ones for me.

next up in a month or so i will bring in a pair of sophia royal princesses, and then after i test those out. iwill buy a pair of the w.e. replicas mike speaks so highly of. i will send the sophias down to mike to test in his cary's while i test the w.e.'s out.


with all that said i may change the tubes from my preamp from very punchy telefunkins to some nice smooth mullards very soon and see if my results are different with the psvanes

more to come!!!!
 
Are you going to try the Sophia carbon or mesh plate 300b's as well?

At $1200 bucks a pair those Royal Princess tubes better sound like the equivalent of a nice sponge bath.
 
dlb2 said:
Are you going to try the Sophia carbon or mesh plate 300b's as well?

At $1200 bucks a pair those Royal Princess tubes better sound like the equivalent of a nice sponge bath.
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lmao!!! $1095. hahahaha!!! i wont try any others than the royals and the w.e replicas and probably a pair of nos too.
right now i dont have the 300b that does it all. after listening to the gold lions all day ,after the psvanes yesterday, it seems im missing something.lol. but as i said its give or take. do i take the full clarity and dynamics of the psvane over the smooth lusciousness of the lions. tough call, maybe ill need to go back nd fourth for awhile and then see how i feel next week, lol.
 
Are you going to try the Sophia carbon or mesh plate 300b's as well?

At $1200 bucks a pair those Royal Princess tubes better sound like the equivalent of a nice sponge bath.
Click to expand...

These tubes are what come standard in our PSE300B Ultra mono bloc amps (two per channel) and in my opinion, they are the best 300B tubes I have heard to date. I will have to admit I have not heard the WE300B in these amps so I cannot say how they compare to the what is considered the best 300B of all time.
At $1,200 a pair, they are not for everybody. It will be interesting to follow along here as more current production, reasonably priced 300Bs are evaluated.
 
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Purity Audio said:
These tubes are what come standard in our PSE300B Ultra mono bloc amps (two per channel) and in my opinion, they are the best 300B tubes I have heard to date. I will have to admit I have not heard the WE300B in these amps so I cannot say how they compare to the what is considered the best 300B of all time.
At $1,200 a pair, they are not for everybody. It will be interesting to follow along here as more current production, reasonably priced 300Bs are evaluated.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Bill. Very nice gear. I'm assuming this is your website?

Purity Audio Design
 
this pic is a very nice setup !!! welcome to the shark. love to know your take on the 300b's since you seem to have alot of amps based on them. id imagine youve tested through most all of them. i just got into 300b's , and im hooked!!
Purity%20Audio%20ETM%201.jpg
 
dlb2 said:
Steve, where are you at with the tubes you've been trying out?
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i dont know doug. so far, i did the psvanes for a week and then the gl's for a week, now im back to the psvanes and really loving em, ill switch back in a couple days and see how i feel after that. i dont think i can make a definite decision unless i have more time on both.
 
Petro85 said:
i dont know doug. so far, i did the psvanes for a week and then the gl's for a week, now im back to the psvanes and really loving em, ill switch back in a couple days and see how i feel after that. i dont think i can make a definite decision unless i have more time on both.
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Hey Mike, are you charging by the day? :D
 
Mike said:
By the hour!
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hahaha!!! im already trying to figure out if i just buy you a new pair of psvanes and have them shipped to you , and just buy me a pair of gold lions so i have them both here forever, but i must keep testing if im going to find the best 300b for me. the psvanes still are changing and im guessing still not 100% broke in. the lions are the same everytime i try them. plus the plan is now to keep my pair of 300b monos and and get an integrated setup as well.
 
My two cents: save your pennies for the Psvane Replica 300b's. They are on another level IMO. I have not tried the Sophia Electric's however. They are supposed to be good too....but the Psvane Replica 300b's to me are in another class.
 
Hello.
Yes Doug. Purity Audio Design is the web site.

As far as 300Bs go, my personal favorite, affordable current production is the EH Gold Grid. We use this in our 300B buffer stage due to its overall sonic and build quality.
For a warm, lush tone, I actually like the Shuguang or Valve Art. The tradeoff with this is some lacking in air and extension. KR makes a nice 300B series of tubes as well.

By the way, the PSE 300B Ultra amps shown on the previous page will be at Axpona driving a new pair of Vapor Audio speakers and being fed by our Silver Statement linestage with Ultra GT power supply.
In another roon, with King Sound loudspeaker you will be able to hear the 300B buffer and new 2014 Reference linestage.
 
thanks for the info. id like to hear all the 300b's that i can. hopefully another pair will be coming soon.
 
ok so i made a decision. the psvanes are better broke in now and i have had no desire to go back to the gold lions anymore. the psvanes keep getting better and better. so i decided to order a pair of sophia princess mesh plates, which are the same price as the psvanes. which ever one i like better that will be the way i go for the future. if i like the sophia i will get the royal princesses next. if i prefer the psvanes i will get the w.e replicas. since i cant test them out i will have to come to my final decision another way. and this is the only way i can think of. the reviews on both are outstanding. before i drop $1000 on tubes i want to be sure they are what i will be happy with.
or maybe i can talk mike into selling me the psvanes too. :D
 
That sounds like a good plan Steve. Try the lesser priced tubes from each company and then buy the best from the one you like the most. You're smarter than you look, or is that act? Lol! I think Mike has some backups so I don't see why he wouldn't sell you those Psvanes. So what is it about the Psvanes you like so much? How have they changed since the last time you posted your thoughts on them?
 
dlb2 said:
That sounds like a good plan Steve. Try the lesser priced tubes from each company and then buy the best from the one you like the most. You're smarter than you look, or is that act? Lol! I think Mike has some backups so I don't see why he wouldn't sell you those Psvanes. So what is it about the Psvanes you like so much? How have they changed since the last time you posted your thoughts on them?
Click to expand...
its all an act, i change my mind enough times that eventually i come up with one smart plan, then usually ditch it for something spur of the moment.lol.
anyway the biggest difference in the psvanes once over the 100 hour mark was the brightness mellowed out, making it super revealing and not as harsh. it will never be as silky smooth as the gold lions especially in the mid range, but the highs and lows of the psvanes are its strongest attributes over and above the gl's, with the added accuracy makes it a much better tube. once paypal clears in my account i will order the sophias.
i cant wait :exciting:
 
Thanks Steve !
My 300B Neo Classic preamp uses EH 300 B's and I replaced them 2 months ago with Gold Lion reissues. ( after seeing that Shindo san RIP used them for his D'Yquem) : I could not be happier. The GL are extremely natural and dynamic. they outperform the EH clearly.
 
yea jerome the eh's are far behind all of the tubes tested so far. but for a good value they did the job when i needed them to.

ok started the next pair of tubes to test, got them a few days ago and just happened to be the same day as i got a new phono preamp, so i neded to keep these in the boxes until i got some good listening time in on the pre. but i didnt last long, as soon as i figured out the phonostage was better than my old setup, i put these in a biased them up.
im not ready to rate these against the rest yet, because i will run about 100 hours up on them first. then go back to the others just to check.
sophia electric 300b princess mesh plates: $425
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straight out of the box im getting deeper bass, and super dynamics, as accurate as the psvanes. with more air and a great punch to the overall sound. cant wait to get these fully broke in and see what i got here. more in a couple weeks.
 
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