Good beginner preamp tube?

[slimecity]

Im looking at a few chinese built or supplied preamp tube kits. Looking at pretty cheap as at this point Im just experimenting, however I'm liking the idea of tube phono amplification.

I have no idea about what the "good" preamp tubes are. I have only heard ECC81 and ECC82 tubes. I keep seeing tubes in kits like:

6N2, 6N3,
6J1, 6J4,
12AX7 ( heave heard these in guitar amps).

Is it a case of these tubes all having a distinctive sound, however they pretty much sound quite similar?

Are there any to avoid in terms of sound/reliability? Or does this more come down to the particular kit design?

Thanks!

 

[thorpej]

6N2 is the Chinese designation for the Russian 6N2P (6Н2П in Cyrillic). The characteristics of that tube are essentially equivalent to the 12AX7, except it has only a 6V heater option, and this is not a direct drop-in for the 12AX7 -- a slight wiring change is required. That's a good segue to discussing the 12AX7 The 12AX7 is a high-gain dual triode. The European designation is ECC83. (ECC81 is 12AT7 and ECC82 is 12AU7.)

The 6N3 is the Chinese designation for the Russian 6N3P (6Н3П). It's roughly equivalent to the 5670 / 2C51. It's a medium-gain dual triode.

6J1 and 6J4 Chinese tubes also have Russian / European / US equivalents.

We have a saying in bicycle racing -- it's not the bike, it's the motor. The same applies to electronics ... it's not the tube, it's the circuit. You can make terrible-sounding circuits with nice, expensive tubes. And you can make amazing-sounding circuits with TV sweep tubes and power regulator tubes that were never designed for audio service. Don't get too hung up on what kind of tube a bit of kit uses (unless you're worried about procuring replacements in the future), pay more attention to the design of the circuit.

 

[primosounds]

Im looking at a few chinese built or supplied preamp tube kits. Looking at pretty cheap as at this point Im just experimenting, however I'm liking the idea of tube phono amplification.

Most tubed preamp kits are based on circuit boards which is a good thing for a beginner. But there is some limitation as to the components that can fit on the cb. One of which is the signal caps. Some kits are designed to accept a range of sizes whereas others are fixed and can be a problem if you have a certain brand you want to use and it is bigger than the space provided by the cb. You may not have been concerned but a lot of builders want to upgrade the signal caps in the preamp.

 

[slimecity]

Sounds great - thanks a lot for the replies. I do a lot of work with upgrading and building SS amps from kit form, and I understand a lot about powersupplies, including the importance of good caps etc.

Cheers!