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JJ or Gold Lion 300B recommendation

I

itsikhefez

Active Member
Hi all,

I have decided to try out a SET amp and have an Elekit TU-8600 kit on its way. I need 300B tubes, and narrowed down my selection to JJ and Gold Lion.
I am only interested in new tubes.

The Gold Lion's get really good reviews but so do the JJ. Does anyone here have hands on experience with recently manufactured 300B's from them?

Thanks alot for your thoughts!
 
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I purchased JJ’s around 2001 and only replaced them around a year ago, one tube began to occasionally make noise, they are still good for spares. Not wanting to tube roll I stuck with what worked well and were very dependable. I went with JJ again as a replacement set for my SE-1. They will stay in my amp until the coming of the big bright flash in the sky.
 
I don't think you would be unhappy with either tube. I know the JJ is super reliable and great sounding; but I just don't have experience with the GL.
 
I'm still waiting for the used set of EH's I bought to wear out in mine. I bought them when I built my first 300B just to use while I was building and testing it. But I'm still using them in the second 300B. I'll probably go with the JJ's later though.
 
Thanks all.... I should have known I would end up where I started :)

To my understanding, the 12AX7 and to a lesser extent the 2x 12AU7's have more effect when rolling in this specific amp.
As such, I bought a Telefunken 12AX7 and RCA Cleartops 12AU7 which took a heavy bite in my budget.

AES have 10% off now so the GL would be $270 for the pair and JJ $225 for the pair which come in under my remaining budget.
The GL seem to get unanimous praise in sound quality and the JJ when it comes to reliability, which is appealing since I don't plan on rolling this one.
I heard the KR's and EML's are wonderful but way out of my budget currently.
Psvane is one I haven't looked at before but seems like its getting good recommendations.
 
The basic Psvane Hi-Fi 300B's, at around $130 a pair, are really very nice--clean and sweet. Not the ultimate in "inner detail" or weight, but a very musical 300B. You could do worse. ;-)
 
djnagle said:
The best tube I rolled into my 300B SET was the KRs. I tried them all and the KRs won out way above all others.
Click to expand...

I agree that the EML and KR are in an entirely different league when it comes to outright quality. I use the EML 320B-XLS. I didn't mention them because of the price differential.
 
Wally1955 said:
Aloha
did myself a favour and spend some cash for a NOS pair WE300B with Box etc.
they fit great into the Elekit TU-898/300B
Good sound
Click to expand...

Good for you, looks great! Maybe one day I will be able to splurge on that as well

Alan de said:
I recently built an Elekit TU-8600. After a lot of reading I went with the Genalax Gold Lions. The amp is amazing and with the Gold Lions sublime!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Good to hear about your TU-8600 experience, I'm receiving my kit today !
A few days too late though (for me atleast), I ordered the JJ's a few days ago.. seemed like a solid choice and the differences are probably very subtle.

Which 12AX7 and 12AU7 are you using? Which speakers?
 
I bought my tubes as a package from The Tube Store. Their premium package for the TU-8600 includes the Gold Lion 300Bs and a 12AX7 plus the 12AU7s from Northern Electric. This is my first experience with Northern Electric. So far (and I'm barely broken in) I'm really happy with the package. My speakers are DeVore Gibbon 3XLs. Wonderful speakers (A rated by Stereophile magazine for a number of years) that are 90db efficient. I would say that's the minimum efficiency for a moderately sized room. The best thing is that they never sounded better. Previous amp was an Audio Note Kit El34 and there's no comparison.

Good luck with your build. Hope you're as pleased as I am. One note, if your not an experienced kit builder, watch some Youtube videos about soldering and practice. The PCB is tightly populated in some spaces and the solder pads are very close together. There are also some tricky solders where you join some boards at a 90 degree angle. Also go slow and triple check.
If you find a problem after completion taking things apart is a bitch.
 
Alan de said:
I bought my tubes as a package from The Tube Store. Their premium package for the TU-8600 includes the Gold Lion 300Bs and a 12AX7 plus the 12AU7s from Northern Electric. This is my first experience with Northern Electric. So far (and I'm barely broken in) I'm really happy with the package. My speakers are DeVore Gibbon 3XLs. Wonderful speakers (A rated by Stereophile magazine for a number of years) that are 90db efficient. I would say that's the minimum efficiency for a moderately sized room. The best thing is that they never sounded better. Previous amp was an Audio Note Kit El34 and there's no comparison.

Good luck with your build. Hope you're as pleased as I am. One note, if your not an experienced kit builder, watch some Youtube videos about soldering and practice. The PCB is tightly populated in some spaces and the solder pads are very close together. There are also some tricky solders where you join some boards at a 90 degree angle. Also go slow and triple check.
If you find a problem after completion taking things apart is a bitch.
Click to expand...

Great info here.. In Herb's stereophile review he also paired the amp with Devore speakers.
My system has transitioned over the past few years towards headphones and I don't have any speakers right now.
I am planning on building a full range Frugal-Horn 3 with the Fostex FE-126En 93db driver to pair with the TU-8600.

Thanks for the tips on building. I'm not an expert but have completed a few projects, such as the Bottlehead Mainline and AMB CK2III headphone amps.... hopefully I don't screw anything, this is the most expensive kit I'm attempting. I think I'm more comfortable working with PCB's, my joints are cleaner. On the other hand... point-to-point is easier to correct
 
I've got the TU-8600 built up with Gold Lion PX300B, Telefunken 12AX7 and RCA Cleartop 12AU7...
So far, this amp sounds amazing!

I don't have speakers yet, so am listening to this temporarily in my headphone rig with ZMF Aeolus headphones.
Up until now, I've found many descriptions about differences between equipment overly exaggerated, attleast to my ears..
Hence, I didn't expect to notice much difference from my Bottlehead Mainline amp... but this amp is quite noticeably and substantially a step up in multiple aspects.

@Palustris You got me intrigued about the EML 300B-XLS.
Which differences put them in a different league then the other 300B's ?
 
I have learned that the EML 300B-XLS requires 1.45A as opposed to the standard 1.2A.
As I'm not sure of the compatibility with the TU-8600, has anyone tried the standard EML 300B and perhaps compared to the XLS?
 
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