JJ or Gold Lion 300B recommendation

[Ken Boyd]

Those crytones are pricey.

I should add my 300b and a couple of other amps have a delay on the plates power. That might account for better longevity.

 

[Jon S]

And it gets worse! Today I received a matched set of TJ Full Music 12ax7’s and paid 250$CND. These tubes came with a test sheet and were among the last pairs of these left in the importer’s inventory. They were manufactured ten yrs ago I believe. They were tested by the Canadian importer of that brand to ensure quality.
So I excitedly drove the half hour to my post office (I live rurally in the mountains) to pick them up and give them a listen. Installed them and let the amp warm up for 15mins. Started getting ready to play some music but before I could there was a loud series of pops from my speaker. I lunged across the room to shut off the amp but not before several more loud pops.
I reinstalled my backup 12ax7’s and listened to music for a couple hrs with no problems. I dont know which of the new TJ’s was bad or maybe both but Im not about to risk my amp and speakers to find out!
I know its not my amps fault as I had the amp gone through by a qualified tech familiar with the model of my amp and all was good except for a blown fuse from those new manufactured russian “Mullard” rectifiers that went bad that Ive previously mentioned in my last post.
Ive requested a refund and will stick with NOS tubes which have never failed on me. Since Ive spent now 750$ on new tubes and still dont have a working set, I might as well have spent that on a nice set of NOS real Mullards.
But gee whiz and WTF? I didnt realized how bad the reliability and quality of newer tubes had gotten this bad. So bad that maybe these products shouldnt be sold in the first place. Not one of my tubes that came as OEM in my amp has failed and now going on 14yrs! Just thought it was probably time to retube due to age and didnt want to wait until an old tube failed and might damage the amp. Jokes on me I guess.
Here is a photo of the TJ’s and one of the test sheet as well as one of the Northern Electric 12ax7’s from Tube Store

Just a reminder, whenever you use old tubes (or even new ones, for that matter), make sure you clean the pins with a small brass (not steel!) brush and apply DeOxit on the pins. I have noticed osidized pins can cause a lot of issues, especially with the smaller tubes.

 

[ceylon]

I understand the Cryotone's are Cryo treated Linlai output tubes.

they buy jj, shuguang and i guess whatever they feel like then cryo-treat them. ive havent noticed linlai.

I just bought some 12sn7 for my pre amp, he did them special for me. Not sure what brand they are. They are fantastic.

thats really cool. i was wondering about things like that.

 

[Ken Boyd]

Hey I have plenty of liquid Nitrogen here, guess I can cryo treat them myself.

 

[HiFi Dez]

they buy jj, shuguang and i guess whatever they feel like then cryo-treat them. ive havent noticed linlai.

thats really cool. i was wondering about things like that.

For what its worth Ive had excellent reliability and very good sound from all the Shuguang tubes Ive used, though they either came with my amp or were purchased at same time as amp as “upgraded” tube option 14 yrs ago. As Ive said before every one of those tubes is still working and sounding the same as ever. I have two Shuguang Black Treasure 300B’s, two “regular”/OEM Shuguang 300B’s, two Shuguang EL34’s drivers, two CV181-z Black Treasure driver tubes, two regular OEM 5ar4 rectifiers, two “premium” Shuguang 5ar4 matched rectifiers, and two OEM Shuguang 12ax7’s.
I found the more expensive Black Treasure 300B-z tubes driven by the Black Treasure CV181-z’s to have an upper mid glare that would go away even after 500hrs so Ive been happier using the regular OEM Shuguang 300B driven by the EL 34’s. Smoother with no glare. Not sure if glare was from the Blk Tres 300B’s or the CV181 drivers though.
Also not sure if the later made Shuguangs would be as good as these that came with my amp, but all the ones Ive got seem bomb proof.
All my problems with tubes started when I tried replacing with new tubes as I figured mine must be getting old (but no actual signs of weakening). The NOS Mullard GZ34 rectifiers I did buy and put in seem to be awesome as well but only have maybe 100hrs at most on them. They also sound noticeably better than the stock Shuguangs so bonus there.
I think due to the fairly high prices of the cryo tubes I might as well stick with NOS Mullards as their reliability sound and pedigree are well documented. Just have to figure out which way to go when I eventually need to replace the 300B’s and drivers.
Maybe if we have a cold winter Ill set them all out on the front porch for “cryo” treatment!

 

[Jon L]

Started with Svetlana 300B. At the time, they were regarded as excellent sounding tubes. About $80 each.
But they all had filament issues. It was well known after enough got out in the field. In a dark room, you could literally watch the filament move back and forth as it heated. Eventually touching the grid and poof! You get half a filament. I literally went through 12 of them. I have 2 left.

Svetlana 300B fiasco was perhaps the saddest chapter in modern tube history. I do have a drawer full of failed Svetlana 300B tubes with 100% failure rate, but when they were working, they sounded fabulous with exactly the tone, texture, resolution, and that gloriously lively yet warm midrange I personally look for. I have not found a 300B tube with similar sonic traits even to this day, including the vaunted Takatsuki 300B..

 

[HiFi Dez]

I have the black treasure 300b and i thought they were too dark. A black back ground is an under statement. I did not give them 50hrs, so maybe better with time, but i did not like them. Missing a lot of music with these with the amount of time a have on them.

Ive been told that tbe Black Treasure 300’s need alot of breakin hrs, even as much as 300hrs! Not sure if thats true or not but Ive also read that online from several sources. Ill keep them as backups and maybe give them another try this winter when Im not out backcountry skiing and am bored. Ill try driving them with the EL34’s to see if that helps rather than the CV 181-z Treasures.

 

[RonSSNova]

Svetlana 300B fiasco was perhaps the saddest chapter in modern tube history. I do have a drawer full of failed Svetlana 300B tubes with 100% failure rate, but when they were working, they sounded fabulous with exactly the tone, texture, resolution, and that gloriously lively yet warm midrange I personally look for. I have not found a 300B tube with similar sonic traits even to this day, including the vaunted Takatsuki 300B..

I agree. They were cheap (by today’s standards) back then.
My first new quad were $80ea. I had a job then and wasn’t racing much.
Bought 8 slightly used ones for $40 ea from a buddy.

The really unique thing about them were the microphonics. I could hit pause on the CD player when cranked up and hear the ringing decay. The JJ I use now don’t do that at all.

 

[Jon L]

The really unique thing about them were the microphonics. I could hit pause on the CD player when cranked up and hear the ringing decay. The JJ I use now don’t do that at all.

I personally believe microphonics to the right degree really contributes to the "tube magic." I have done experiments with various tube dampers/rings, and it's easy to just kill the life out of tube sound if done wrong..