Anyone played with and compared these rectifier tubes in their amps, preamps, phono section, etc? What are your experiences with currently available vs. NOS tubes out there such as the Mullards, Tungsol, RCA, etc?
5U4G and 5AR4, same wiring, can be replaced without change anything, but one is direct heating and the other is in-direct heating, so the 5U4g will send out high voltage faster than 5AR4, if tubes in amp is all in-direct tubes, HV come in before they heat up is not a good thing, install a delay timer is add another contact also no good, the only can be done is to separate HV and LV supply, turn on heater LV for amp's tubes first and then switch the HV can keep tubes last longer
tony ma
Hi MylesThanks Tony. The phono stage presently uses a 5U4G rectifier in the PS and there's no issue as the unit mutes its output for a minute after turn on. I can't give you all the details yet but the PS is designed to be robust enough to use a variety of rectifier tubes like GZ37, 5AR4, 5U4g. It comes with a 5Z3PJ stock so imagine that can be improved though the mid-60s Mullard ST type 378 tried was not as good as the stock tube. Maybe there was something wrong with the tube since it makes no sense. Can't remember the last time a NOS sounded worse than a Chinese equivalent.
Best sounding rectifier is 866A mercury vapor but too much preparation works for this tube, second choice is gas filled 3B25 and 3B28, NOS price is still cheap around $30OK I understand Tony Makes sense
Anyone played with the new Emission Labs 5U4G tubes?
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