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Amperex Bugle Boy 12AT7's

JHoman

JHoman

Tubes & Klipsch!
Just got my (3) Amperex Bugle Boy tubes from the bay. I currently have the outside slots on my amp set up with Mullards & the middle with a Telefunken. This combo sounds great, but I couldn't pass up the deal I got on the NOS Bugle Boys 12AT7's from France. All new in their original yellow and green boxes.

I have not rolled them in yet, what can I expect them to sound like in my Latino ST120?
 
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If you get a chance to get some at a good price (they are often under the radar on epray), try some Tungsram. I really like their 12AT7s running in LTP config. in my 70.:music: I think the ones I have are Yougoslovian made back in the day.
 
JHoman said:
I have not rolled them in yet, what can I expect them to sound like in my Latino ST120?
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Interesting question: You have the amp and the tubes. Might make sense if you tell us youre impressions. Would love to hear them.

Nice way to audition tube is to dicard/or not listen to others' observations and then do it yourself. Then ask, Do you like it/and why. Then report back to us where you might get some hurumpfs and such...but at least you might be happy. ?And that's all that counts - unless you're doing this to sell product (then the customer has a vote!)

Swap-em, see what happens.
 
Those French made 12AT7 Amperexes are supposed to be some of the best sounding AT7s made. Great score on those.

Larry
 
Horn Head said:
Interesting question: You have the amp and the tubes. Might make sense if you tell us youre impressions. Would love to hear them.

Nice way to audition tube is to dicard/or not listen to others' observations and then do it yourself. Then ask, Do you like it/and why. Then report back to us where you might get some hurumpfs and such...but at least you might be happy. ?And that's all that counts - unless you're doing this to sell product (then the customer has a vote!)

Swap-em, see what happens.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to know if anyone had good or bad impressions of them, I'm going to roll them in tomorrow when I can give them a good long listen. My ears aren't quite a good as used to be, but I still enjoy my music.

I'll post my impressions after I listen, at the worst, I have a back up set for my amp.

Jeff
 
Great. Looking forward to it.

Really like knowing others' impressions for certain tube swaps in different circuits.
 
Well, I rolled in the Bugle Boys this morning after listening to the Mullard / Telefunken combo for about 45 minutes of listening to my Adele CD.

The Bugle Boys sounded great from the start. Not too much difference from my Mullard / Tele set up. I believe they were a little less warm with a little more definition in the mid area. They did not seem to make my Cornwalls brighten up, I was somewhat scared about that. The base notes seemed a little more crisp.

This is my first impressions & I know I don't have all the audiophile jargon down, but this is how I would describe it.

Over all I'm very happy and I will post more after spending more time listening to them with different music styles.

Jeff
 
JBCobra said:
Hi Jeff
Any change to the soundstage?
More height?
More depth? width?
etc....
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You know, I didn't really notice any. Maybe after listening for a while with some different types of music I will, but I must admit, the Mullard / Tele setup was pretty sweet, so I didn't really expect any major changes. My biggest difference was the mids definition.

I'll try and see if there is anything else I can add after more time on the tubes.

Jeff
 
I've had pretty nice results, using NOS German-made RFT 12AT7 tubes.
If you look around, you can usually find them for not much more $$$, than current production tubes.

Steve
 
gearhound said:
I've had pretty nice results, using NOS German-made RFT 12AT7 tubes.
If you look around, you can usually find them for not much more $$$, than current production tubes.

Steve
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I think I got a good deal on these, $21.00 for all three!

The more I listen, the better I like them!:music:
 
JHoman said:
I think I got a good deal on these, $21.00 for all three!

The more I listen, the better I like them!:music:
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Yeah, at that rate I'd be liking them before they ever got plugged-in!

Thanks for the initial impressions.

About not having the audio jargon down....that's great in my opinion. Would rather not hear about sensing subtle hints of woody vanilla eminating from the lower mids - and only on certain Telarc selections.

Hope you're enjoying them! Do you have attenuators for each of your drivers in your speakers? (Don't know if Cornwalls had individual pots for each driver.) Perhaps tweaking speaker balance could provide more desireable results due to the tube swap, if you're after that.
 
Maybe you didn't hear much of a difference because you've gone from one good tube to another, you know? That's happened to me before. The Bugle Boys should have a different sonic signature than Mullards, but every circuit is different when it comes to this sort of thing.
 
Mr. Lin said:
Maybe you didn't hear much of a difference because you've gone from one good tube to another, you know? That's happened to me before. The Bugle Boys should have a different sonic signature than Mullards, but every circuit is different when it comes to this sort of thing.
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I think your dead on, its what I hear anyway, just a little less warm & an little tighter bass, mids seemed to have a little more definition.

I started out with good tubes on this amp after talking with Craig at NOS Valves, he reworked this amp and made a few changes to it before I got it from him. He also tuned it for my Cornwalls.

I've yet to try anything other than my Ruby KT88's in the power section as Craig told me that it would make a lot less difference "sonicly" than rolling the tubes in the preamp section of the amp.

I began with the NOS Mullards in all three positions of the preamp, then I rolled in the Telefunken into the center slot. This, to my ears gave me a little more crispness in the highs and more detail over all.

So as you stated, the difference I hear now is not nearly as much as if I had poorly made tubes in to begin with.

Jeff
 
If you have 250 burning a hole in your pocket, these are supposedly the "King" of the 12AT7. 250 will get you a NOS pair:yes:
 
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jaymanaa said:
If you have 250 burning a hole in your pocket, these are supposedly the "King" of the 12AT7. 250 will get you a NOS pair:yes:
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They would have to be mighty good to justify that! I don't think they would make that much difference in my set up.

Jeff
 
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