Finally broke down and ordered some new tubes for my VAC

[Hyfi]

After lots of reading and asking for suggestions, I settled on Matched Sets of Genalex Gold Lion Gold Pins in both 12AX7 and 12AU7 to retube my VAC CLA1. The current tubes I have were purchased from VAC but at least one of the AU7s is very micro-phonic and I am not getting what I want out of the no-name Chinese AX7s. The Jan-Phillips AU7s are OK, but I am being told I am not at the full potential of this Pre with the current cheaper tubes. I got each matched set for $75 and hope to have them before the end of next week.

Rollin Rollin Rollin, Keep those tubes a Rollin

[blackraven]

Congrats on the tubes. Give them about 25-30 hours of break in. They will sound rough at first.

[Hyfi]

Thanks for that tip Raven!

Will update after that

[Jack in Wilmington]

I'll be interested to see how you like the tubes. My pre has 4 12AU7's and I could use a new set to roll.

[Hyfi]

Jack,

My pre uses both sets in normal or high gain, but only the AX7s if in passive Buffered mode.

[TheHills44060]

Awesome hyfi!!! i have the gold lions too in my preamp, very nice tubes.

[Hyfi]

Got my tubes last week and have about 20+ hours of music time on them now, so not fully broken in yet. But, the improvements are easily noticed. The bass is still a little congested, but I now have much more bass than ever from this setup. The detail, separation of instruments, and quieter noise floor / background are very noticeable.

Great tubes for the money for sure!

[blackraven]

Glad to hear the tubes worked out for you. It is always a crap shoot. I am hoping that I don't get the urge to tube roll in my new Cary DAC. You can drive yourself crazy rolling tubes in search for the holy grail of tubes.