Mullard 12AU7s Have Arrived!

[Bunky]

My buddy Rosconey owns the 1st Candela ever made. it was one of two prototypes built by Alex G at Odyssey that was tweaked and tested extensively before it was put on the market. Rosconey's Candela was the one chosen out of the two prototypes to become the Candela.Production Candela's have three knobs on the front, the 1st one being the power switch, the 2nd being the input selector and the third being the volume.Rosconey's Candela has the selector and volume on the front and the power on the back!

[LKdog]

ken, you have to remove four screws?  i have to remove eleven screws to roll tubes in my belles preamp

I simply leave the top off my Audio Mirrror PP1 preamp. 

[Bigfish8]

ken, you have to remove four screws?  i have to remove eleven screws to roll tubes in my belles preamp

I simply leave the top off my Audio Mirrror PP1 preamp. 
[/quote

I think I am going to leave the top of the Candela the next time I want to roll tubes.

[rosconey]

got my mullards today -am running them right now-they arent broken in yet -so far i like the raytheon windmill getters better

[rosconey]

after a weekend of playing-i must say these are nice tubes-nothing like the brimars i tried-

they arent great at anything,but they also dont do anything bad-just a real nice sound -
i will still give the windmill getters a slight advantage for soundstage and body

[carusoracer]

Which specific vintage and getter type Mullard did you get?

[rosconey]

cv4003 are the tubes-dont have any clue about the getter they are installed and i cant see them-

[Bunky]

I have a pair of the Mullard CV4003's too.These tubes have short plates and were made for the British Military.They have a Great midrange and they are somewhat rolled off at the top and bottom

[rollo]

I have a pair of the Mullard CV4003's too.These tubes have short plates and were made for the British Military.They have a Great midrange and they are somewhat rolled off at the top and bottom

   I agree 100%.


rollo

[mboldda1]

i have found that the brimar 13d5 has the midrange of the mullard with greater extension.
also raytheon triple mica black plates 12au7's are great.

[carusoracer]

I have heard the CV vintage Mullard before it was OK. It depends on your personal taste and synergy in your system. To find out the getter configuration just turn the tube upside down and look in the top usually hidden by the getter flash.


This is all in my humble opinion:

Try the Mullard 10M Gold Pin ECC82. I really think it is among the best.
Another Mullard to try is K61 Longplate, it is a little warm but very nice
50's Raytheon blackplate sq getter are very good as well.

I have had great luck with these. The 50's and early 60's sq getter Brimar stuff is very good as well.

Good luck

[rosconey]

i didnt like the brimars at all when i had a pair

[bpape]

It's such a matter of preference.  I had some Mullards in my pre (AT and AU) and thought them slow and mushy in the bottom end and rolled off at the top.  In my system for my preferene, I settled on 50's vintage RCA Blackplates.  Enough euphony in the mids, sweet top end, but still kept the bottom end right.

To each their own.

As the saying goes "Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances"

Bryan

[carusoracer]

I tend to agree with the general statement regarding Mullards. I have 2 pairs of premium Mullards sitting in box, that I think are slow and dark. But the two I listed are not the run of the mill Mullards. Do a search and see what other opinions are.

I have not heard the 13DBrimar. The Brimar tubes I heard were from the 50's.

FWIW, I found that you can not lump the general tube sound of a given Manufacture as was quite difficult to follow trail of date codes,Plants and farming out of tubes rebranded.
Also Tube Dampers from Herbie help significantly.

Good Luck

[Bigfish8]

The really nice thing about tubes is that you can flavor your system by rolling in different brands of tubes.  To me my pair of Timepiece Speakers are a little bright and forward sounding.  I also found them to be lean in the midrange.  I tried stock JJ Teslers, Amperex Bugle Boys, Telefunkens and finally the Mullards.  I am confident that many reading this post would have preferred one of the other brands but I found I really enjoyed the music more with the Mullards.  The Mullards have now been in the preamp since I received them and I have no inclination to roll anything else.

Ken