Takatsuki ta300b vs Psvane we300b plus

Enjoy!
I wondered if you had got to pay a visit.

When we listened at Definitive we also swapped the Westinghouse 12BH7As for some Philips tubes and that was an enormous improvement. Also tried some fancy Brimars to replace the 88s but wasn’t keen on those.

Always turns out to be a really enjoyable and informative day, when you visit Kevin and Lynn, doesn’t it?

did the air scouts fit in the car?

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They have such lovely biscuits.

These Takas :sob: :sob:

I cannot afford.

One of the reasons The reason I didn’t listen to them :grinning:

they get better, and better, and better :grin:

that isn’t helping, is it?

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Definitive have all sorts of 300B’s for sale. I am sure you know this. Nothing interesting in budget there?

Think I will be sticking with EH gold grids. At the best part of ÂŁ400 for 4 that is enough.

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Nothing remotely near your budget though!

Interested to know what they bring to the table over the WE reissues?
Ive heard good reports but not heard of the Billington 300b?

Personally I find the EH a little dark, and prefer the Psvane compromises but it does seem implementation/system dependant…

These remain my default 300Bs, close in tone and presentation to WEs, but possibly a little grey in the midrange in comparison. I haven’t yet heard a Chinese 300B I really like tbh.

The new WE 300Bs actually sounded better than some 80s WE 300Bs when I heard them together a few months ago. They were really very natural, organic and together whilst retaining that big sound.

The Taks were beautiful, detailed, delicate and very coherent. Not as big and robust as the WEs, but more finesse and insight.

They were both great, but different focus on presentation.

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Should try the Takatsukis soon, the 90’s WE I got from Kev are just brilliant.

I do have some really old chinese unbranded 300Bs that I got with an audio note amp, they sound great in the BP amp, they look like generic shuguangs but just sound really musical (no great detail or bass strength but just sound fun)

I did have a quad of the Psvane WE300b replica but they are not even close to the real thing, they are one of the better non WE valves but don’t think they justify the cost above something like the EH ones.

Looks like someone needs to organise a 300B bakeoff in the summer.

current stash includes

3x 90’s issue WE 300b
2x cheap chinese
2x TJ mesh plates
2x shuguang black treasures 300B-Z
2x psvane 300B-T

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I have
4 x LV spec KR Audio 300B
4 x Used WE300b (circa 2005)
4 x Golden Dragon (Chinese no idea what they are really)
4 x EH Gold Grid 300B

One of the very first bake offs that I went to was a 300B shoot out :grinning:

A good friend of mine has a pair of the black treasure, he received them as a thank you gift.

He thinks they sound better than a pair of EH Gold grids he has. Amplifier is the Art Audio Diavolo .

What are you thoughts on these.

I have not heard the Elrog ER300B tubes but the reviews seem positive.

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/the-quick-and-dirty-300b-tube-shootout

They are really not 300Bs, they have a tungsten filament, the plate impedance is higher, and the curves are only somewhat similar to WE 300B. The paperwork is quite honest about this, and it is best off being the basis of a bespoke design. You can drop them into just about any existing 300B amp mind you…

The pair I had set out a beautiful, detailed, fine and clear presentation, with clarity and depth, but in my system, voiced with EH Gold Grids and WEs there was a lessening of the scale, tone, or effortlessly natural approach to music making the WE 300Bs bring. That sense of a set of musicians playing together in a room wasn’t there, but you could clearly hear how the instrument had been miked up.

As with all the other 300B options, in the right system, with the right balance, any of them will be the very best choice

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I have 4 of the original Elrog 211 tubes before Thomas Mayer bought the company out. They have very low hours on them but I could not use them on my Doge 211 Power amps.

How does ÂŁ10 each sound?

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‘These remain my default 300Bs, close in tone and presentation to WEs, but possibly a little grey in the midrange in comparison. I haven’t yet heard a Chinese 300B I really like tbh.’
Perhaps its more affected through implementation than I realise but I really don’t find the EH very similar to the WE in terms of tonal presentation. I agree they have better tone/mid-range than the psvane and other hifi voiced types but they are voiced darker and grainy sounding IMO…