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Building your Universal pre-amp with 6sn7’s to go with a Willsenton R8. I upgraded the stock 6sn7’s with Tung-Sol tubes. (Huge improvement in sound quality) So now I have 2 stock tubes left over. My question is: once my pre-amp is done, should I install the Tung-Sol’s in the pre-amp and put the stock ones back into the Willsenton. Some say that when using the PRE input, the 6sn7’s are still used in the power amp circuit. If that is true, would the PRE I put just in reality be another line in? Would appreciate your take on this and your suggestions. PS really like your boards. Easy to work with and strong.
I’m not sure I understand your question. But maybe this will help. The R8 has a Pre IN option, allowing you to install a preamp ahead of the R8 (which is an integrated amp). The only change in the R8 when in Pre IN mode is the volume control is bypassed. The R8 preamp tube is v7&v8 which is a pair of 6SL7GT’s. In the R8 the 6SN7’s (v6&v9) are in the power stage and work as driver/phase inverter tubes.
Well it all depends on if your Tungs are true vintage or just reissues. The easy answer is for the stock R8 6SN7’s they are either not very good Russian (probably – mine were) or worse Chinese – so they aren’t good anywhere but in the bin. Now if your Tungs are reissues they aren’t much better than those stock R8 tubes, on the other hand if they’re vintage Tungs, then they’re among the best sounding 6SN7’s ever made and i’d put them in the Pre for sure. Now you might think i’m being hard on modern tubes – but remember the tubes ARE the Amp and i’ve listened to pretty much every common 6SN7 (and many rare ones), and quality vintage tubes beat the modern tubes hands down. Yes this is a very general statement and you will occasionally find a good sounding and reliable modern tube.
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