Quickie tubes

[aragorn723]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what kind of 3s4 tubes came with the Quickie kit.  The labeling is green, it says 3S4 (which has a square box around it).  It also says "RT" and 6029.  Thanks!

Dave

 

[Paul Birkeland]

They are French made 3S4's (Amperex perhaps?)

These are some very fine tubes!

 

[aragorn723]

Thanks.. I like the sound a lot, it sounds really clear and detailed with my music..  Though it's tempting to try other tubes  :  I've heard good things about the Mullards, RCAs, and telefunkens.  Is that an easy difference to hear if you swap tubes?  This is my second tube preamp, and I haven't done any swapping yet.  The Quickie seems to make differences in recording quality very obvious (which is a good thing-good recordings sound really good, and the other ones, not so much).  How about Westinghouse tubes, are they any good?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Westinghouse generally bought tubes from RCA, GE, etc. and slapped their name on them, so it can be tough to classify them with any consistency. 

The nice thing about the Quickie is that even the most premium of tubes aren't much more than $10 a pop, so experimenting is pretty inexpensive. 

 

[Mike B]

I ordered up 4 NOS French ones off ebay today, $25 shipped.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Those are what we have been shipping with the kits lately.

 

[aragorn723]

Westinghouse generally bought tubes from RCA, GE, etc. and slapped their name on them, so it can be tough to classify them with any consistency. 

The nice thing about the Quickie is that even the most premium of tubes aren't much more than $10 a pop, so experimenting is pretty inexpensive.

Thats interesting, how about trying to distinguish by type of getter?  I have a Westinghouse with a d getter

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Getters aren't all that helpful either.  Many manufacturers switched getters pretty frequently.

Is there an octagon around the "3S4"?  If so, it's an RCA.

If is a pattern of dots in close proximity to the "3S4", then you have a GE.

There are other makers with less obvious markings, but that covers the majority.

 

[Sonido]

+1 on these tubes. Also got my Quickie recently with these tubes. Really brings out another layer of detail. Honestly I don't know how that's happening, but I'm definitely hear it. Considering I'm using with my HE-500 to speaker amp setup, you can really hear the difference in details with headphones. Another I've noticed with headphones, these really increase the depth of the soundstage.

 

[aragorn723]

Getters aren't all that helpful either.  Many manufacturers switched getters pretty frequently.

Is there an octagon around the "3S4"?  If so, it's an RCA.

If is a pattern of dots in close proximity to the "3S4", then you have a GE.

There are other makers with less obvious markings, but that covers the majority.

Paul,

Looks like it's an RCA!  Cool, those are supposed to be really nice.  I guess i'll have to try and find another one and try that out!  Thanks,

Dave

 

[aragorn723]

+1 on these tubes. Also got my Quickie recently with these tubes. Really brings out another layer of detail. Honestly I don't know how that's happening, but I'm definitely hear it. Considering I'm using with my HE-500 to speaker amp setup, you can really hear the difference in details with headphones. Another I've noticed with headphones, these really increase the depth of the soundstage.

Listening with headphones can make a really big difference!  It factors out room acoustics with problems like standing waves, echo, etc..  Basically its like listening to a perfectly shaped and perfectly sound-treated room.. Of course some of that magic is from the Quickie too   I have a pair of Grado SR125s that sound really nice, which unfortunately won't work that well with the Quickie because of their 32 ohm impedance.  Might have to switch headphones or build a headphone amp eventually..

 

[charger]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what kind of 3s4 tubes came with the Quickie kit.  The labeling is green, it says 3S4 (which has a square box around it).  It also says "RT" and 6029.  Thanks!

Dave

I think thay are french , there a lot of them selling on ebay , how they sound ?

 

[aragorn723]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what kind of 3s4 tubes came with the Quickie kit.  The labeling is green, it says 3S4 (which has a square box around it).  It also says "RT" and 6029.  Thanks!

Dave

I think thay are french , there a lot of them selling on ebay , how they sound ?

The have a very clear treble and mid sound, with pretty good bass too.  The bass gets a little tighter and deeper after 20 or 30 minutes.  The soundstage is decent, not as big as the 6SN7 Cary preamp i used to have, but that may be since my Quickie doesn't have the PJCCS in it yet (just got it the other day, I can comment on that later on   The detail is pretty good too, there are all kinds of sounds I never heard in a bunch of recordings before too..  I would definitely recommend them!

 

[aragorn723]

The Quickie sounds even better with the PJCCS-the soundstage got bigger, and the bass got a lot deeper..  I have 2 subs, almost no need for them!