New tubes arrived today for my BHC and Loxjie P20…
BHC: 6AS7G JAN Gray Plate RCA, and Electro Harmonix 12AU7
Loxjie P20: I have two sets the ones currently in the amp: 5670/WA 3 MICA BLACK PLATE JAN GE matched and tested pair, up top are the two Russian 6N3P-E Platinum Grade matched pair.
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not enough tubes
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I concur…I have a bunch more coming in the next couple weeks… 
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I miss the days of the local electronics shop with a good tube tester.
The Internet Archive has some great tube manuals. I’ve gone through most of this one
The whole free library is here:
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What is that beautiful tuber below the p20? God that’s more pleasurable to look at than this hobby should provide.
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Cayin Ha-1a MKII tube, and yes it is quite the looker! Sounds good too…but I will say the stock 12AU7 need replacing (should get them in the next couple weeks). I just got it last week…was very excited, and I’m enjoying burning it in!
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Do you have a tube tester? A tube tester comes in pretty handy, especially when matching a pair. A reasonable place to buy tubes at fair prices is esrc. Guarantees them to work.
http://www.esrcvacuumtubes.com
I use (one like this) military tube tester TV-7 A/U, built circa 1955. My brother rebuilt it for me from surplus parts.
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That is bad ass!!! and it is in briefcase form! I don’t know why but I now need this in my life…
Wife in the background screams “Oh Dear Goodness! What have you done!!!”
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You can find them floating around on ebay. The preferred one of this series is the TV-7 D/U…its a little bit newer and does a better job than the older ones. It also has a an additional testing range. I have a decent tube collection for my three tubed components (2 headphone amps, 1 tube buffer), and am glad I had a tester to check them. Even reputable dealers will send out a bad / marginal tube one once in a while. Sucks a lot of energy though. This one is a little cleaner than mine as far as the case goes. My brother built it from parts from a couple of scrap ones, and beaded the octal and noval sockets to reduce microphonics.
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Here’s my actual tester. The case is kind of beat up, but it works good.
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This is great. It’s got a real KGB vibe. Love it.
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That’s how tech used to be. No hey Alexa, test my 12AX7 and 35W4.
Even my piano tuner used to use a scope and a briefcase of tuning forks. Now its an app.
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I’m very interested in getting the P20. If I do, no doubt will do some tube rolling (about which I know relatively little). Question: of the 2 sets of tubes you mention for the P20, do you have a preference? What does each set of aftermarket tubes do right/wrong for the P20? (thanks)
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Well to be honest they all have their positives and only change the sound a little bit in one direction or the other…
I think you will be plenty happy with the stock tubes…then when you are ready for a different sound pick up a pair of some other tubes, keep doing that until you find your preferred sound. Right now I would say the Russians and Stock are my current favorite…but I have way better tube amps so I tend to only listen for a couple of songs before switching to one of those.
Edit: I think with more time the GE will be my favorite…but I need to let them burn in a bit, which is hard when having the Cayin and BHC only a plug distance away…
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New tubes came in!
Naked! Tung Sol in the back! 12DTS; middle two are EL84 Electro Harmonix; front two are 12AU7 Cayin branded.
Front 4 will be replaced by the new Tung Sol’s
All in …and I may have messed my pants…in a prepubescent kind of way lol 
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Great pictures as always and it must give great ambiance to a darkened room.
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I generally have help when testing tubes. I just acquired more 1963 Melz 1578’s n (6sn7 equivalent), I own some from other decades but the 63 is one of my favorites. The solder inside the pins is usually an issue but I remove the old solder, add rosin flux, then use a quality silver solder. I do this to both Fotons and Melz.
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Beautiful tube tester and calico cat!! 
What type of tester is that?
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B&K 707 it belonged to a university and may have been on a shelf for 20 years. After I calibrated it, it has been spot on for the last couple years.
This is the 63 Melz, many of you will know this tube and what to look for. Going rate can be $90-$120 per tube. I run four in a Freya + as well as using them in headphone amps.
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