**Price:350
**Currency:usd
**Ships to:anywhere
Looking for Woo Audio WA3 (Silver or black). Prefer with some tubes upg. Good condition.
Cheers
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Good luck on this search, as a WA3 owner I can tell you that upgraded tubes will cost more than the amp itself.
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Hi Roark,
I got an offer on a WA3. what tubes do you recommend and where to get them (worry about legit tube or not)?
Cheers,
Billy
btw, would you recommend WA2 over 3? I guess the tube rolling cost is a lot more since 6 tubes there. May be the most noticeable pair first.
Hi Billy, you have a wide variety of power tubes to pick from with prices ranging from $40-$250. I felt the biggest delta was rolling the power tube over the dual driver tube set once I got a decent pair of NOS or used vintage stock.
The matched driver tube is where one can invest way too much for say Amperex or Siemans at roughly $400 for a set, which I don’t recommend no matter how great someone says they are. A matched set of either brand around $200+/- will take you to a good spot.
On the Power tube front these are the variants I have researched and/or bought and kept:
6AS7G: This is your bread and butter all rounder, great sound with an open mid-range, buy an RCA as there are plenty to be found. Avoid the GE 6AS7GA, this was the tube mine came with and it was absolutely shiite.
6080 WA: If you want to step up from the above, and get a nice juicy warm tube this is was one of my favorites to let it loose as it comes across as a full bodied tube. For this I have/had a Chatham and Tung Sol variants that were WA, you will see a lot of other brands also sell this and they may be rebrands of the Chatham or Tung Sol, and they may not. For these I paid roughly $45 each from a used post on Head-fi. I was lucky the dude was very honest and did not exaggerate his opinions or stated use of them.
7236: This is far different than the above in the sound it relays and power delivery as has a higher gain than the other two. It was the least tube sounding, and has a very solid state feel in comparison. Fast and tight is the best way to relay how it comes across. I bought a Tung Sol used and another NOS reissue under the Centron label, which apparently is a Tung Sol build. I found a big difference between them where the Tung Sol was clearly superiors. Expect to pay around $75, eBay may be your best option as I have not seen these carried by the usual recommended vendors.
5998: This one can be branded by Tung Sol or Chatham, they are both the same tube with domino plates. This is by far the highest priced power tube I was willing to go, and pricing can get ridiculous. For example, Woo Audio was selling one tube for $400 a few months ago. I was lucky and bided on one I found in eBay, in the end I paid $130 and that was a steal. What does it sound like, it merges the profile of the 6080 and 7236 gives you a nicely balanced, slightly juicy tube.
The infamous Winged “C”: Some folks love this, some folks think it is junk. I had good experience with it, came across as a better version of the RCA 6AS7G with less cost. Once I picked up the 5998 it was used les and less and figured a friend could use it in his BHC, so gave it to him. Can be purchased from this website, who have a good amount of them that are tested and they have a great return/exchange policy should there be any issues
https://www.thetubestore.com/winged-c-6h13c-6as7g
Other typically recommended tube vendors are;
Brent Jesse (expect to pay a premium on the 6922 tubes); 6DJ8 Tubes From Brent Jessee Recording
Andy at VintageTube Services;
http://vintagetubeservices.com
Upscale Audio;
On Etsy I have had success with two vendors who had great prices if the tube I wanted came around.
On going WA2, sure it will be better because it costs more. Right? 
I almost bought one and glad I did not as not only do you have to buy matched sets of power and drive tubes, but now you introduce rectifier tubes and a pair of those. By the time you find a decent one used and invest in better glass you are likely pushing over $2k at which point the law of diminishing returns on an OTL has kicked in well before. You are better off buying an SET like the DNA Starlett, or A&S in the lower $2k price range, my preference is with DNA and that is no secret.
I hope that gives you a good sense of tubes, vendors, and alternatives.
I spent a lot on glass, and it sucked. However it also taught me a lot about buying tubes for other amps I own, so an expensive Tube 101 class if you will. We all learn and spend money on tubes once we decide to go down that path, if you are aware of that then you should not have any regrets.
Good luck!
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Thank you so much. These information saved me a lot of time to research which i did naturally when you want something 
. Hopefully the deal goes well 
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