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Paul S wrote:

I heard back from Lamms about the relay pulses.  They suggested I bias the amps again and then Lamms went silent when that didn't work.  But the problem disappeared when I got around to replacing the 12AX7s that came with the amps.  I happened to use some NOS ribbed-plate Telefunkens.  These not only cured the pulsing but resulted in astounding improvements to the sound.

Yep, it happens. Tubes could go bizarre sometimes, even such a reliable as 12AX7. After walking over more then 40 different 12AX7s with ML2 I have seen some very strange 12AX7 behavior. The ribbed-plate Telefunkens are fine, I use them on my LF amplifiers that drove my line arrays. I find them too rough for MF use. Still, all Telefunkens are very different and they sound differently batch from batch. I have some (genuine) Telefunkens that sounded like “nothing special” and I have some that did phenomenal job. Interesting that with “better” input tubes ML2 might sound “better” in Hi-Fi sense, I call it “tactical” change in sound. However, with change of the input tine the ML2’s “strategic” sound is not affected. BTW, the driver stage more affects the strategic then the input stage. The driver stage is VERY important in SET.

Paul S wrote:

6N6Ps are next, if I can find some good ones, since I have no way of testing the "bulk" stuff generally offered.  Of course, Lamm remains an option, and I am pleased with the V2 tubes he sent me; expensive, but at least they are as advertised.

There is no “good 6N6P” at least I was not able to find them. Get juts new 6N6P, with full cathode emission and it all that will need. The wearing of 6N6P very nicely shows on a tube tester but with their negligible price juts change them twice a year and it will be enough. I remember Lamm told me that the 6N6P are good for over 5 years… God luck with it… BTW, I did some experiments trying to found of if the early production of the 6N6P from 60s sounded better then the later production from 80s. I was not able to detect any difference.

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