Voici un extrait du "SET ASYLUM", un tread de "COOLHAN" dont je partage l'avis pour l'EML 300B Mesh :
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For the life of me I can't see how anybody can relate the airy sound of the TJ Mesh to the fullsome presence of the WE, of any vintage... then again I haven't heard many inferior 300B amps and it seems that the opinions are incredibly varied regardless.
I will say though that if you dig you WE's, like another poster mentioned... keep listening to them !
They may in fact outlast (you) and all the others anyway, if history serves as a guide.
In my amp, no other 300B I've yet tried ticks all boxes as well as the WE (I'm expecting the black Shuguang Treasure tubes any day, could be something worth writing about, so too for the new production 300B's out of Japan)..
To try and be brief, IMVHE the TJ mesh has half the 'mass' and spatial character of the WE and is far too diffuse, the EATs, although rather dynamically agile and sweet don't have the 'gravitas' of most others I've tried, the KR ST style 300B is an interesting one... initially I found it to sound quite unlike any other, being more solid state in character, but after an inordinate amount of hours (years ?!) and much perseverance, it seems to have relaxed somewhat and is pretty big sounding all round, a fine tube...
Thus far though the EML Mesh is the only one which gets close to the WE in aspects of gestalt and simple MUSICAL ability, the ineffable quality which allows you to stop 'listening' to the amp and just enjoy.... there have been numerous other 300b's through the grill but I'll spare you the disappointments I experienced ;-)
I do want to qualify something that I note most others make no reference to....
The sound of the output tube, in this case the 300B, is LARGELY influenced by the tube driving it (and the final sound is influenced by the input tubes also, should your amp be a 3 stage design)
In my case it has taken years and countless permutations of tubes to arrive at several optimum combinations which fully synergise the combined aspects of inherent distortions and frequency responses.
For example the disparate characters of the Bendix 6900 as driver and WE output, dovetail with the audible result being sublimely more musical than the sum of their singular qualities.
So too, the sound of the 1949 flat black plate Tung-Sol 5687WA's optimally combine when driving several other more modern 300B's I use.
Well that wasn't very brief at all !!... oh well I hope it offered something useful at least.
At this point & for my money I genuinely believe the EML Mesh to be the best currently available tube which offers a considerable degree of the key qualities which a lover of the WE sound would appreciate.... sure to be a classic either way, as beautiful a tube to both look at and listen to !
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Gillou