Mullard E88CC/01 CV2493 E88CC CCa Tubes Blackburn 1966 Matched Pair NOS

Perfect matched pair of vintage Mullard E88CC/01 audio tubes - Made in Blackburn, Gt. Britain - 1966 - Gold Pins + Shield logo - Ultra Rare.

The "Super Mullard" is here! A CV2493 - fully equivalent to E88CC/6922 but a HUGE step-up in both sound quality and build.

Most of these tubes were factory screened for tight internal matching and low noise, and Mullard's E88CC/01 type has even more factory testing, so they are essentially CCa tubes sounds more familiar? Manufactured in very limited quantity (simply because the selection standard was too high for mass produced tubes to meet) and today they are being hunted to near extinction by audiophiles, tube enthusiasts, sound professionals. Like a warm British jacket of the finest tweed, these glorious tubes have an attractive sweet warmth in their midrange and lower regions. The top end is silky and pleasant and doesn't get rolled off.

They retain a fine sense of "air" at the top, and the upper midrange is smooth and liquid. These tubes reproduce human voice, especially female voices, with haunting realism.

Listening to Maria Callas and Frank Sinatra on British-made Mullard tubes should be one of those musical experiences that one just has to go through at least once in his lifetime. These tubes are also known to have an attractive sparkle at the top with rich bass... Now we know where that "warm British jacket" comes from! Now all those great traits of Mullard tubes you have heard about or have experienced already multiplied by three and that is what you should expect to hear from this pair of E88CC/01's. The pair worked wonderfully and sounded terrific in our professional studio setup for monitoring. Input: Cambridge Audio CXC V2 dedicated CD transport + Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC. Amplification: Liquid Platinum Tube Amplifier by Alex Cavalli. Output: Focal Clear MG Pro open-back headphones.

Our full tube sound review was written 100% based on the actual listening experience while this pair of tubes were running in the system described above. Both tubes tested Super Strong NOS (120%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance in uMhos and in percentage of nominal). Tube 1 (Left): 15,100/1. Tube 2 (Right): 14,300/15,100 (115%/121%). Good tubes start at 7000 and new tubes incl.

NOS/NIB 12,500 - 13,000, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 12,500. Test result can also be seen in the pictures.

In case you wonder what all these numbers would mean to your sound experience, it's actually quite straightforward: mutual conductance directly translates to a tube's ability to amplify sound so the higher the numbers the stronger. We treasure this pair also because of the great cosmetic condition of both tubes (clear inscription and clear date codes), which is amazing given the tubes' age. Mitcham date codes etched on glass are perfectly visible. Tube 1(Left) - B6D4 (B = Blackburn, 6 = 1966, D = April, 4 = 4th week of the month). B = Blackburn, 6 = 1966, I = September, 1 = 2nd week of the month.

We set extremely high quality standard for the products we deliver. Sound experience is a very subjective thing, and let's be real it's not that easy to run into compatibility issues between amps and tubes so that one won't fly, either.

Secondly, if you are a tube roller looking to game the return system, Number One STOP. We have seen it all and we know what you're up to.