will
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I use a lot of Herbie's stuff too.
On my Torii MKIII with isocups, I used RXs all the time, but tuned to preferences. I tended to using them on the front power tubes, the inputs and rectifiers, or some combination of these with two sets.
My memory sense with that amp, the RX smoothed the sound with a slight sense of darkening...the combination could be good or bad in the balance of my system....Depends on the room and system tonal values; on the tubes that make up a tube set sound; and on the individual tubes, some tubes having less effect from vibration, and some warmer, some clearer.....
Depending on the end effect of all these variables, tube damping could be great with increased inner detail, or sound too dark with too much reduction in the sense of space, texture and fine detail. I seem to like minor distortions inherent to tubes at times depending on the general tonal balance...the right amount contributing to texture and liveness.
The RX were my primary for a long time, then I got some used Hal-O IIIs for my rectifiers, and comparing them, I think these were a bit more transparent....my recollection being smoothing/cleaning things without the slight darkening of the RX.
Then, with my MKIV, using Herbie's isocups under the amp, the tube damper distortion shifts were more subtle, and I used dampers less with it. Maybe just the rectifiers and inputs, though for a while now I have been using no dampers..... I got some Mad Scientist Blackpod TC feet to try, and wanted to “learn” them without dampers. I had a time finding the right positions under the MKIV, tuning away, and now it appears I have kept them.
Have not had a chance to AB with isocups, but first impressions were the TCs having better resolution without color, though being clearer took some adjustment. The resolution increase was across the spectrum, but quite notable here in the bass...tighter, realer. Were the Herbie's smoother, or a little deadening???
Do to this thread, I got out the dampers. I put HAL-O III on the front Tungsol 6L6Gs, and RX on the early 60s Heerlen Miniwatt PCC88 inputs and Mazda/Mullard GZ32s. Also some Herbies dampers that look like Ultrasonics but have a brown outer covering on the silicone looking stuff and black plastic tension rings (I could not find them on the site now) on the early 60's Sylvania 6922 gold pins with D getters in the power positions in the CSP3. So I damped 4 of my 8 tube positions.
Damping on and off was subtle in some ways but quite notable in others. On spacious recordings with "hot"upper mids, definitely better to me today....more inner space and fine detail with a bunch of dampers on...less distortions smoothing to good effect, open and natural. With warmer/darker/smoother sounding recordings, this was a little too smooth/dark for me, but pretty good. Especially since I had things tuned to my liking without the dampers, this is impressive to me. It makes me think the Mad Scientist feet are good, showing shifts clearly and inner resolution that is very good with dampers. But these feet versus the isocups is another test I don't have time for now.
So I will play more, but with this tube set, a few dampers are doing good things, and these are some pretty nicely made tubes across the board. For now the CSP3 has no dampers and the inputs, rectifiers and front power tubes on the Torii have them, now 3 of the eight positions seem a good balance.
I think that if your system/room is resolving, you will hear the dampers. Judging from my big Hal-O IIIs, it could be different on inputs, but I might suggest getting a pair of RX and Hal-o IIIs (if you can) for the inputs (generally a powerful effect there), and see how they suit your sound needs. Could send both or one back if one excels and go from there.
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