Maybe it just me or maybe it's just the lighting from the crappy picture the seller took, but the getter on both tubes look very dark/black to me in the photo which is always a sign of a tube that has many hours on it in order to look like that. Here is the picture:
Maybe it just me or maybe it's just the lighting from the crappy picture the seller took, but the getter on both tubes look very dark/black to me in the photo which is always a sign of a tube that has many hours on it in order to look like that. Here is the picture:
Actually mep those getters look pretty good to me. The gettering is still large and shiny. When they get all faded and rainbowed I start to worry that the tubes are near their end.
I quite like the NOS Tung Sols soundwise but they are the one NOS output tube that has given me trouble. Most that are floating around have seen lots of use in guitar amps and they don't seem to be as robust as the brown base GEC KT66 and Mullard EL34s. I have had failures, even the ones that look good as in your pictures can test weak or be gassy. I kind of gave up on them and collect EI KT90 (type 2) and GEC KT66 instead. The EI KT90 type 2 is much more robust, last forever and are competitive sound wise with the Tung Sols. The problem is finding them as they have been hunted to near extinction and were never made in the quantities that the Tung Sols were. Also to keep in mind, most Tung Sol lovers prefer the earlier solid grey plate or black plate tubes to the three hole plate tubes in your picture.
All I can see is two large black blobs with what appears to be a rainbow halo around the outside of the getter. If these getters look shiny chrome-colored on your computer, you are seeing something I don't see. I agree the getters still look very large, they just look very dark on my computer. The chrome base of the tube which stands out well in the pictures is approximately the same color the getters should look like in the pictures and I don't see it. The top tube in the picture has the getter oriented towards you in the exact same light as the chrome colored base and yet the getter looks black on my computer screen.
All I can see is two large black blobs with what appears to be a rainbow halo around the outside of the getter. If these getters look shiny chrome-colored on your computer, you are seeing something I don't see. I agree the getters still look very large, they just look very dark on my computer. The chrome base of the tube which stands out well in the pictures is approximately the same color the getters should look like in the pictures and I don't see it. The top tube in the picture has the getter oriented towards you in the exact same light as the chrome colored base and yet the getter looks black on my computer screen.
If you don't like the looks of them by all means don't buy them.
What I referred to as "rainbowing" is when the getters turn very light, almost white with rings of colour around the edges. Wish I knew how to post pictures--just go to e-bay under 6550 and you will see lots of pictures of Tung Sols with faded shrinking getters. In general dark getters are OK, light, whitening and shrinking getters means lots of use. Strictly from the pictures without any test results I would say the tubes in your picture look pretty healthy.
Mendel-my point to this post was that this guy is not selling a pair of NOS Tung-Sol 6550 tubes. The seller is just one more example of people who sell tubes as NOS even though they are obviously used. If guess if the tubes are 'new" to the seller and the tubes are old and the seller has them in stock, that makes them new old stock.
Mendel-my point to this post was that this guy is not selling a pair of NOS Tung-Sol 6550 tubes. The seller is just one more example of people who sell tubes as NOS even though they are obviously used. If guess if the tubes are 'new" to the seller and the tubes are old and the seller has them in stock, that makes them new old stock.
I agree mep, it is foolish to believe ANY Tung Sol 6550 is New Old Stock at this point in time. It is possible that such examples exist, but they would be extremely rare indeed. My point was that the getters on the tubes shown looked to be in good condition and if they tested good they likely had light use. I have seen much worse looking TS 6550. That said, for $350 I would take a pass.
