Tubes, different makers, different types...but what are your preferences?

DasguteOhr

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Sep 26, 2013
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New Sensor (Mike Mathews - EH, Sovtek, et.al) has bought the rights to the Svetlana name in the USA. All current "Svetlana" tubes are from the same reflector factory in Moscow as the others.
 

DasguteOhr

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Okay lets put it another way .
What is the original type of 6550 s ken stevens put in his amps.

The manual states 6550C thats all
the input tubes were Ei tubes Yugoslavia, they also build 6550 tubes.
You cannot see which brand on the pictures on the homepage
 

Mendel

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Feb 13, 2012
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Ages ago, I had a CJ Premier 140 which used a quad of 6550 on each channel. A neat trick in improving sound quality was to blend a mix of 6550 tube brands e.g. a single TS nos black plate 6550 in each side with three original soviet tubes would give a nice taste of the glorious TS tone. The caveat here though is to use the same tube type rather than say salt and pepper different types like say KT88 with 6550.

As an aside, the nos 6h23 tube worked great in this amp, better than many of the usual respected 6922 suspects.
What KT 120 s would you recommend then ??
I might buy a second hand JL5 amorphous core black path next year on the side ( less transformer hum apparently )
Then i have everything original .
Svetlana 6550 s in the JL2 sign mk 2 and KT 120 s in the JL5 also original
Sablon how did that CJ amp bias? Autobias, individual tube bias or pair/quad biasing. Very interesting idea about blending tubes, a way to stretch out those Tung Sols.
andromedaaudio I am not away of anyone else making a KT120 although I’m sure someone in China is making them. As a side note, the best tube I ever had in my Rogue amp was the Treasure KT120 from China that I got from Rachel at Grant Fidelity about 5 years ago. But two of the first quad could not hold steady bias after about two months. Rachel replaced the quad and they played awesome until another tube became unstable.Then another. I took them out and gave up and put in a quad of something else. The tube was discontinued shortly afterward.
The Tung Sol reissue is very reliable, powerful sounding tube with good bass. But too me it is just too dry in the midrange, lacking bloom and dimensionality. Kind of like solid state.
Anyway, if you can use KT88 or 6550 there are lots of choices. You have a great amp worthy of GE 6550 or EI KT 90 or Sed Wing C 6550, all NOS these days. Otherwise I would say Gold Lion KT88 or Preferred Series KT 88 which is the latest version of the Penta Labs KT88SC. Can you use KT66? The Gold Lion KT66 is a very good tube.
 

microstrip

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Sablon how did that CJ amp bias? Autobias, individual tube bias or pair/quad biasing. Very interesting idea about blending tubes, a way to stretch out those Tung Sols. (...)

CJ amplifiers have individual bias. However if we mix tube types we must take in attention that sometimes the power tube filaments are in series in groups of two - we should not put two tubes with different filament current in series.
 

Sablon Audio

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May 22, 2015
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@Mendel - as Microstrip has correctly pointed out, this CJ amp was individually biased so there was no need for matched tubes. I note you mention Rogue Audio and fwiw I enjoyed both my 88 Magnum and Stereo 90. Great service from Mark O’Brien.
 

Mendel

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@Mendel - as Microstrip has correctly pointed out, this CJ amp was individually biased so there was no need for matched tubes. I note you mention Rogue Audio and fwiw I enjoyed both my 88 Magnum and Stereo 90. Great service from Mark O’Brien.
That makes sense. i think individual tube bias is a great feature on tube amps that is often overlooked. Almost an essential feature if you want to run NOS output tubes as finding matched sets is virtually impossible these days.
My amp started out life as an 88, sent it back to Rogue to convert to 90, and later had my local tech upgrade the caps to VCaps and many resistors to Vishay. The amp improved with each change. The individual tube bias allows me to run my GEC KT66, EI KT90, Mullard EL34 and RCA 6L6GC black plates. Your right about the service from Mark, one of the good guys in audio.
Thumbs up for Rogue Audio!
 
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denidenial22

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One of the saddest encounters I had ‘in the bizz’ was meeting the colossus ( in more ways than one) of management Peter Grant. A true managerial giant and Zeppelin would not have been the same without him.
Sadly the drugs had taken their enormous toll and he was a mere shadow of the man who reinvented touring percentages for performers versus promoters. Long may he RIP. He certainly made my life easier when it came to negotiating concert fees and I was pretty hot at it if I do say so myself ;)
 

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