Freo-1

Hello, New to this forum. Craig (NOS Valves) posted some good information on another website, so I decided to get involved over here. Looking for some more feedback on the Black Treasure KT88 vs. Penta KT88SC. I have a quad of both. My amp (Eastern Electric M88) came with the Black Treasures (which do sound excellent) I got a quad of Penta KT88SC from Doug's Tubes as a backup. At first, they were somewhat harsher than the Black Treasures, but they are getting much better as they continue to break in. The prices for a spare quad of the Black Treasures is a bit high. I did see some for sale on Ebay, but if you look at the pics and ask questions, the test results are all low/suspect (30-36ma). Craig, was wondering if you had any additional information to share on this? Do you still think that the Black Treasures are just a KT88-98 with carbon coated plates and glass? Does that alone really make a difference? I know in the 50s a fair number of tubes had the black coating inside. BTW, I also had a lot of trouble with the Gold Lion re-issue tubes. I had no less than six go bad in short order. They also comsumed flashing at an alarming rate.