T.H.E. Droid Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm interested in getting a matched set of Genelex Gold Lion tubes for a pair of amps. The prices seem reasonable and I wondered what experiences other forum members have had with this brand. Tubes are KT88's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Overall I was disappointed with the new quad of Genelex Gold Lion KT88s that I bought. Two of them failed in under 2 months of fairly light use. The vendor replaced the first failed tube under warranty and when the second one went kaput I pulled them out and went with another brand. These were in a Bob Latino VTA/ST-120 amp that I built. I ended up with a quad of Penta Labs KT88s that to me sounded every bit as good as the Genelex tubes. Sound wise they're VERY good but don't expect them to last as long as most of the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 These are supposed to be the best of the modern KT88s: http://www.euroaudioteam.com/en/eat-kt88-diamond-valve-000011.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalogWave Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Odd, my experience has been different. I too like the sound in my pCAT amps, though I'm currently running a quad of Penta KT88s. I'd have to look at a log to see how many hours I have on mine but they were easily installed for a year with no issues. I got two quads years ago from Music123.com on a very good sale, wanna say $170ish per quad. I ordered them "Soft", which I guess matches their distortion characteristics to break up gently as you push them harder. Pretty sure someone told me they last longer too vs, the "Medium" or "Hard" designations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalogWave Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 These are supposed to be the best of the modern KT88s: http://www.euroaudioteam.com/en/eat-kt88-diamond-valve-000011.html Yeah, but they're like $1k a quad, or maybe even a PAIR as I recall. Redonkulous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhoak Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 It's of course entirely possible that I lucked in to a "bad batch" of them. It happens. I liked the sound they produced but was unimpressed by their life. I have a friend who bought a quad of the Shugaung Treasure KT88s (~$500) and I have to say that they sound really REALLY good. How long they last remains to be seen but they look to be VERY nice. I've also been VERY impressed with the Psvane tubes. I only used their smaller tubes (12AU7s) but was very impressed with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 They are the shortest by far lasting tubes I have ever owned. Sound wise wasn't wow'ed. Your are better off buying Penta Labs, valve art or simular if asian or sevelenta or sovtek russian tubes. The gold lions have a high rate of shorting out and blowing tubes. As a GEC copy thats pretty sad. The Penta labs are one of the best sounding and longest lasting GEC copies I have owned. The Valve art GEC copies also great sounding and long lasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 These are supposed to be the best of the modern KT88s: http://www.euroaudioteam.com/en/eat-kt88-diamond-valve-000011.html Yeah, but they're like $1k a quad, or maybe even a PAIR as I recall. Redonkulous. You are sure right about that! I read an interesting article about the factory around a year ago. Talk about hand crafting taken to the ultimate degree. The folks building these tubes are true artisans. Quality does have its price.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalogWave Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Apparently $1,400 on sale, $1,900 reg price. I'll slum it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Read and learn. Excellent thread. http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/132824.aspx KT 88's aside, I run all vintage Mullard double o getter El34's in my Marantz 8b . It's a noticeable and nice improvement, but sonically spend you dough on the the small tubes. That's where the real magic resides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I've got an original set of Gold Lion KT-88s in my Mac 275. They make all the difference in that amp. I am talking about tubes that are 40+years old now. The KT-88s actually made the Audio Research amps I tried them in sound worse. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Dubay Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I have a pair of Gold Lion tube in my SE amplifier for about a year now. No problem as of yet. Of course they sounded better than the pair of whipped out 3 year old Sovtek's they replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy499 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I bought a used matched quad set from CL for $50. Put them in my new Primalunla Dialogue II. They sounded better than the Prima tubes that came with the amp....and have plenty of life left in them. I have since bought a new set of Mullard EL 34 reissues....... I think this is a better match with my RF7's. Found the KT88's to be a bit bright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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