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dirtmudd

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11 hours ago, captainbeefheart said:

 

I like the Shuguang KT88-98 better than the Gold Lion and you can get a quad for $150, there is not competition for price to performance and they hold up well in high power ultralinear amps that can eat through some of the current production KT88's like a fat kid at a candy store.

 

 

A friend left a quad of original brittish kt66 gold lions with me. They are beautiful. I usualy say use em if ya got em but I just can't do it. Maybe if I had some old Quad II's to restore..

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1 hour ago, seti said:

A friend left a quad of original brittish kt66 gold lions with me. They are beautiful. I usualy say use em if ya got em but I just can't do it. Maybe if I had some old Quad II's to restore.

You can't take them with you. 

 

Years ago when I made my 211 SE amp (1999) I found 6 GE NOS 211 tubes for a really good price (2003), so I bought them. For years I did not use them because of what they are / were. One day, I started using them and they seemed to be no better than the Chinese 211 tubes I had been using. In fact, all 4 seemed to have issues over a short time, so I stopped using them. I have current meters on the front face of the 211 amps and the GE 211's would give me varying current levels at random intervals. Put the Sino tubes back in, no problem. 

 

I've been using the same Chinese tubes for many years with no issues. I can't say how many hours are on the tubes, but they are consistent and have not had issues like the GE NOS 211's.

 

So the moral of the story is, until you try 'em, you don't know what you have!

 

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Just now, Curious_George said:

You can't take them with you. 

 

Years ago when I made my 211 SE amp (1999) I found 6 GE NOS 211 tubes for a really good price (2003), so I bought them. For years I did not use them because of what they are / were. One day, I started using them and they seemed to be no better than the Chinese 211 tubes I had been using. In fact, all 4 seemed to have issues over a short time, so I stopped using them. I have current meters on the front face of the 211 amps and the GE 211's would give me varying current levels at random intervals. Put the Sino tubes back in, no problem. 

 

I've been using the same Chinese tubes for many years with no issues. I can't say how many hours are on the tubes, but they are consistent and have not had issues like the GE NOS 211's.

 

So the moral of the story is, until you try 'em, you don't know what you have!

 

 

True. I have a 845/211 stash from the same friend and haven't tested them. Never done a 211 amp.  The KT66 test extremely well. I am very happy the chinese tubes keep getting better. I still need to nab a pair of 50CA10's.

 

 

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3 hours ago, seti said:

A friend left a quad of original brittish kt66 gold lions with me. They are beautiful. I usualy say use em if ya got em but I just can't do it. Maybe if I had some old Quad II's to restore..

 

It's difficult to make out the numbers written on the KT66's but to me it appears there is "2000" written on the tops of them? If that's the transconductance from the last time they were tested then I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news but those are well out of tolerance for average characteristics. They may still function but you'll probably have low power output with them at best. An average KT66 should be around 6000uMhos. Your probably better off running the new power tubes since they are probably still within spec and working correctly.

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I could also be an idiot and that's a 5000 but just looks like a "2" from the angle? You do mention they test well and I know you know what your doing so I have to assume it's 5000uMhos.

 

If that's the case I'd just use them as Nick says, they will last a very long time and you'll still be able to use them in future amps. I have had several pairs of Craftsmen 500 power amps that came with original Genelex KT66 tubes, those amps run the tubes somewhat hard and all the power tubes I have tested in these very old amps were still at average gm.

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57 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said:

I could also be an idiot and that's a 5000 but just looks like a "2" from the angle? You do mention they test well and I know you know what your doing so I have to assume it's 5000uMhos.

 

If that's the case I'd just use them as Nick says, they will last a very long time and you'll still be able to use them in future amps. I have had several pairs of Craftsmen 500 power amps that came with original Genelex KT66 tubes, those amps run the tubes somewhat hard and all the power tubes I have tested in these very old amps were still at average gm.

 

Don't think the 2000 is correct the calculation was by me and completely f'd up. I'll check em again next time I see them. Love the craftsman 500. Vintage amps run those tubes like scalded dogs. I'd rather have lower power and longer lived tubes.

 

 

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36 minutes ago, BadChile said:

Good news is EHX claims to have resolved the export issue, bad news is there are additional costs on both the export and the import end, as such, expect price increases.

 

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/electro-harmonix-tube-supply-resolved

In 2019 a J&J 7591 was $16.  In June they'll be $125 each.

 

Good luck with that bros!

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19 hours ago, jjptkd said:

I was in a bit of panic mode yesterday but was able to find a matched quad of EL-84m Sovtek's for my soon to arrive Carver VTA-20 figured better be safe than sorry half the tube store sites were completely shut down the rest are out of stock on a lot of items I had to search through pages and pages of search results to find a dealer with a set in stock. Looked a bit at new 12ax7 tubes seems there's no shortage of $200-$600 tubes out there not sure which ones to buy. 

For 12ax7s stick with old stock. 

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21 hours ago, jjptkd said:

I was in a bit of panic mode yesterday but was able to find a matched quad of EL-84m Sovtek's for my soon to arrive Carver VTA-20 figured better be safe than sorry half the tube store sites were completely shut down the rest are out of stock on a lot of items I had to search through pages and pages of search results to find a dealer with a set in stock. Looked a bit at new 12ax7 tubes seems there's no shortage of $200-$600 tubes out there not sure which ones to buy. 

I may have a few USA NOS 12AX7’s if you are interested. I’ll check my inventory. 

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7 hours ago, JohnW said:

For 12ax7s stick with old stock. 

It seems most of the NOS tubes I see are $200-$600 each-- I just cant imagine spending more on a pair of input tubes than I just paid for the amplifier. Do you have any recommendations on any specific tubes? Thanks!

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16 hours ago, jjptkd said:

It seems most of the NOS tubes I see are $200-$600 each-- I just cant imagine spending more on a pair of input tubes than I just paid for the amplifier. Do you have any recommendations on any specific tubes? Thanks!

Don’t buy NOS—buy used. Buy different cheap used tubes until you find a sound you’re happy with, then start collecting them. Old GE tubes are a great place to start. Matsushitas are good too. If you want to spend a bit more, go with RCA or Tungsram. Hell, you can find Telefunkens and Mullards for $50 apiece if you just keep looking.

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Why punish Russian citizens for what their government is doing? There is a lot, I mean a lot, that our government is doing that I do not approve of. The people are the ones that are going to be punished most by boycotts. A lot of people are going to loose their jobs, good people, with no way to support their families. Living close to a military base that once trained Russian pilots years ago I meet many of them and they seemed to be really good people. Russian pilots had to belong to the Communist part to be an officer but believe me they did not approve of all what their gov. were doing. At least the ones that I made friends with. Really sad what is going on in the world right now. Good people are the ones that are suffering. Russian families are loosing their children along with the terrible carnage going on in Ukraine because of what their leaders are doing. 

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The new Western Electric plant is only a couple miles from my house. They currently only produce the 300B, but are thinking of expanding to other tube types. They have updated all the equipment, and their production quality is superb.

 

Let them know...

 

https://www.westernelectric.com/expand

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