Gilbert Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 The amp, a pair of sonically identical MC60's. The preamp is my C22. All mac gear recently overhauled by our very own Craig, aka NosValves. The goldlions are nos originals, with the old style gold and red boxes, and brown bakelite material. They are solid black plate, triple getter style. I don't know the year, but they all share the same production code. The tungsols are vintage 50's, solid black plate and single top getter. All identical codes. I've been listened to both quads for the past month, and although they both sound great. I'd have to give the nod to the TungSol's. Especially when it comes to R&B, Blues and Rock & Roll. The tungsol's just kick the crap out of the genalex's. However, before you start asking me if I'm willing to sell them, I must say NO! Not until I've sampled them in Craigs VRD's. After which, I'll decide what I want to do with them. 1 Quad of Vintage NOS TungSol 6550 ($300 to $400+) 1 Quad of Vintage NOS GoldLion KT88 ($2000+) So, IMHO, the genalex cream of the crop power tube just didn't do it for me. Vocals seemed to be stained, or to an extremely slight degree, muffled. Sort of like someone singing through linen cloth. Oh, they are highly musical, no doubt, but give me the TungSols for my MC60's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbflash Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Gilbert, Nice review. Let me know what you think about the tubes in the VRD's. If the same holds true, you saved me $1,600 or one Belle speaker! Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenc319 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 hi, I read on other forums that the price of the Gold Lions is too high for the performance given. I have the Tung Sol solid gray plates which are highly regarded and imho a great tube. The best prices I've seen are about 600.00 a quad. Amazingly, the JJ Telsa KT88's to my ears are just as good and far less money. A great tube and a great bargin. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Thanks for the review. I had sure wondered how the gold lions would sound. Pricey little rascals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted February 4, 2006 Author Share Posted February 4, 2006 Cost aside,......In my gear, and for my music taste.....I wasn't impressed. Not at all, I was actually really bummed out, because I expected sparks to fly out of those speakers, and my ear's to turn to gold. [:'(] 2 years ago, after getting my first tube gear, a pair of MC60's, I started stocking-up on nos TungSol 6550's. And, today, I've accumulated quite alott of them. about 16+ (4 solid quads), all vintage black plates. I've got quads with single, double and triple gettering. All shiny nos, and I've never appreciated them more, than I do right now. And yet, even after accumulating all these tungsol's, I've always had the the thought that the goldlions were the power tube to have. The Mother of all power tubes was the GoldLion or Gold Monarch's, or so I use to think. So, I finally bit the bullet when a minty looking identical quad of them popped up. Now, today, .....well, unless they really shine in my new VRD's (yet to be built), back off to ebay they will go. At that time, I'll also probably be parting with a minty looking pair of MC60's. They've just been completely overhauled, and matched up by no other than Craig. He even saved the old parts that were replaced. Glad he thought of that. I was going to keep them for a possible tubed HTS, but have since gotten another wild hair up my sphinkter, and decided to build myself a vintage Marantz tube setup. Man, these wild hairs are getting expensive. Maybe I'd better leave the forum while I still have money in my pocket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...NOT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 This is encouraging to me since the VRD's I'm getting have the Tung Sol 6550's with about 200 hours on them. He said he prefers these over anything else he has tried up to this point. Not sure of the vintage on the tubes, however. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 I've never heard a 6550 or KT88 that sounded great to me. If I had VRDs they'd be running KT66 or some other 6L6 tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted February 4, 2006 Author Share Posted February 4, 2006 I've never heard a 6550 or KT88 that sounded great to me. If I had VRDs they'd be running KT66 or some other 6L6 tube. Well, I'm off for more tubes.....I'll get you for this Allan.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 My wife, my child and I love my JJ KT-88's in the heavily moded ST-70 driving a pair of k-horns.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Can an amp that takes 6550/kt88 accept other tubes without modification of the amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 These can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I've never heard a 6550 or KT88 that sounded great to me. If I had VRDs they'd be running KT66 or some other 6L6 tube. Mullard EL37? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted February 6, 2006 Author Share Posted February 6, 2006 Can an amp that takes 6550/kt88 accept other tubes without modification of the amp? The VRD's, are the only ones that I'm aware of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenc319 Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 The Cary SLI-80 can accept Kt88, KT90, 6550, El34, 6L6 and Kt66. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 When changing tube type you have to watch the bias current. There was a significant change when I went from EL34 to KT-88, presumably becasue of the increased efficiency of the beam design. I had to change a resistor in the bias circuit to get to reasonable bias levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.