i bought an old new zealand made amp from the 70's a little while back, i believe its still got its original tubes, my main issue is trying to ID them. its a coke bottle design with IEC (in dark blue 3D block letters.... from memory) printed on the metal, brown mica wafer and all 3 shiny getters, with the stop sign 6550 on top. If i recall correctly, its a tri hole. now there are no other numbers i can recall. Any ideas? Is there an email address i should use to send images to for better ID?
I have a two-piece '48 SCOTT Model 800 Hi-Fi FM/AM/SW that has the green tuning eye. The amp has about a dozen tubes alone. Needs restoration. Any collectors interested in it give me a shout at antmeeks60 at yahoo.com and I'll send you photos.
YOU ROCK Audiotubes and now, so can we. On behalf of all who are interested thanks very much for for "de myth tifying" some of the basics. via an excellent tutorial.
i have what i THINK may be an NOS tung-sol three hole, however on the side just on the metal section below the glass housing, it has in big bold ink printed 3D letters CEI not IEC it has the same stop sign on top with 6550 mostly faded, and warn off. it came out of a mid 70's holden/wasp amplifier. any ideas?
personaly i prefer 6550 from sovtek for the sound and price..today gec-other big brands are just chineze oor russian rebranded tubes.old ones are real rare and not worth the price..
You're not entirely correct in assuming the big brands all are rebranded but are infact designs usually unique to the brand for which they were made. The GEC of today e.g., made in Saratov for New Sensor, is an attempt at true RI - but then only cheese from Cheshire is Cheshire cheese...
look i sell 4xkt88 from gold lion and these were my last original tubes,and they didnt sound nothing better then svetlanas as many people will think so..i get a lot of money for them on ebay,but honest i was not impressed with sound...i alls have kt66 from gec and same here..it is nice to see them and here them but nothing diferent then sovtek kt66 big bottel...honest i think that secret layes in preamp tubes,and that is my conclusion...
Sounds like you got a tone-sucker somewhere in your signal chain, mate. :) What kind of amp and did you bring the valves to breakup at all? The Sovtek isn't even a KT electrically, from what I know, so the diff should be quite obvios. You could be right in that your pre-amps are overshadowing your output-bottles though. Which pre-amps do you got in there?
i make myself amp's and preamps so i know what im talking abaout.fact is that preamp decide the color of sound,and for brakeup of tubes"im sorry i dont belive in this"as noticed that person just get used to sound they produce.and yess if you buy tubes from past then is nice to have them,but they are NOT worth the price today and im not expert to know wich are fake and wich are false,so simple i buy chinese oor my favorite russian=ugly but good..
You may have missunderstood me. I was talking about the pre-amp valves of your amp. But that we can leave for the time being. You're right about the price of original KTs not being in level with the quality of them, though. Demand and availability, you know... The hype for the originals is way larger than the difference in tone.
okay there is small diferense in tone but it is too small to influence the diferense in price so much...and for chineze amp check if you can GS-AUDIO 902 amp.. wery profesonaly done.i must say a+++ ...whan i catch time i will make the movie of this nice piece of audio...and for everibodys info try whan you listen music to BLOW HARD OPEN YOU BOUTH EARS and you will "here" how much we miss on high tones in older days...and i have in stock round +-3000tubes...my regards..
Yes, I will have to do that! :) Well when run in an audio-amp and at moderate volumes even e.g. the middy EL34 amplifies with a linear response, so the difference will be even less amongst valves of the same or similar type. At higher levels, with the increase of harmonic distortion, any muddines, thinnes or harshnes will be more noticable and with that the valve will reveal its nature more.
higher volume is depended from "feedback,eind transfos,voltage feed cirquit,type of speaker you use,components in amp,,,ets"...i dont belive that end tubes make much deferense between kind..
Oh, but they do when they start working "properly" - i.e. beyond their design ratings. Early designs, such as triodes, pentodes and the first beam tetrodes tend to compress rather nicely and create a wheezing distortion. KTs and powerfull beam tetrodes have usually harder clipping characteristics. Even at ultra-linear e.g. a 6L6G will have a very sweet highend and a full bottom end - hence not so linear after all.
the reason the vintage ones sound better is because theyve been worn down a little by the heat. kind of broken in. if you want to get this with new ones get a juice goose. it should help
not true..it is all in head from people that "older is better"... where american stoped with there production ,russian are far in front now with production quality...and for chinese today you cant beat them in price and soon in quality of product...this is a fact...
and if you want to know i allso use chinese tube amp GS-AUDIO 901 amp and can tell you from electronics point of wiew that this tube amp is made profesionaly and with great quality components..maby other chinese brand is low quality but i must recomend this one!!! and for myself i made 20+-amps and preamps so i know what im talking about..my favorite preamp sound tube is E88CC from siemens..great linearity and strait forward sound with soft and strait bass...i loved it...
Hi there - I currently use Svetlanas on my Audiopax Amplifier. How would you describe the musicality of those babies? :) British vs Russian vc American?
By the way what would be the price for a GE tube like that?
Russian tubes are generally louder but thinner in sound. The British are just the opposite, warm and rich. The USA 6CA7 are in between, with great power and nice music reporduction.
Hi, stay tuned, more to come when I can find the time. I was a radio disc jockey years ago and I guess the voice stayed with me. I am from the Chicago suburbs, but I guess the radio voice accent is more like California!!
i bought an old new zealand made amp from the 70's a little while back, i believe its still got its original tubes, my main issue is trying to ID them. its a coke bottle design with IEC (in dark blue 3D block letters.... from memory) printed on the metal, brown mica wafer and all 3 shiny getters, with the stop sign 6550 on top. If i recall correctly, its a tri hole. now there are no other numbers i can recall. Any ideas? Is there an email address i should use to send images to for better ID?
hsvdt 6 months ago
@hsvdt If the 6550-in-the-octagon is gray or silver (NOT white) and it says USA below it the tube was made by Tung-Sol.
MovieTech 2 months ago
Well done video!
Does getter get H and He that migrate through the glass envelope?
Or will old tubes have gas and not work well?
Thank you.
robertgift 7 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I have a two-piece '48 SCOTT Model 800 Hi-Fi FM/AM/SW that has the green tuning eye. The amp has about a dozen tubes alone. Needs restoration. Any collectors interested in it give me a shout at antmeeks60 at yahoo.com and I'll send you photos.
JimBrinkley1 7 months ago
Man I love tubes. Great video.
fluff191 1 year ago
YOU ROCK Audiotubes and now, so can we. On behalf of all who are interested thanks very much for for "de myth tifying" some of the basics. via an excellent tutorial.
Love Always
Beatlewayne.
Beatlewayne 1 year ago
No examples of the Sylvania-made 6550?
MovieTech 1 year ago
Can you give me your opinion on the reissue Gold Lion GEC KT88, and what is the JJ KT88 a copy of.
Thanks
conjering 1 year ago
i have what i THINK may be an NOS tung-sol three hole, however on the side just on the metal section below the glass housing, it has in big bold ink printed 3D letters CEI not IEC it has the same stop sign on top with 6550 mostly faded, and warn off. it came out of a mid 70's holden/wasp amplifier. any ideas?
hsvdt 1 year ago
personaly i prefer 6550 from sovtek for the sound and price..today gec-other big brands are just chineze oor russian rebranded tubes.old ones are real rare and not worth the price..
jigibao 2 years ago
You're not entirely correct in assuming the big brands all are rebranded but are infact designs usually unique to the brand for which they were made. The GEC of today e.g., made in Saratov for New Sensor, is an attempt at true RI - but then only cheese from Cheshire is Cheshire cheese...
joeytruelove 2 years ago
look i sell 4xkt88 from gold lion and these were my last original tubes,and they didnt sound nothing better then svetlanas as many people will think so..i get a lot of money for them on ebay,but honest i was not impressed with sound...i alls have kt66 from gec and same here..it is nice to see them and here them but nothing diferent then sovtek kt66 big bottel...honest i think that secret layes in preamp tubes,and that is my conclusion...
jigibao 2 years ago
Sounds like you got a tone-sucker somewhere in your signal chain, mate. :) What kind of amp and did you bring the valves to breakup at all? The Sovtek isn't even a KT electrically, from what I know, so the diff should be quite obvios. You could be right in that your pre-amps are overshadowing your output-bottles though. Which pre-amps do you got in there?
joeytruelove 2 years ago
i make myself amp's and preamps so i know what im talking abaout.fact is that preamp decide the color of sound,and for brakeup of tubes"im sorry i dont belive in this"as noticed that person just get used to sound they produce.and yess if you buy tubes from past then is nice to have them,but they are NOT worth the price today and im not expert to know wich are fake and wich are false,so simple i buy chinese oor my favorite russian=ugly but good..
jigibao 2 years ago
You may have missunderstood me. I was talking about the pre-amp valves of your amp. But that we can leave for the time being. You're right about the price of original KTs not being in level with the quality of them, though. Demand and availability, you know... The hype for the originals is way larger than the difference in tone.
joeytruelove 2 years ago
okay there is small diferense in tone but it is too small to influence the diferense in price so much...and for chineze amp check if you can GS-AUDIO 902 amp.. wery profesonaly done.i must say a+++ ...whan i catch time i will make the movie of this nice piece of audio...and for everibodys info try whan you listen music to BLOW HARD OPEN YOU BOUTH EARS and you will "here" how much we miss on high tones in older days...and i have in stock round +-3000tubes...my regards..
jigibao 2 years ago
Yes, I will have to do that! :) Well when run in an audio-amp and at moderate volumes even e.g. the middy EL34 amplifies with a linear response, so the difference will be even less amongst valves of the same or similar type. At higher levels, with the increase of harmonic distortion, any muddines, thinnes or harshnes will be more noticable and with that the valve will reveal its nature more.
joeytruelove 2 years ago
higher volume is depended from "feedback,eind transfos,voltage feed cirquit,type of speaker you use,components in amp,,,ets"...i dont belive that end tubes make much deferense between kind..
jigibao 2 years ago
Oh, but they do when they start working "properly" - i.e. beyond their design ratings. Early designs, such as triodes, pentodes and the first beam tetrodes tend to compress rather nicely and create a wheezing distortion. KTs and powerfull beam tetrodes have usually harder clipping characteristics. Even at ultra-linear e.g. a 6L6G will have a very sweet highend and a full bottom end - hence not so linear after all.
joeytruelove 2 years ago
the reason the vintage ones sound better is because theyve been worn down a little by the heat. kind of broken in. if you want to get this with new ones get a juice goose. it should help
nickfromdtown1992 2 years ago
not true..it is all in head from people that "older is better"... where american stoped with there production ,russian are far in front now with production quality...and for chinese today you cant beat them in price and soon in quality of product...this is a fact...
jigibao 2 years ago
im not talking about about that at all. im saying if you want that sound, the worn down tube is whats making it happen
nickfromdtown1992 2 years ago
and if you want to know i allso use chinese tube amp GS-AUDIO 901 amp and can tell you from electronics point of wiew that this tube amp is made profesionaly and with great quality components..maby other chinese brand is low quality but i must recomend this one!!! and for myself i made 20+-amps and preamps so i know what im talking about..my favorite preamp sound tube is E88CC from siemens..great linearity and strait forward sound with soft and strait bass...i loved it...
jigibao 2 years ago
no im sorry..
jigibao 2 years ago
no youre sorry what? that the reason old amps sound old is because theyre old? what are you trying to say?
nickfromdtown1992 2 years ago
masage placment mistake ,nothing to worry abaout..
jigibao 2 years ago
Hi there - I currently use Svetlanas on my Audiopax Amplifier. How would you describe the musicality of those babies? :) British vs Russian vc American?
By the way what would be the price for a GE tube like that?
Thanks!
piano25 2 years ago
Russian tubes are generally louder but thinner in sound. The British are just the opposite, warm and rich. The USA 6CA7 are in between, with great power and nice music reporduction.
audiotubes 2 years ago
Hi, stay tuned, more to come when I can find the time. I was a radio disc jockey years ago and I guess the voice stayed with me. I am from the Chicago suburbs, but I guess the radio voice accent is more like California!!
audiotubes 2 years ago
thanks for the video.. what kind of accent do you have? NY or Cali?
teflondon91 2 years ago