I am enjoying the higher wattage tubes right now. The American tubes are plentiful enough that I’m not stressing about getting them. No FOMO with those like with the dwindling supply of European versions.

Have you tried any of the American 6aq5/6005? A bunch of them have really good reputations and like all the rest of them are still cheap.

I did not jump into the el84 world because I’m cheap lol. I have been tempted to get adapters for the 6gk6. It is the same as American 6bq5 but with a different pin out. I have a bunch of GE 16gk6 for some reason. The whole *gk6 family is cheap and is bound to sound really good.

The metal 6j5 are both cheap and good sounding. I have certainly spent a lot of money with Langrex but we should be honest with ourselves, Langrex is there for the hobby, you can get very enjoyable sound for a lot less money. Somehow I keep forgetting this. While it’s true I could spend my...

Nothings ever simple with me, there’s always something lol. Before my amp went down I had been loving the c3m and vt60 combo. Kept thinking I should stock up on c3m while I can for the long haul. It’s such a good tube. I’ve already told you about what the tech said about using vt60 so I...

Problem with Andy these days is just how long it takes to get tubes from him. True full service but waiting a month+ is a bit nuts IMO.

Are you in the US? Plenty of dealers have 6j5 tubes in stock. I would imagine most of them have them, the 6j5 is not an obscure tube. Tube Depot, Brent Jesse, give them a call and you’ll get your tubes.

Depends on what you mean by dry up. The market for NOS 6sn7 is already beyond what most people are willing to put up with. Prices have gone up dramatically since 2020 for the most desirable versions. Those prices are a direct reflection of the supply. So yes, you can still get a GEC b65 (6sn7)...

The vt60 does not sound like any other 807 in either of my amps. I don’t have that particular ats25 but I do have a wide range of other 807 tubes. Every different manufacturer tends to sound different in any case but the vt60 sounds like a different family. YMMV etc.

I haven’t tried it yet but GEC says that the n78 can be run at 350v and 20-something ma. They are such tiny tubes, it’s hard to imagine. On the other hand, look at the difference between the 6f8g and the 12au7. They were able to do quite a bit of miniaturization over the years. Even the 5b/254m...

Oh, I have heard of his volume controls but not his output transformers. I shudder to think what those might have cost lol. Anyway, I won’t continue to drive the thread off topic. I do love this stuff though:)

I’ve got Monolith Magnetics on my push pull amp. I know it’s dangerous to “drink by label” but I had heard nothing but good things about them so I went with them for my final PP amp (I think…). Tomas was impressed enough to switch to them for amps going forward. Well never know how his SE amps...

I think we're all on board with the idea that tube amps give us the right kind of distortion even if we don't really understand it. I think the advent of solid state active loads, regulators, and really good rectifiers has made a huge difference. I think the golden age of tubes was also the...

It’s so easy for audiophiles to fixate on tubes because they’re cool and we can replace them. The amplifier circuit and transformers determine how well tubes work. My favorite example of this is the venerable 300b. If you make an amp with it using original circuits and similar transformers vs...

Pentodes like the c3g and 5a/152m are pretty high gain and when strapped to triode have a gain around 40 I think. Triode strapped pentodes are triodes electrically. They have all the characteristics of other indirectly heated triodes, linear, low output impedance, lower gain. I don’t...

Oh, if you’re not familiar with it, single triode stuff is covered in depth in the 6j5 thread.

That’s always the risk when talking about tubes. Have to keep reminding myself that we can’t actually hear tubes, we can only hear speakers/headphones driven by the amp. The tube is just a component of the whole system. Having said that, I have used these tubes in both my push pull amp in...

Different tubes have different tolerances for how hard the screen can be driven in triode mode. I’ve really only seen it mentioned with output tubes. Few people are crazy enough to use triode strapped pentodes as input tubes. But that’s why we’re in this asylum together. :)

I have heard nothing but great things about these tubes but I just don’t trust myself with the adapters lol. I actually own a handful. Bought them a long time ago cause they were incredibly cheap. Not anymore lol.

I’m pretty sure those Cossor are actually vt60 tubes. They have a distinct plate. I love them but they can be a bit unforgiving. They also don’t sound like any other 807 I’ve heard.

Yup, push pull is so much better than SE for bass on speakers. A lot more control. And of course more power always helps with bass as well but I think I notice the same effect even when I’m only getting 4 watts or so of class a power from 6aq5.

Huh, so they are essentially limiters. But with an unknown (to us, end users at least) onset. I might actually like this for output tubes or at least it would be interesting to try. Think I’ll skip these. Last thing I need is more tubes anyway lol. It’s nice to have anything that dampens my...

Not so much worried about blowing up, just worried about buying tubes and adapters for a tube that might act oddly in a circuit it wasn’t designed for. Hmm, thinking about it I probably have a bad intuition about how variable my tubes work. My assumption was that my varied depending on what you...

The pages I’m pulling up about the 6b8g say they are variable mu tubes. Is that a good idea to use in a gain stage? Or at least in a stage that we’re just plugging in to rather than designeing around?

Ahh, it’s good to be back with Odyssey. I didn’t know if it’s the extra power or the different topologies but I get a bigger soundstage and more precise imaging as compared to my SE pentode amp. There is more detail as well. Decided to try the c3m with others in the 807 family since the vt60...