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Has anyone tried these yet?
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Chuck
They are essentially the same as an EH KT88 with a slightly more refined spec. Great sounding tubes tho..I prefer the Genelex tho.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
My supply of SED 6550's is getting low and I'm looking for a replacement tube of the 6550/KT88 variety. An ideal replacement, I think, would be a tube with a similar linearity. Maybe a bit warmer thru the mid range but not hotter in the upper mids and highs. Any candidates come to mind?
Believe it or not, the 6550WE Sovtek is likely exactly what you are asking for. That has been the tube that has filled the SED void, at least around here.
Jim, what would be closest new production to a GE 6550 in a mid 70's to early 80's Marshall head?
The SED 6550C would have been - now I have no idea. But unlike TubeAcolyte I do not recommend JJ - they have such a track record of poor reliability that I can't recommend most JJ stuff.
And honestly - I really don't like to make guitar amp tube recommendations. Every player hears things differently, and there is very little concensus about what is good or not good. Too many variables! So I generally stay away from making recommendations with just a few exceptions.
Thanks Jim, I really appreciate your honesty. By chance have you ever compared the New Sensor Svetlana 6550's to the SED's in your Citation II etc?
Well, I'm not Jim, but I have some experience with 6550's and guitar heads of all makes. I find the GE 6550A is really an exceptional tube. It has few to no equals. It's ultra-robust and never sounds offensive in any way (to my ear). Also, it all depends on the sound you're attempting to create with the head. If it's the GE 6550A you want, you'll have to bite the bullet on it :( That said, for the price of a quad ($500), you may as well buy 2-3 varied quads of new production types to see which sounds best for you.
New Sensor makes great tubes, but I cannot recommend Sovtek power tubes. I have found they burn up too quickly. They get eaten up by my 100-120W heads. Heck, I have a modded Fender 6550/KT88 Bassman went through two sets of Sovtek KT88s before I simply had to move onto another tube. The Bassman now has JJ 6550s; those perform and sound great. I find JJ has done well in encapsulating the "midrangey 6550 sound". Also, while I have never tried these, but the reissue Tung Sol 6550 is apparently pretty nice. I would explore that route, as well.
If you have room to spare between sockets, maybe look into KT88 types. The KT88SC (TubeStore sells it as the Preferred Series) is a wonderful tube. I used them in an Ampeg V5, an amp somewhat like a JCM800. I was replacing its original (very tired) set of GE 6550A's, actually. The KT88SC tubes in the amp sounded amazing. No tubbiness in the low-end (like the JJ), no sluggishness in the sound, wider soundstage, and an overall midrange presentation that was comparable to what the GE's were doing with the head.
Hope that helps!
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May your tubes be lively and long-lasting. Holy be thy heater.
Thank you TubeAcolyte, You've been a great help. With a Marshall 6550's are usually biased like if they were a 25watt tube, at least that was always my understanding, so the Sovtek stuff maybe will hold up better. Maybe the KT88SC would be the ticket even running just two instead of four if spacing limitations creep up.
I find New Sensor's Svetlana 6550 to meet that description, though I suspect it is not as refined as the Winged C are/were. Still, a good sounding tube. I'm hoping this new Mullard KT88 will also do it, but it remains to be seen.
Mike, I see you mentioned that they are similar to the EH KT88, but I thought the Mullard reissues have a house sound that is a bit on the warmer side and perhaps a bit relaxed up top? Might this be true with these new Mullard KT88? I have a set of the EH KT88 and feel they have a bit too much "bite" for my liking in my Cary SLI-80. Have been wondering if the Mullard KT-88 might be less biting. What do you think?
Thanks.
Peter
I thought the Mullard reissues have a house sound that is a bit on the warmer side and perhaps a bit relaxed up top?The driver and preamp tubes,that can hold very true however,the larger KT88 tubes between the EH and Mullard are electrically identical.Some people prefer the name Mullard so it comes down to marketing in the case of these two tubes..This was very common for tube companies to do this back in the day..
Now in the case of tubes like the Mullard 10M of years ago,those tubes were a lot more expensive and they exhibited obvious sonic and physical differences..If you talk to New Sensor,they will tell you the Mullard and EH KT88 are identical.They may test a little different in certain areas but the tubes are pretty much identical.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Edits: 06/01/14
I seriously doubt that what is "identical" to you and I is "identical" to NS Mikey. They may have simply been communicating that the new tube is another KT-88, the bottle shape might be identical, the pins and base are common to both tubes, etc.
But I seriously doubt they were referring to plate metallurgy, cathode chemistry, vacuum level, wire materials, etc. So until we become aware of the results of some of the destructive testing that is done by a few guys to determine the bottle's contents in more detail - and we can get a reasonable number of people reporting their listening impressions - I'm of the mind to not jump to any conclusions.
Jim, are you going to be getting these in?
Thanks.
Peter
I suspect so, but not for a bit. I'm not quite sure why the world needs yet another KT-88, but since it is in a price point that is fairly open there might be some reasonable interest in it. Of course if it sounds really good that'll help too!
Jim
We know the Genelex uses the gold grids and better grades of cathode material..My conversation with my NS rep was that the internals of the Mullard kT88 is like the EH KT88..He basically told me they were similar builds but maybe that's just the physical architecture.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
According to this Web site they are "exact copies" of Marconi-osram. But these look nothing like those. They look a lot like EH or GL. But I bet they do sound different from those. So there is something fishy about the claims. I think the tube are probably worth trying if want a Soviet kt88 with a different flavor. I wish they would be more forth coming with what they mean by exact copy.
Did anyone notice the Northern Electric "Graphite" for $179- a pop at The Tube Store? Has anyone heard this tube?
Steve
More marketing BS by New Sensor. Call it a "Mullard" or "Gold Lion" and charge more for it.
This stuff will only work if we let it.
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