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In Reply to: RE: Tungsol 6550 - two dark plates or a black & a grey one ? posted by Michael Samra on September 27, 2014 at 23:59:46
You have a wonderful collection there. It puts my paltry few tubes into perspective -:)
If you look at Natubes, their ordering of the history of Tung-sol 6550s is as follows :
6550 Version 1 - TUNG-SOL (Original from Tung-Sol)
Solid black plates with Triple O-Getter (one on top and dual on one side).
6550 Version 2 - TUNG-SOL (Original from Tung-Sol)
Solid black plates with Single top Getter. Second version from Tung-Sol.
6550 Version 3 - Tung-Sol
Solid gray plate, no hole version with Triple O-Getter (one on top and two on each side).
6550 Version 4 - TUNG-SOL
Three holes on gray plate with Triple O-Getter. Last version from Tung-Sol ever made.
Today, I cranked up the volume for the first time, listening to MOFI's A night at the Opera by Queen. Wow, I really could't believe how good it sounded. Maybe the tubes are loosening up. Queen's music is pretty complex with lots going on whether it's guitar, piano, the chorus or Mercury's vocals - it all sounds so immediate, natural & like they were playing in the room!
Literally unbelievable.
Michael - do you have an opinion on whether I have two blacks or a black & a grey? Without having seen a grey one before, I can't be sure.
Follow Ups:
I actually have many more of those in amps as well as in boxes..I just put some loose ones I had up and took a photo for reference.
I'll be honest with you. Genelex KT88 reissues are dam good sounding tubes and they are very close to the originals and in many applications they are better.Yhe KT66 reissues are identical to the vintage gray glass and several people have said this as well.
My favorite 6550/KT88 is still the TungSol black plates but depending on which new production tubes you buy,they have come very close to them.
I also love the solid gray plates but not quite as much but very close.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
"I'll be honest with you. Genalex KT88 reissues are dam good sounding tubes and they are very close to the originals and in many applications they are better."My experience as well but it's funny with the original GEC/Genalux, sometimes they sounded kinda blah to me and other times, seemed to capture the essence of the music. And within the same application.
Tung-Sol black plate 6550s are my all time favorites as well although again, depending on the music, both the solid (black or grey) and three-hole grey plates each shine in their own way.
With all due respect to Natubes, they have the chronology incorrect. There are three types of Tung-Sol 6550s (not counting what they produced for RCA, Leslie, Carlsberg-Stromberg, etc.): black plate (always solid), grey plate solid and lastly three-hole grey plate. The black plates had three iterations: top getter only, top and side getter and finally three getter (top and two sides). Without looking through my collection, the top getter only and top and side used d-shaped sometime called horseshoe-shaped getter "rings" and then they moved to O-shaped getter rings.
Bottom line is that they invented the tube and got it right. Modern incarnations such as the New Sensor Tung-Sol 6550 are darn good tubes (as is their Genalex KT88) and other companies such as GE with their 6550A are worthy alternatives, but in my not humble opinion, the Tung-Sol black plate 6550 still takes the prize.
The fact that you're enjoying their smoothness, liquidity, natural sounding detail is a testament to them, I believe.
Enjoy!
Joe
Edits: 09/28/14
My experience as well but it's funny with the original GEC/Genalux, sometimes they sounded kinda blah to me and other times, seemed to capture the essence of the music. And within the same application.
Exactly Joe
They are extremely finicky but the longer they are on it does seem to help.
Everything else you said is exactly correct..The D getters are what I called rectangular but you get the drift..I also love the 3 holers as well.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
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