|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
65.2.41.10
They sure dont like British to me especially the bases.
- http://cgi.ebay.com/Gold-Lion-KT88-KT-88-Tubes-GEC-M-O-Valve-ltd-NOS-rare_W0QQitemZ150070503557QQihZ005QQcategoryZ67816QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting (Open in New Window)
Follow Ups:
They are Chinese. Original GECs had brown bases and larger logos on the bottles. Also....no holes in the plates.
Sherlock
thats why I was suprised because I have 26 gene and gec/kt88s and they are all solid plates.I have some NOS blue label genelex and I dont have any of the last solid plate genelex made in the early 80s but there are some that say those sounded best but I never believed it.
New sensor has come out with a reissue of the GEC kt88 but its 3 hole and its a gray plate and I have never seen a gray plate gene or gec kt88 for that matter.
They are absolutely NOT British made Gold Lions. They are made in China. These are Now often called the "KT100" as on superTNT. Not a BAD tube but it ain't the real McCoy by a longshot. But the BASES are really the least of it as far as differing from M-O/Goldlion/GEC KT88s; the bases are a bit shinier, I guess... As far as ID'ing this as non-UK, Marconi-Osram NEVER made a KT88 with holes in the plate, for starters. They NEVER used the top micas parallel to the glass envelope. That just SCREAMS Chinese. The glass bulb is the wrong shape and size. That being said, they are NOT FAKES in the traditional sense. When Marconi Osram ceased KT88 production in 1986, they began importing these China made tubes and boxing/labeling them (after "extensive" QC) as their own. These have a datecode of 1987-- right in this gray area. I'd pay maybe $80/quad. Most people are unaware of this and assume they are fakes; they are NOT. The Absoloute sound ran an editorial letter ca. 1987 that detailed this practice by M-O Valve. Not fakes, but not UK "real KT88s".
ARC
I figured they were chinese and they look like the kt100 Audio reseach branded tubes I have.The kt100 is a great sounding tube for what they are but they dont have the character of my GEC kt88s or my Tungsol 655o black plates in many ways.
Agreed. Ain't nothing like the real thing! I have read other very well informed posts authored by you and agree completely that even real UK made KT88s sometimes are not quite as good as TungSol. For this reason I sold my KT88s years ago... my one quad of TungSols serves me faithfully. When they go I'll replace them with maybe SED 6550C or Shuguang "GEC copy" KT88. Like you, I also very much like the current GEC copy/solidplate KT88 made by Shuguang and available both at superTNT and (much better source) Penta. When ordering from Penta one MUST request the solid plate version or they may get the 3-hoe plate KT88-98. This too is very nice but not as nice as the solid plate.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: