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I recently purchased four Telefunken E88CC off of eBay from a dealer in Germany. They were posted as NOS Telefunkens, but in the description the seller claimed they were genuine Mullard tubes. I've checked through the archives and could not find any reference to Mullard making tubes for Telfunken so I'm a bit confused (and concerned). The tubes are boxed in what appear to be brand new Telefunken boxes with no reference to country of orgin. The tubes indeed appear brand new, are labeled "Telefunken E88CC 6922" in chalky white with the Telefunken logo. Pins are gold with red just above the gold inside the glass. No diamond between the pins on the bottom. On the opposite side as the logo, in grey type, there are two lines reading "7L1 R0F3". It is presumably the "R" in the lower line that the seller claims identifies these as genuine Mullard tubes. Can anyone verify this, and or comment on these tubes from experience? I purchased the tubes on the dealers excellent feedback. I've noticed that same dealer has at least one post here under the same name "henryco" (website is www.audiotubes.de) so I'm hoping perhaps he may read this and respond since I have received absolutely no response to any of my emails to him(?!). I'll post the URL for the auction here for reference.
Follow Ups:
If you look at the box where it sez 6922, I have never seen them look like that. In addition, in Europe where you bought them they would typically say E88CC. Not 6922.Now look at this auction for the Tele ECC801S. Look at the boxes. Tubes look right. Logos and paint correct. Boxes are shiny. Too shiny.
Telefunken exported to the US market a lot and it is very common to see Tele tubes with US numbering. For example, it is very common - I have some right here - to see ECC802S in boxes marked 5814A, which was supposedly the US equivalent.The boxes mean very little, if anything. As to the tubes, others have covered this better than I. In particular, Par points out a common misconception about Telefunken, in that they did far less manufacturing than many people today believe. It is very common to see tubes branded Telefunken that they bought from others, even tubes that they did produce. If they had a large order for 6922's this week, and weren't doing 6922's on the line for awhile - you bet, they went to the market and bought the tubes to fill the order.
I don't doubt that they may say 6922....I have some that do. I am speaking of the "type" It is not correct. And the shiny boxes are important. That is one of the biggest ways to tell fakes or used tubes that are washed an relabeled. Bugleman gets all kind of boxes made, as well as a seller in India. Look at this:
Incredible that these two companies Mazda and Mullard, that had nothing to do with each other, used the same font and type size.
Hi,Incredible a "faker" wouldn't bother to change type set when doing different brands of boxes as this is the easiest part...
By looks I would say that I have a few old rat eaten tele boxes - rats seems to like the plastic wrapping - that has the same type, and I think it is on some old hungarian tungsram as well. That faker must have been around since the sixties...
Nothing to worry as these are authentic Mullard made E88CC. Philip(Mullard) also OEM the ECC83/12AX7 for Telefunken at that time and both E88CC and ECC83 came without <> , no big deal about this!
This is interesting. I have tubes that look exactly like yours and labeled AEG. They have Mullard etch code indicating that they were made in the Blackburn Mullard plant. All my other Mullard E88CC have either A frame or splash shield with ring getters. They tested OK on my Kaye tester with good noise and microphony performance.
Adrian-Have you compared those to other E88CC's? If so, I'd be interested to hear your comments.
"I've checked through the archives and could not find any reference to Mullard making tubes for Telefunken so I'm a bit confused (and concerned)."Check again. I think it has been discussed here before that Telefunken GZ34 were made by Mullard.
And the seller has been 100% honest.
Tim
Hong Kong Tube Audio Club
http://hktubeaudio.homestead.com
..these look like late production 1980's CV2492 to me as they have the dimpled getters . If these were from the early seventies I belive they would have had a ring getter . Still not a bad valve but the Cv2493 is better
Tuber,TFK would not have the Philips/Mullard date and manufacturer's code. They would have the DIAMOND embossed into the base.
What is kinda odd about this "Mullard" is some of the internal structure. Like that getter "hat." I've only seen Mullards with rings---though the very late ones may have had "hats." And most have had a seam in the glass, at the top. It almost looks like some Japanese made 6922/6DJ8 I've seen.
The "7L1" is an E88CC code.
The "R0F3" is the Mitchum, UK code (Mullard factory). Circa: Third week, June 1970 or 80 ???
Hi,Teles may very well have "philips codes" as tele themself had limited mfg. facitilies and so sourced tubes from others to fill the remailing "holes" in the order book.
But it is more common to see "east european teles" than "philips teles"...
Like the 5AR4 and EL84, the Matsushita (Japan) 6922 is a CLOSE copy of the Mullard. The reason is the same in all cases. Matushita bought their tooling from Mullard and Mullard helped set up the production line.The tubes look and sound a lot like Mullard for the very best of reasons.
Eli D.
Thank you all who replied. Again, this forum has proved a great resource. For the record, I want to make it clear that I was not trying to put the seller of these tubes in a bad light, I simply found it odd that he did not return any one of no less than five emails sent through both eBay and his own weblink. I purchased the tubes to roll in my ARC-2B pre-amp with the intention of hanging on to two of them, and selling the other pair on Audiogon. My query was both for my own benefit, in that I'd like to know what I am rolling with, and for the benefit of listing the other pair for sale since I am certainly no authority on tube manufacture, fakes, copies, etc. so this is all a learning experience for me. I greatly appreciate the input of those who speak from more authority on this subject!
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