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6550 / KT88 ... pick me a set

Which should I buy and why?

  • Total voters
    39
#21
James Hart said:
GT as in Groove Tubes?

What manufactures tubes are they relabeling for you @ $450 a matched sextet?

I just ordered a matched Octet of Sovtek KT88 from www.tubedepot.com for $200

for $450 you could score a matched sextet of NOS GE 6550 or some other holy grail tube.
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and

oddio said:
Amper, the Sovtek KT88s mentioned above by James Hart are the finest current-production tubes available for your Trace Elliot amp, and cost much less than the inferior GT ones that you've mentioned. You won't be sorry.

I have a V8, and I can guarantee you that I will never put GT in there!
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Man, do guys have some hate for GT, or what? :confused:

Groove Tubes makes some excellent products. The Trace Elliot gear I have/have had are not the only tube pieces I've owned over the years, and I've never had a problem with Groove Tubes in any of my gear. In my experience, GT does an excellent job debunking myths about tubes in general. I would not hesitate to use a GT product.

As far as GT tubes being "inferior" to Sovtek tubes, that's nothing but a fallacy. While Groove Tubes is now manufacturing 6L6 and 6AC7 tubes, most of their product line is the same tubes available to every other supplier--GT does, however, do a lot more work in testing and categorizing/characterizing their tubes than most, if not all, other vendors. GT sells quite a lot of Sovtek tubes. In no way does GT attempt to hide the origin of their tubes and GT is also pretty forthcoming about the processes they use to brand their tubes--very much unlike some other vendors out there.

That said, I certainly do think that $75/pop for KT88's is quite a high price--but then, Tube Depot sells NOS GEC KT88's for $800/matched pair, so don't tell me that you're going to find "holy grail" tubes for less than $75/ea.

In many cases, the tubes GT sells are designs that are exclusive to GT. While they may be produced in the same plants as some of the other tubes out there, you can only get these particular types from GT.

Then again, if I can get a well-matched set of Sovtek KT88's for a lot less money, I won't hesitate to try them out. I like Sovtek tubes--and I have quite a few of them, some from GT, some from Mesa, some from EH, and possibly others as well.

BTW, my wife's grandfather was an electron tube designer. I follow his advice more than anyone else's. Too bad he wants to stay retired--he could probably make a lot of money consulting with some of the tube companies out there!
 
#22
Christian had ONE pair of GEC matched @ 3% that were sold at that price right after he put them up. Some Audiophile guy must have them in a $30,000 HiFi

I was talking about the 6550 from General Electric, they are the holy grail tube for instrument amplifiers to many I've talked with.

But do your research, buy what you want, that is what I did.

As far as "Tube Companies"... much like strings, there are only a few that actually *make* the tubes. And sad to say, our tubes are a very insignificant bit of what they make... as your Grandfather-in-law most likely knows that already, there is not much consulting to be done :hmm:
 
#23
amper said:
Man, do guys have some hate for GT, or what? :confused:
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It's not hate, it's disdain for their VERY misleading marketing practices. While they have helped to make tubes more popular, they have also spread a LOT of outright false information designed more to help sell their product than be truthful.

Groove Tubes makes some excellent products.
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Yes, they make some fine amps and preamps, but they do NOT manufacture tubes, nor do they have exclusive tube designs, contrary to their advertising.

In my experience, GT does an excellent job debunking myths about tubes in general.
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In MY experience they spread FAR more myth than any kind of factual service concerning tubes.

While Groove Tubes is now manufacturing 6L6 and 6AC7 tubes,
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They do NOT manufacture them. Both the 6CA7 and 6L6"GE" are contract manufactured in China and neither are exclusive designs. The same tubes are availble from Ruby under different post designations, but they are the very SAME tubes.Obviously, neither are "Made in the USA," as advertised, either. GT does final base assembly and "testing" in California and uses that to justify their ads, but the tubes are built in China. It's like making a toy in Canada, but shrink wrapping them in the US and selling them as "Made in the USA."

most of their product line is the same tubes available to every other supplier--GT does, however, do a lot more work in testing and categorizing/characterizing their tubes than most, if not all, other vendors.
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"Categorization/rating" is a ploy that they use so that they can sell tubes of "lesser ratings" that other dealers would have to reject as being out of the tube type's tolerance.

GT sells quite a lot of Sovtek tubes. In no way does GT attempt to hide the origin of their tubes and GT is also pretty forthcoming about the processes they use to brand their tubes--very much unlike some other vendors out there.
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Funny that they don't try to hide the origin, but they usually remove the Reflektor factory mark. I'd like to know what other vendors you're referring to when you say that they mislead people.

That said, I certainly do think that $75/pop for KT88's is quite a high price--but then, Tube Depot sells NOS GEC KT88's for $800/matched pair, so don't tell me that you're going to find "holy grail" tubes for less than $75/ea.
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There's a sucker born every minute, and having used vintage GEC KT88's, Mullard EL34's, Tungsol 6550's and just about every other coveted type of vintage tube, the hype FAR outstretches the actual performance in MOST cases. If someone wants to pay $800 for a pair of tubes, that's their business, but "desirability" and actual performance are not necessarily indicative of one another.

In many cases, the tubes GT sells are designs that are exclusive to GT. While they may be produced in the same plants as some of the other tubes out there, you can only get these particular types from GT.
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Name one.
 
#25
sup Jeff?

Do you have any shots of your Classic 400? I'm thinking about building a little website about them... and yes I'm a geek :p

I grabbed a shot or 2 of Thornton's and I asked Henry to send any he may have... I even found a copy of Peavey's site back when the 400 was in production 8-)
 
#26
Good luck with your tubes James (what ever you do).

There's lots of great information in this thread. I will tell you that I paid $32.00 (Cdn) for each Sovtek 6550WE when I bought my 8 tubes. I would think this price is still accurate from my source. And these are matched sets.
If you're interested in considering Sovtek's, let me know and i'll call my contact to see what he's selling them for today, then I can let you know what he had to say.

As for Classic 400 photos, I have a couple of Peavey bass catalogues with both versions of the head pictured along with its specs and features as pictured below.

Invalid Link Removed

TD
:cool:
 
#28
James Hart said:
sup Jeff?

Do you have any shots of your Classic 400? I'm thinking about building a little website about them... and yes I'm a geek :p

I grabbed a shot or 2 of Thornton's and I asked Henry to send any he may have... I even found a copy of Peavey's site back when the 400 was in production 8-)
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I'll try to remember to bring my camera to rehearsal tomorrow and I'll send you some pics....

Jeff
 
#30
ZoomBoy said:
I'll try to remember to bring my camera to rehearsal tomorrow and I'll send you some pics....
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:bassist:


Thornton Davis said:
This is from the 1996 Peavey Bass Amplification catalog. It's a poor photo of the controls. Also blown out of the image, is the Classic 400 logo on the front panel in the right corner.
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Very Cool, thanks if you want to send any others my way webguy (at) hartsafire (dot) com gets to me with plenty of room and bandwidth for large files.
 
#31
James,
If you want to save these 2 pages above to your hard drive, go right ahead. If you haven't already done so please do it soon as i'm going to have to delete them from my server by the end of this week to make room for some other files that I need to upload.

TD
;)
 
#32
Thornton Davis said:
James,
If you want to save these 2 pages above to your hard drive, go right ahead. If you haven't already done so please do it soon as i'm going to have to delete them from my server by the end of this week to make room for some other files that I need to upload.

TD
;)
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:smug: I also rooted through your directory and saved your Peavey stack shots and one of you with a Rick and the Classic behind ya :ninja:
 
#33
I just ordered a some Electro-Harmonix KT88EH's for my amp. I ordered two pairs from tubedepot and a pair off a dude from TGP. Hope this doesn't mean anything when it comes to matching and tube biasing. I don't think it will but can anyone chime in?

How did you like thosE sovtek's James?
 
#35
iamdenialNJ said:
How did you like thosE sovtek's James?
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They were awesome. My Sovtek were actually the design of the Tung Sol and replaced by the current Sovtek version shortly after I got mine. I recommend the Tung Sol line for most every type they make these days.

okcrum said:
I believe New Sensor in Russia makes all three of these brands, so would it really make much of a difference which one you pick?
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How many cars does Toyota make? Does it make much difference which one you pick?

If you look at all the 6550 and KT88 coming out of New Sensor's factories, you will see a couple different designs.
 
#36
James Hart said:
How many cars does Toyota make? Does it make much difference which one you pick?

If you look at all the 6550 and KT88 coming out of New Sensor's factories, you will see a couple different designs.
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I'm sure there are some minor differences, but I think my point was, you've basically narrowed it down to one (good) manufacturer. Plus, New Sensor owns the Svetlana trademark. I wouldn't think you'd go wrong with any of your choices. My gut feeling would be to go for KT88s, whichever brand you choose. They've got higher electronic ratings and generally sound bigger and beefier in the bass & mids than the 6550s. Big price difference though.

Edit: Have you considered the KT100? Oh, nm, it's a Chinese KT88 on steroids. Looking at your choices, I'd go for the E-H tubes.
 
#38
okcrum said:
Edit: Have you considered the KT100? Oh, nm, it's a Chinese KT88 on steroids. Looking at your choices, I'd go for the E-H tubes.
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I've since sold the amp I started this thread over (I started it 6 years ago ;) ). At that moment in time / production: The Sovtek KT88 and Tung Sol 6550 were the same exact tube and the EH 6550 and KT88 were the same exact tube. So picking a KT88 over a 6550 is a little more difficult since the line was crossed repeatedly.

As for the KT90 and KT100 tubes... in the years since this thread was started I have spent most of my free time studying tube theory. I've got a design ready for prototyping (being delayed with my moving... another few weeks to go) that should have some universal appeal between guitarists and bassists. I've got 3 power sections planned ranging from 50 to 150 watts. All using a single pair of output tubes. The biggest is based on a pair of Tung Sol KT120.
 

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