I'm wondering, since there are many brands, what would be the best 6550's for an ampeg SVTII pro, cost no object. Also what would make the most difference between changing preamp tubes or power tubes ?. Now my amp is fitted with svetlana's, and the tone is very good but you know. I'm playing with a MM stingray 4 trough an svtII pro with a SVT-VR 8x10 cab if that's any help.
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best tubes ?
- Thread starter mattbangs
- Start date
Well if money is no object I would have to say the the NOS GE 6550A is the best 6550 out there. They last a long long long time as well. It's gonna cost you for a set of 6 though.
unfortunately, there is no 'best'. must spend the cash and experiment.
only way to see what you think is the best.
only way to see what you think is the best.
Get some colored JJ's KT-88's. I cant say they are the best, but they are colored.
I think I'd be just as happy with my head regardless of power tube brand. It's a win win situation.
I think I'd be just as happy with my head regardless of power tube brand. It's a win win situation.
I dont know, i had some Phillips ECG 6550As (rebranded Sylvenias) which were spectacular in my SVT-II, but, you aint going to find many of them about now.
Current production, id personally go with JJ KT-88s
I have some of the new Tung-Sol's in my Sunn 300T. I like them! There was a big difference between them and the EH's that was in it before...definitely a step up. Power tubes are expensive though! At least I wont have to worry about them for many years.
or Sovtek KT88 (very very very similarly made).
Money was no object, I wanted the best tube for my head 2 years ago. I bought the Sovtek KT88.
Now for the original poster:
You say the 6550 tubes sound good, so leave them be.... very little will change when swapping good power tubes for good power tubes. The Tung Sol and Sovtek are actually preferred by some to the "old used GE 6550A as they "good" ones are all but gone. Their heyday has passed and a lot of people are getting ripped off by junk ones that would have been culled years ago (IMO and from all the research I did buying 6550/KT88 for my empty tube head).
If you want to play with tone... grab a random selection of 12ax7 from EHX, JJ, Tung-Sol, etc. They are cheap, don't need biasing and have the most effect on tone.
I agree with most of this. Definatly if your going to just want to play with tone, try pre-tubes first, biggest difference, and cheapest.
What I don't agree with is James always comming along and saying the sovtek kt-88 and tung-sol 6550's are the same. They are very different animals IME. first of all the plates look different, ok no big deal. but the specs are differen, ones a kt88 and the other is a 6550. They have different current capacities and heat dissapation etc.. One of the biggest differances I've heard in tone is the sovtek kt88 to a handfull of others including the 6550 in my trace. the sovtek kt88 has a loose but huge bottom, my favorite for old school metal very three dimentional the strings and even their windings will really jump out at you. The 6550 is a tight round bottom with smoother mids, and clear highs. way more focused and breaks up rather creamy. Now they are made in the same plant I'm sure, and probably have similar parts etc... but they are very different to my ears.
At the time I was researching them the construction was the same... or almost the same. Maybe the first runs were rebadged Sovtek?
But I'll agree with the "loose but huge bottom" and "three dimensional"
At the time, those tubes were identical. After New Sensor bought the rights to the Tungsol name, they changed their Sovtek KT88 to a different tube. You can still find NOS Sovtek KT88's on ebay that are the same tubes are the new Tungsol 6550's. BTW, re specs: WHERE you have you ever seen New Sensor published specs for ANY of their tubes? They're famous for not providing production specs and just referring to old data sheets.
cool so my tubes ARE Tung-Sol 6550 reissues and the current Sovtek KT88 have been changed?
Not that I'll need replacing anytime soon but I am looking at a single pair of kt88/6550 head that I may need to specify tubes in.
I've not bought JJ KT88's BUT I had GREAT service & results from a matched sextet of JJ KT77's! So I'd have NO worries reccomending them. Tho I've heard Tung-sol are good 6550's also!
Yep. It's funny; I have real old Tungsols and if you put them next to the old Sovtek KT88 and turned the writing on the bases around backwards, you couldn't tell them apart (until you put them in an amp running over 700 volts B+ and the Tungsols burned up.
)OK, well I've never seen specs, but like you said they burn up? is that typical of old sovtek kt-88's too, because I had a quad of older sovtek kt88 (or so I thought, Must have been new) when I AB'd them to the tung sols. I don't know specifically about the specs, but I had to bias the tung sol's more-so like the other 6550's I tried and the Sovtek kt-88's like the other kt88's I tried. That's got to do with plate voltage right? If I just plugged in 6550's after biasing for the sovtek KT88 they'd have burned up! Maybe I'm wrong about this, but then
loose bigg but bottom and three dimensional does not describe the tung-sols, and James you'd have the newer sovtek's not the re-lables.
So if you go out and buy a set of tung sol's and Sovteks they are different, unless you get old sovtek's and Tung-sols, does that sound about right?
I'm just going to summarise for today, and not for when James bought his sovteks. They are different today, I've seen them with my own eyes, and heard them with my own ears, and I don't care about specs.
Sovtek kt88: big loose bottom and 3d.
Tung-sol RI: focused rounder tighter
Sovtek kt88: big loose bottom and 3d.
Tung-sol RI: focused rounder tighter
I just Re-Tubed my SVT-CL with EH 6550's and was very Happy. hey had a nicer and smoother breakuo point thatn the original Sovteks that were in it. I didn't expect there to be a difference because they are made at the same factory i suppose, but the EH's have that different Bulbous shape and are apparently different inside. Anyway. I Liked em- A little crunchy when cranked but in a smooth and musical way.
In your head.... in my Classic 400 the Sovtek KT88 that I bought at the same time the Tung-Sol 6550 were first reissued and looked to be the same construction as each other are big bottomed and give the tone a 3D characteristic compared to my yamaha pre / crown poweramp setup.
Here are the ones I bought.
