EL34 vs 6550 vs KT88

[coreyfyfe]

Speaking of winged C 6550s, It looks like TAD offers them as a STR item! TAD Matched Quad Winged C SED 6550 C Tubes-24 Hour Burn In -Premium Selected NOS | eBay

They still show them on their website but they say discontinued and recommend other tubes. As it says these have been out of production for almost 10 years. I have a bunch of spares and mismatched sets of winged Cs from my various 6550 amps over the years. I had one go bad in my SVT not too long ago and finally installed a set of tung sol reissues I’ve had on my shelf for a while. We’ll see on long term reliability, but I’d happily use those over paying >$100/tube for the winged Cs.

SED 6550C Svetlana -C- / Russia

 

[BogeyBass]

Winged C been gone for awhile. Hard to find even 10 years ago.
Ironically they seemed to become bullet proof. After the proposed announced end of production. And old stock was sitting and being sold on shelf's.
When in production you heard the usual mixed opinions like you do now. Good / bad expierences etc etc blah blah. And the endless talk about tubes in the " good old days"
It's really just amp design. And staying away from wattage drag racing. 100 to 150 watt platforms are more reliable.

 

[Wasnex]

Winged C been gone for awhile. Hard to find even 10 years ago.
Ironically they seemed to become bullet proof. After the proposed announced end of production. And old stock was sitting and being sold on shelf's.
When in production you heard the usual mixed opinions like you do now. Good / bad expierences etc etc blah blah. And the endless talk about tubes in the " good old days"
It's really just amp design. And staying away from wattage drag racing. 100 to 150 watt platforms are more reliable.

I believe Winged C production ended in 2012. My impression is the quality went way downhill towards the end of productions I have seen quite a few vendors selling tubes that were listed with some sort of defect. Also lot's of reports of failures towards the end of production.

Prior to that I had the impression the Winged C and JJ were the top brands and about equal, but neither is/was really bullet proof. I certainly would not pay a premium price for Winged C tubes, especially if they were made anywhere close to 2012.

I have had really good luck with JJ KT88s and have a bunch of them in my amps, but there are several people here on TalkBass who refuse to ever buy JJ again due to repeated failures (infant mortality) and refusal by the tube vendor to warranty the tubes. A 6-month warranty is not worth jack if you don't honor it.

I have seen threads that suggest the JJ manufacturing process is sort of the opposite of TQM. Some of the tube-making equipment is old and gets out of adjustment over time. Several batches of bad tubes may get out into the wild before anyone at the factory notices. Eventually they shut down the line and service the equipment, and start making good tubes again.

I suspect the margins on making tubes is really small and it's pretty nasty business dealing with some of the toxic materials involved in the process. I won't be surprised if another tube maker shuts down like Winged C did. Many people think we will have tubes forever. I think this is a fantasy. AFAIK the only tube factories left are in Russia, China, and Slovakia. I think Russia and China have more tolerance for the business practices necessary to sustain tube production. Only time will tell.

 

[BogeyBass]

Most would be surprised really.
It's actually the Chinese who invested alot of money and time developing new production lines for tubes. And majority of the tube market goes to....Japan