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New production Tung Sol 6550s

Mosfed

Mosfed

Apr 21, 2013
12,753
45,523
Washington DC
Disclosures
Partner - CCP Pedals
#1
Hi

I did a search and found a few sparse opinions on these new production, Russian, Tung Sol 6550s.

What do people think who have used them for SVTs?

The original 6550s by Tung Sol were absolute tanks. A good friend uses them in his Leslies and they get tossed around by roadies and he has never had a problem. I have some random ones lying around but not a complete set.

How do people think they compare to the EHX or Sovteks or JJs? Do they have any of that original NOS magic?

They are offered at a pretty attractive prices here in the UK.

thanks in advance.
 
#2
I dont know what the old ones sound like. I use the RI's in both a guitar amp and my main bass amp (mesa bass 400).

My observation is that they are pretty flat/hi-fi in terms of response. Not too dark, not too bright. Coarse sparkly kind of breakup. If you want something to cleanly and accurately deliver your preamp sound with the 6550 power, great tube.

I prefer JJ KT-88 for my bass amp, no contest. They have expansive/expanded lows, silky smooth highs, and a slight effect of compression.

I've tried EH and Sovtek tubes in general but they havent "wow-ed". JJ's and Tung Sol RI are what I use in all my amps.
 
#4
I had them in my vintage SVT. They where just OK. I prefered the GE originals. I don't thing they make them like they did way back then...
2dbwhub.jpg
 
#5
You will not find any New Production (Re-issue or not) that will compare to the old production tubes. The experience, craftsmanship, quality control and tooling condition is just not there. Scrap rates were very high in the old days and current suppliers are just not willing to scrap that many.
 
#6
2string1 said:
I had them in my vintage SVT. They where just OK. I prefered the GE originals. I don't thing they make them like they did way back then...
Click to expand...

Yeah I get that. I do have a set of GEs but they were a minor fortune. £500 for a sextet and the Tung Sols are £115 for a sextet. Other options include JJs for £129, TADs for £144, Winged Cs for £280. I didn't expect them to sound like the old Tung Sols or the GEs - my question was how they compared to other current production tubes.

Now I am ALL FOR NOS tubes and have quite a collection of especially small signal tubes and EL34s. But when the tube set is 70% of the cost of the amp, I start to look for other options.

What would you get?

And yes there is room for the wider bottle in the SVT. Mine came with the EHX 6550s which have the wider bottle as well.
 
#9
Mosfed said:
It doesn't seem like they are particularly popular for whatever reason.
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Their 12AX7 is pretty popular. It is an excellent tube for V1 in just about any amp.

I think the deal with power tubes having a perception of being popular or particularly awesome, etc, is harder to determine because 1) You dont need to change them too often 2) Who tube rolls at ~$200 a pop 3) Usually when you plug in your power tubes you are happy with them 4) Power tubes dont affect tone that much. Not as much as a V1 position that u can get for $10-20.

B-string said:
The experience, craftsmanship, quality control and tooling condition is just not there.
Click to expand...
I've heard it's also the quality/purity of the metals used. I think a blend of recycled metal is what's used in current production.
 
#10
Mosfed said:
have you ever tried the new production Tung Sols? It doesn't seem like they are particularly popular for whatever reason.
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I have not. Got no reason to when I'm happy with it as is. I extensively compared my Heritage to my 69 loaded with NOS tubes and GE 6146b's and it sounds the same to me, so that's all I care about. I did try tube rolling in the preamp, though, and went back to the JJ's over some of the NOS tubes I have because it made the Heritage sound slightly treblier, which wasn't to my liking because it no longer sounded like my 69.
 
#11
chaosMK said:
[snip]
I've heard it's also the quality/purity of the metals used. I think a blend of recycled metal is what's used in current production.
Click to expand...

Old production would recycle failed tubes but, the materials used were deemed hazardous by the EPA in the US which with the decline in usage ended "domestic" production. Whether those same materials are used by manufacturers today I don't know? Possible those old formulations are lost to the wrecking balls?
 
#12
The original Tung Sol 6550 was the best ever.

GE's were more fragile than Tung-Sol, and had the silver getter flashing on the sides of the glass. This reflects heat back to the plates and causes them to run hotter. GE did this to other power tube types. Fender reduced the power output of some of their amps because of this while burning through stocked GE tubes.

Winged C are inconsistent. The good ones are nice, but there are a lot of bad ones.

I prefer JJ KT-88 for my bass amp, no contest. They have expansive/expanded lows, silky smooth highs, and a slight effect of compression.
Click to expand...

The JJ KT88 has been the best all around new 6550/KT88 tube for several years.

I've tried EH and Sovtek tubes in general but they havent "wow-ed".
Click to expand...

A lot of Sovtek power tubes are plagued by grid rattle at high power. A lot of the other preamp type tubes are microphonic. For a few years, like late 90's through early 00's, Sovtek/EH was the best option all around.

have you ever tried the new production Tung Sols? It doesn't seem like they are particularly popular for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

They are just Sovteks with extra marketing, and they are pricey.
 
#13
B-string said:
You will not find any New Production (Re-issue or not) that will compare to the old production tubes. The experience, craftsmanship, quality control and tooling condition is just not there. Scrap rates were very high in the old days and current suppliers are just not willing to scrap that many.
Click to expand...

+1 No comparison period.
 
#15
So what's the dealio with KT-88's in an SVT? I just did a Google search and found a lot of conflicting info about using them. I've read from some that they work well, and I've read that they may not fit the tube retainers or maintain adequate cooling. And how much do I really care if I'm happy with it as is? What tonal changes tend to happen?
 
#16
My SVT-2 Pro uses this type of spring retainer. It's spec'd as suitable for use with either a 6550 or KT-88:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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It's a size larger than a similar retainer that's spec'd as suitable for use with EL34 and 6L6GC/5881 type tubes:

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Maybe some of the confusion comes from the fact that there are two different sizes of these types of retainers? I don't see a problem for you if your SVT uses this type of retainer. Of course, if your amp uses the bear-trap type retainers then what matters is the tube base diameter.
 
#18
When my SVT-CL needed new tubes, I got the Tung Sol RI's on a recommendation from my amp tech. I really liked them. Actually, I loved them compared to the Sovteks I had in there before.

They weren't anything crazy in the breakup department, and were fairly flat, but have a huge sound that didn't get tinny during sustain like the Sovteks did. I put some grit pedals in front of the SVT at the time, so I didn't rely on trying to get that head to break up without blowing the windows out of the room. Great fat power, and awesome sustain.
 
#19
It's hard to compare new tube sound to worn out tube sound. People always pick the new tube sound as being better. :p

Jimmy, what I posted won't help you. for your type of clamp it all boils down to whether or not the tube manufacturers all build with bases that have the same size spec. I haven't found the base spec for the KT88 but for a 6550A the diameter is 1.7":

Here's a data sheet for the GE-6550A:
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The JJ spec sheets don't say anything about base diameter. Maybe someone at JJ could tell you if their KT88 base is the same size as their 6550 base? Or at a distributor like CE Distribution? I can't imagine why they'd be different, but if all else fails, I guess you could change retainers. Did you ask the guys at Ampeg?
 
#20
I didn't ask anyone at Ampeg because truthfully, it didn't even enter my mind to try them, and after what you said, I probably wouldn't get any benefit out of trying them anyway. I don't turn up loud enough to matter how they distort.
 

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