2x 6BL7 instead of 6AS7G?

[JazzVinyl]

Anyone tried this? I was given a suggestion that 2x 6BL7 tubes could sound better than a 6AS7G when the drivers were the 6SN7 / 7N7 family.

So I contacted my friendly Chinese adapter maker, and had her fabricate the adapter. And bought 4 of the 6BL7's, which are inexpensive and plentiful.

Low and behold, I was very pleasantly surprised at this tube combo. Using a Ken Rad 6SN7GT as drivers and the quad of 6BL7's I was surprised to hear super deep deep bass (but not flabby, tubey bass, but tight and articulated) and I was getting inner detail that 6080/6AS7G/5998 power tubes barely hint at.

I have been enthralled with this set up.

Here is a photo, had the Tung Sol 7N7's in...and they come in a close second to the Ken Rads:

Do be aware the quad of 6BL7 draw a total of 6 amps of current. In my case, I had to externally heat the drivers, to not go over the recommended current limits.

Cheers!!

 

[darg]

I have tried the 6bl7 and the little sister 6bx7 in my first tube amp I bought a year ago and they just sound really amazing to my other 6bq5 combos I have. The whole amp is based around this tube family.
It's astonishing how something that makes a tv go can also make music

 

[nerdorama]

I've quite a few of both, BL and BX. The BX is the one I would call the big brother as it has lower plate resistance and mu. Be aware, both of these are dual triodes and in my experience it takes quite a few to find examples with matched triodes in the same bottle. I agree with the sound quality reviews. I wish someone was making modern versions of at least one of these, but there probably wouldn't be much of a market for them. The 6AH4 is a nice single triode and near to a single section of the BX7.
John

 

[tcdriver]

Anyone tried this? I was given a suggestion that 2x 6BL7 tubes could sound better than a 6AS7G when the drivers were the 6SN7 / 7N7 family.

So I contacted my friendly Chinese adapter maker, and had her fabricate the adapter. And bought 4 of the 6BL7's, which are inexpensive and plentiful.

Low and behold, I was very pleasantly surprised at this tube combo. Using a Ken Rad 6SN7GT as drivers and the quad of 6BL7's I was surprised to hear super deep deep bass (but not flabby, tubey bass, but tight and articulated) and I was getting inner detail that 6080/6AS7G/5998 power tubes barely hint at.

I have been enthralled with this set up.

Here is a photo, had the Tung Sol 7N7's in...and they come in a close second to the Ken Rads:

Do be aware the quad of 6BL7 draw a total of 6 amps of current. In my case, I had to externally heat the drivers, to not go over the recommended current limits.

Cheers!!

Thanks for posting about your use of the 6BL7 tubes. In what amplifier are you using the 6BL7 tubes?