6BQ5/EL84

[Pio1980]

I bypassed the tone section in mine, essentially running straight into the power amp from the line input with a CD player.I don't recall using the phono input for a turntable but may have.

 

[jaymanaa]

I don't think I'd bother too much with a phono section with AC on the fils. What were they thinking, oh, money.

 

[whoaru99]

Picked some RCA tubes that have GT. BRITAIN on them, but I can't find any other sort of code printed or etched on the tube (aside from model number). The number "23" is molded in the glass base between the pins.

The tube boxes are newer style RCA boxes without any of the round logos, just the rather blockish RCA logo like on the tube, in black or white, on every other side of the red box.

Any thoughts who actually made it?

EDIT: Opened other end of box and on the flap is printed-

B78663
6319 ~10 (symbol preceeding 10 isn't quite right, has two diagonal slashes through it, but best I could do)
2-74

 

[PR Audio]

I picked up a matched set of TAD EL84STR's a bit back and am lovin' them. Those are a heavy duty version, similar in construction to the 7189 industrial tubes. They'll run fine at "stock" power levels, but you can push more watts if your amp has the iron for the job. That said, if you run them at stock settings, you'll end up with a bit more headroom - never a bad thing. Heavy glass which makes them slightly larger than a standard tube, so keep that in mind if your tubes are piled in tight.

Here's the spec sheet.

https://www.tubesandmore.com/sites/default/files/associated_files/t-el84-tad.pdf

Having owned an amp where I installed this TAD EL84-STR, I must second this post. I would say it is an EL84M on steroids.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Doing some tube rolling today in my recently acquired Inspire SE EL84 amp. Runs one EL84 per channel, single-ended, producing about 4-5 wpc.

Have matched pairs of new, reissued Mullards made in Russia, 1960s RCAs, 1960s Philco, and a pair of Ultrons which were made in Russia most likely in the 1980s - some type of Sovtek / 6p14. To my surprise, to my ears, those Ultron/Sovteks sounded the best. Bought them from Upscale Audio about 12 or so years ago. Had never plugged them in before today. Didn't pay much for them, Kevin had some odd pairs and no one seemed to want to buy them with Ultron labels. He said they sounded surprisingly good. I just picked them up for a backup pair for a Dynaco SCA-35, but never needed them. Almost didn't use them today for the comparison, but thought why not. Now let's see how they sound with a few hours on them.

I also rolled 3 rectifiers, a new Chinese Shuguang 274B, a Sylvania 5U4G and a RCA 5U4G. Couldn't hear any differences. The 274B looks better and bigger, so I just go with it. Its the one sold by the Tube Store as being an extra rugged "preferred" series tube.