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7199 recommendations

stoutblock

stoutblock

"If it sounds good, it is good." Duke Ellington
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The 299c I just picked up has a couple of mismatched 7199 tubes. One is marked H.H. Scott and the other is marked Dynaco but appears to be an BP RCA. Amp sounds great but mismatched tubes always bother me. I don't have experience with the 7199 so would appreciate some input.

Thanks in advance!
 
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RCA made more of these than anyone it seems. At least that's all I see come through here. That's not a bad thing, as they sound just fine to my old ears.:music:
 
I recommend....not 7199's!
Since they're no longer in production, 7199's are on the pricey side.
I got a pair of 6GH8A-to-7199 plug in socket adapters for my ST-70.

With the adapters there's no need to rewire the pins to run the 6GH8A's which not only are readily available cheaply, I prefer they way they sound. And since they're so affordable I anticipate doing a little tube rolling.

The adapters are available on ebay.
 
I think 6U8s can be wired to work too, or is it 6AN8s. Too many numbers, not enough sleep lately.
 
Maybe if some of us post pics of our mismatched ones, we can do some swapping (might have to start a new thread in BT). I have 2 nice pair, Phillips & RCAs, but I also have a mismatched pair, & wouldn't mind matching up a pair. As far as recommendations, both of my pairs sound great, but I think the RCAs are just a bit better. It's not a huge difference, but I think they're just a bit smoother sounding.
 
jaymanaa said:
I think 6U8s can be wired to work too, or is it 6AN8s. Too many numbers, not enough sleep lately.
Click to expand...

6U8 and 6GH8 have the same pinout. Most 7199 replacements list them interchangeably, like the Audio Regenesis boards.

7199 was designed, as far as I can tell, as a low noise/high fidelity version of the 6U8/6GH8 architecture. Some people say the 7199 sounds better. Some like the 6U8/6GH8. I don't have enough experience to weigh in, though I am planning to leave one 7199-containing amp alone and change two others. Unless I stumble across two more NOS 7199s cheap...
 
I've heard it said that 7199's have a long lifetime, and if the only thing not matching is the name on the glass envelope (that is, they test or perform equally well) I wouldn't worry about it.

That said, if your 299c uses point to point wiring, it should be fairly easy to rewire the sockets to accept one of the other suggested substitutions. My SCA35 uses circuit boards so it's more difficult.
 
I've rolled a small number of 7199s in my Dynaco SCA-35 and Stereo 70 and I've not heard any difference in sound quality. I've heard some small difference in hum, but no difference in the way the music is presented. I've used RCAs, Raytheons, whatever came as original equipment in the SCA-35 (can't remember at the moment), and Sovteks (no longer in production). The Sovteks apparently weren't "real" 7199s, and they made this bizarre "BrrrzzzziiiippppppPPPPP!!!" noise through the speakers for about 2 seconds as they first warmed up. After that they were fine.
 
jaymanaa said:
RCA made more of these than anyone it seems. At least that's all I see come through here. That's not a bad thing, as they sound just fine to my old ears.:music:
Click to expand...

Most of the ones I see for sale are RCA so that may be the easiest?

Naptown Rob said:
I recommend....not 7199's!
Since they're no longer in production, 7199's are on the pricey side.
I got a pair of 6GH8A-to-7199 plug in socket adapters for my ST-70.

With the adapters there's no need to rewire the pins to run the 6GH8A's which not only are readily available cheaply, I prefer they way they sound. And since they're so affordable I anticipate doing a little tube rolling.

The adapters are available on ebay.
Click to expand...

I saw those adapters. So what 6GH8A is recommended?

spaceman said:
Maybe if some of us post pics of our mismatched ones, we can do some swapping (might have to start a new thread in BT). I have 2 nice pair, Phillips & RCAs, but I also have a mismatched pair, & wouldn't mind matching up a pair. As far as recommendations, both of my pairs sound great, but I think the RCAs are just a bit better. It's not a huge difference, but I think they're just a bit smoother sounding.
Click to expand...

Good idea! are your RCAs black plate?
 
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I think I might cry, broke one of my good S-C branded RCAs. :tears: I'm not sure what happened, I had them cupped in a paper towel, & it just kinda slid out from the rest, coming up the basement stairs. That's the first one I ever broke, guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. :dunno: Anyways, here's what I have left, and luckily that center RCA looks the same as the broken one. I'd be kinda curious what a pair of the GEs sound like. Oh, I think you can tell, but just to clarify, the far right one is a 6EA8, & the 2 by themselves are the Phillips ECGs, that I got from resound awhile back.
 

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That GE isn't a GE. Looks like a Westinghouse or Sylvania etching, maybe US Amperex. The Philips look to have the same markings as the GE-labeled tube.
 
There were only two American manufacture of 7199 tubes, RCA and Sylvania. That GE 7199 pictured above is Sylvania made and are good sounding- for a 7199.

There are MANY types of 6GH8 - 6U8 types with the 9AE pinout, and dirt cheap too. You can re-arrange the wiring at the socket (just three pins), or get adapters and have fun!

FWIW, I rearranged the sockets on a ST70 and tried a pair of NOS Sylvania 6678/6U8's, and they sounded very good!
 
From NJ7P tube database on the 7199:
"Miniature type used in high-quality, high-fidelity audio equipment, particularly in phase splitters, tone-control amplifiers, and high-gain voltage amplifiers. Requires miniature 9-contact socket.In direct-coupled voltage-amplifier phase-splitter circuits, the pentode unit should drive the triode unit."
The 6u8 and 6gh8 were developed for TV application.
 
Bluelobster said:
From NJ7P tube database on the 7199:
"Miniature type used in high-quality, high-fidelity audio equipment, particularly in phase splitters, tone-control amplifiers, and high-gain voltage amplifiers. Requires miniature 9-contact socket.In direct-coupled voltage-amplifier phase-splitter circuits, the pentode unit should drive the triode unit."
The 6u8 and 6gh8 were developed for TV application.
Click to expand...

And the point is? Quite a few perfectly good tubes were repurposed from TV applications. The well-regarded 6BM8 output tube comes to mind.
 
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