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Any fans of Tung-Sol USA tubes?

gearhound

gearhound

Lunatic Member
They were a small tube manufacturer, out of New Jersey.
Many of the tubes they produced, were re-branded for other companies.
I have some Tung-Sol USA 6V6, 6AU6WA, and 12AX7 tubes at home (f*cking movers didn't smash all my tubes, at least).
I ended up replacing the broken RCA tubes, used in my 6V6 PP amp, with NOS Tung-Sol USA tubes.
I was NOT expecting how good the USA-made Tung-Sol tubes would sound, in comparison with the RCA tubes?
I have some Tung-Sol RI (made in Russia) tubes, but those do NOT hold a candle to the USA-made Tung-Sol tubes!

Steve :thmbsp:
 
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I have a SWEET pair of Tungsol 6SN7's and a pair of 6SC7's. I use the 6SC7's in my home built phono amp. The Tungsols are my favorite octals for sure. I have one 12AX7 that I need to find a mate for one of these days.
 
Tung Sol 5881s are highly regarded for guitar amps that can use them. I've never heard them myself. I have a pair of similar Tung Sol 6L6GB but I think all my guitar amps run too much plate voltage for them.
 
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I run a pair of 4028's in my little Dot 1+ headphone amp, and they are very nice tubes!
Regards,
Jim
 
I have 4 of them coming for my newest toy ( Scott LK 48) have tele's in there right now, never really been a fan of tele's......
 
My buddy has a thing for old organs,, and has aquired a nice stash of Tung Sol 6550's,, which have displace his GL KT 88 re-issues in his Cary,,in fact,they are so good, he won't use anything else.YMMV.I'm using an older TS 12AU7 in my phono pre and am qiute happy,, great tubes,if you can find em'. :banana:
 
I have a decent stash of brand new in box USA TS 6550s myself. They were the designer of this tube, and it predates the original Brit's KT88 by nearly a couple of years. It is indeed all it's cracked up to be!

Dave
 
yep, the tung-sol 6550's are cult status, wonderful tubes.

I use the tung-sol 6sn7gtb tall bottles from the mid to late 50's as drivers in my tube amps, and they are very, very good.

arguably, the round plate vt-231 tung-sol 6sn7gt is the best 6sn7(gt) to have ever be produced on this planet, and are frequently fetching over a hundred bucks each. Would love to own some, someday.

Brian
 
gearhound said:
They were a small tube manufacturer, out of New Jersey.
Many of the tubes they produced, were re-branded for other companies.
I have some Tung-Sol USA 6V6, 6AU6WA, and 12AX7 tubes at home (f*cking movers didn't smash all my tubes, at least).
I ended up replacing the broken RCA tubes, used in my 6V6 PP amp, with NOS Tung-Sol USA tubes.
I was NOT expecting how good the USA-made Tung-Sol tubes would sound, in comparison with the RCA tubes?
I have some Tung-Sol RI (made in Russia) tubes, but those do NOT hold a candle to the USA-made Tung-Sol tubes!

Steve :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

I should have around 50 Tung-Sol 6V6 (Some G's, GT and, GTA) and, around 15 Tung-Sol 12AT7s.

They are all NOS. I love Tung-Sols.

Thanks for sharing your experience on their re-issue versions. I was leary about how the sound the new versions would project over the original design. I am currently, using a pair of 6V6Gs which dates back to the early 1940's.

Best Regards,
 
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I have a few 6550s. Some smooth black plate ones, some smooth gray plate ones, some gray plates with the 3 holes. They are all great. I use them in a 100 watt Marshall and some are in a Yaqin 100B. I have some that are unmarked and were JAN type tubes with blue glass.

Have a bunch of 12 A_7s, too. I was lucky enough to have bought them before the prices got so crazy. I am a real fan.
 
TS 12AU7 in my Zenith console pull sounds great. Though I've not tried any others.

IMGP9680.jpg
 
My father was a Tung-Sol distributor and the quality was variable some runs were very good and then the next had a large % of DOAs. I agree that their 6550s were excellent and it was amazing how closely matched the tubes were in the same runs. You alsmot did not need to pay the exter $1.00 per pair for matched pairs. Sadly, when they decided to get rid of tubes some years after I moved on, they simply took several thousand tubes and tossed them into a dumpster. When I heard of it some time later I nearly cried as by then finding tubes was getting very difficult. Just as bad was about that time they got rid of "obsdolete" auto parts and threw out tail light lenses going back to the 20s, fender skirts for cars to just post wwII, continental kits, enough flat head Ford parts to start a business with and all that other junk that was not selling. Though it cost money for square footage of warehouse and inventory taxes, I can not even imagine what the inventory would sell for today.
 
The short brown 5881 is an extremely well designed tube. They are equally at home in Hi-Fi and Guitar applications.:yes:
 
I have a few odd ones, but no pairs, so haven't really listened to any. One's a 6BQ5, & one's a 5881, I think, & maybe a couple/few in the box o' tubes. I read some time back that some were worth grabbing, but ya sure don't see many to grab.
 
Tung-Sol was also a manufacturer of automotive lamp bulbs. The OEM quad round
headlights on my 1974 Plymouth Fury were made by that company.
 
I have a vintage set of 5881s in my MC30s. Got em from a guy with a basement full of gear. Traded a few big transmitter tubes for a nice quad.
 
Pardon the minor rant here...

In the last few years especially many US tube users have developed a "fetish" about tubes - if it isn't European (or at least European designated - "E90Fs are WAY better than 6BH6s" - yeah, right!) then it isn't any good. Do some searching around this and other forums - you can't miss seeing it!

Somehow in the process the incredible New Jersey made Tung-Sols got lost in the shuffle (as to a certain extent did RCA).

IMHO, Tung-Sol made tubes EVERY BIT AS GOOD or in some cases better than the Europeans. Not only the power tubes like the 5881 and 6550, but the 6V6, the 12**7 series, 12BY7As, 6U8s, 6BH6s, 6AU6s, and so on - these are all killer tubes - and if they had been labeled "made in Great Britain" or "Made in Holland" they'd be in unbelievable demand.

But as I've written before, for some tube buying is also a very status-driven event. And since the Tung-Sols (to many) didn't have the "snob appeal" of the European Philips family names they'd get passed by. But the real sharp tube users have known for a long time than Tung-Sols kick a**!! :thmbsp:

Tung-Sol stuff is GREAT!
 
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