Help identifying a KT88

[cimchazz1]

Hello, can anyone help me identify who the manufacturer of this tube is? I was pulled from a new Chinese tube amp (Wilsenton) but has no info on it. Thanks

 

[cimchazz1]

 

[Big-L]

I would think...Psvane...since the intergrated is made in China

 

[Shibatube]

The holes in Psvane KT88 are slightly oblong. Linlai are slightly smaller.

 

[Lavane]

The top mica with the round hole in the middle might be a clue? Shuguang?
<edit> not Shuguang.

 

[cimchazz1]

Thanks, yes, these holes are round, like ive seen on JJ, but the bottle shape is slightly different and those rectangle mica looking insulators around the top don't look like anything else I've seen, and the base is a brown color instead of black like a JJ.

 

[gadget73]

not an EH, or at least my set of EH KT88 do not have those side supports up top. Gold Lion don't have it either.

 

[cimchazz1]

So, for now, I'm going to guess it's either a PS Vane or JJ made to Wilsenson specs?

 

[cimchazz1]

Ok, I thinking now that Shuguang might be correct, I’ve seen some older SG with the rectangle mica supports at the top

 

[Sam Cogley]

Construction-wise, it looks like someone took the guts of a tube based on a three-hole Tung-Sol 6550 and stuck them in a Genalex-style KT88 bottle.

 

[cimchazz1]

I don't know who is copying who, and who is making the KT88 (or parts of them) for who, or who is re-labeling, but I've seen KT88 marked Golden Dragon, RCA Electron, Shuguang Electron, Amperex Electron, Tung Sol, and Groove Tube with similar construction/features. They were used by Willsenton in their hi-fi tube amps, so I'm guessing some type of Shuguang or Chinese tube. Don't know if they are back in business or not, or if someone else bought the factory/tooling. Some people seem to like them, some people hate them, like everything else.
I was told Shuguang and J&J made tubes (or their components) for each other, in some cases. Maybe over time they built tubes to someones spec for them. And I'm guessing they aren't all making their own bottles.

 

[Jon S]

I understand the stock KT-88 in the Willsenton amps are Shuguang budget tubes. They are low quality tubes that did not pass the muster for their normal brands. But Shuguang KT88s normally have oblong holes in the plates. I think the tube in question is the unusual KT94 tubes that were produced before the KT88 was released.

 

[cimchazz1]

Thanks, interesting, never heard of those before. These were advertised as JJ KT88, but I questioned that because of the mica insulators around the top. But I’ll bet you are right! Thanks

 

[gadget73]

KT94 is a new one on me.

 

[cimchazz1]

Thanks, interesting, never heard of those before. These were advertised as JJ KT88, but I questioned that because of the mica insulators around the top. But I’ll bet you are right! Thanks

I know the “newer” KT88-98 has oblong holes. Thought I had seen other tubes called KT88 with round holes and upper micas. I was going to use them in a Traynor YBA200 bass head, that eats Sovtek 6550 because they supposedly aren’t built to spec. According to Traynor, “The Sovtek 6550 tube was manufactured with sub-standard screen grids which were only rated at 4 watts when the standard spec for a 6550 was set at 8 watts. We designed the amp at 4 watts of screen dissipation thinking we had a 100% safe margin in design as per the standard design parameters of 6550's and all the time we were running the tube at max dissipation on the screens”. So I’m looking to replace with KT88. Hopefully these are more robust than the 6550WE