Lavane
Lunatic Member
Ah ok, well I haven't bought a Tung-Sol tube since all that happened. I've only been buying Russian surplus tubes from a Ukrainian seller for awhile now.
yes, I have used Tung Sol's for years, in my opinion, one of the best factory new build tubes out there.
heath2832
Active Member
OP asked about 6SN7's, not 6SL7's.
trainbuftony
Electron Herder
I'm not seeing what's obvious to everyone else I guess...
Either that or this thread has gotten political, by suggesting that tubes from a certain country who the US government is in conflict with should not be purchased because governments are in conflict.
Keep the political statements to yourselves, Audiokarma isn't the place.
State your preference and your reasons.
If your reasons are political then state your preference.
I run NOS and new 6sn7 tubes in my sp14 preamp. The kit came with new reproduction Russian Tung Sol tubes. I use the TS tubes as the phase splitter pair and Sylvania Chrome Domes in Gain pair position. I also ran NOS RCA 6sn7gt as phase splitter tubes. The TS tubes perform quite well in my setup and holds their own against the NOS tubes. But...yeah, buying anything Russian is a nogo for me.
Running TS 6SN7 in my phase splitter position, PP KT88 amp for several months. They have been stable, quiet, work well in that position. I have NOS RCA in the voltage gain position. Tested TS there and they sounded very good. I thought the NOS RCA "MAY" have had a more open sound. Too close to tell with the brain and ear interaction as it varied day to day. I left the NOS RCA in the first position just to make myself feel better - LOL.
Gigantic
A big, big love
settled for the time being on a pair of NOS GE Gray Plate 6SN7GTB in the buffer stage and PSVANE Hi-Fi Series UK-6SN7 in the gain stage. when first installed, they were a bit veiled, but after about 10 hours of breaking in, the highs are emerging. The sound stage and detail is impressive! I may try the tennis ball 6SN7SE and the CV-181 MkII in the coming months, but for now, I'm pretty pleased.
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a bit more expensive but you may want to try the new PSVANE series or shuguang nature sound series. The shuguang WE series was the best sounding 6SN7 I have heard.
whos ur go-to vendor for those?
buffstereo
Member
Octal with loktal adapter, using NOS loktal tubes? Loktals are cheaper, but not always as beautiful. Just a thought........ Good luck with your music! :>)
not sure who carries the Shuguang tubes but Viva tubes has the PSVANE
New Matched Pair (2) Psvane 6SN7-UK Black Plates Gold Pins Vacuum Tubes
New gain matched pair of Psvane 6SN7-UK vacuum tubes for sale. Your friendly trusted tube store with fast worldwide shipping. Always hand tested, matched, guaranteed and shipped in the USA. Thousands of valves in stock.
www.vivatubes.com
I like the Psvane's I've had for a few years now.
Mike
Mike
Warpstormer7
New Member
About 3 weeks ago I purchased a Schiit Freya+ and rolled in these set of tubes and so far they sound amazing in my specific system. Not anywhere near burned-in only 20 hours and noticed last night the set broke the initial threshold and “bloom” came alive out of nowhere; great experience. I highly recommend….Plus the tubes themselves have a great construction aesthetic to them; they pair well in the Freya+
. Psvane 6SN7-SE (Silver Globe)
. Psvane Treasure C181-Z
. Psvane 6SN7-SE (Silver Globe)
. Psvane Treasure C181-Z
Attachments
Jon S
Super Member
I do not care for Psvane tubes, any of them... I have spent considerable amount of money on buying their tubes, including the 6SN7-UK, CV181-T MKII, 6SN7-T 3 ART and the CV181-Z Treasures. Their higher priced tubes comes with "certificates" which show their "tested" values. The first red flag was that the four 6SN7-T3 ART tubes I bought were ALL certified with the exact same current and voltage value on each tube. There is no way that can ever happen. And sure enough, when I tested the tubes, the gain measure varied from 18-20 (the accompanying 6SL7-T3 were "certified" to measure 90 mA but measured only 60 mA on one triode and 74 mA on the second triode, nowhere close to their "matched" 90 mA claims). Amazon had to pull the Psvane Horizon 6SN7 tubes off the market because a lot of then were being returned because of noise and microphonics. Psvane advertises that all the Horizon tubes are tested for 24 hours before being packaged and sold. If that was true, how did all these defective tubes reach the market? It's another of Psvane's bull being fed to the market.
Getting back to current production 6SN7s, they are far and few, the Tung-Sol 6SN7, Electro Harmonix 6SN7 and JJ 6SN7 {said to be unreliable) tubes are the only ones that come to mind other than Chinese junk. IMHO, the Tung-Sol 6SN7s are the only good option. EH makes the gold-pinned 6SN7s but other than the gold pins, their regular 6SN7s are identical in sound. What I do not care for the current production 6SN7s are that they sound "sterile" or lack of warmth, making the amplifier sound like a solid state transistor amplifier.
If you want to get the "tube sound" you have to go vintage. For the best value, go with the GE 6SN7-GTA or GTB (~$50/tube) (the GE 6SN7-GTs are unreliable). Most people like the Sylvania 6SN7 tubes. Sylvania has a warm sound and good smooth top end. The earliest versions are the 6SN7-GT (~$100/tube) tubes but they have a lower voltage limit and are not suited for newer amps that supply a higher voltage to the tube. The later 6SN7-GTA and GTB ($75-100/tube) will work in all 6SN7 circuits, but they are not quite as good sonically as the older 6SN7-GTs (generally, the older tubes sound better than the later gen). The older military 6SN7W-GT are excellent as well, but they cost about $500/tube.
The Tung-Sol 6SN7 "Mouse Ears" (~$100-150/tube)are excellent tubes but rather hard to find. The even rarer Tung-Sol "Black Bottle" 6SN7s (~$500/tube) with the round mica sounds amazing but is almost impossible to find now, reaching astronomical prices.
Another option would be the original Russian MELZ metal-base 6N8S tubes. They are said to be excellent tubes but are prone to be noisy. Good tubes are hard to find, especially with the Ukraine-Russo war, as most of these tubes were exported from Ukraine.
As time goes on, the price of vintage tubes will rise accordingly, as these tubes are no longer made and the supply is finite. As more tubes are taken off the market, the prices will climb for what is left. And what is left will probably be in poorer condition than the ones available now. I have been into tubes for only two years and I can say that vintage tube prices have doubled since then. I have been lucky to be able to afford tubes and have collected a few hundred tubes, power and pre-amp tubes. I am not rich enough to by any esoteric tubes such as the Sylvania 6SN7WGT or Tung-Sol 6SN7 "black bottle" tubes, or even my Holy Grail Mullard XF2 EL34 tubes, but maybe one day, who knows?
Getting back to current production 6SN7s, they are far and few, the Tung-Sol 6SN7, Electro Harmonix 6SN7 and JJ 6SN7 {said to be unreliable) tubes are the only ones that come to mind other than Chinese junk. IMHO, the Tung-Sol 6SN7s are the only good option. EH makes the gold-pinned 6SN7s but other than the gold pins, their regular 6SN7s are identical in sound. What I do not care for the current production 6SN7s are that they sound "sterile" or lack of warmth, making the amplifier sound like a solid state transistor amplifier.
If you want to get the "tube sound" you have to go vintage. For the best value, go with the GE 6SN7-GTA or GTB (~$50/tube) (the GE 6SN7-GTs are unreliable). Most people like the Sylvania 6SN7 tubes. Sylvania has a warm sound and good smooth top end. The earliest versions are the 6SN7-GT (~$100/tube) tubes but they have a lower voltage limit and are not suited for newer amps that supply a higher voltage to the tube. The later 6SN7-GTA and GTB ($75-100/tube) will work in all 6SN7 circuits, but they are not quite as good sonically as the older 6SN7-GTs (generally, the older tubes sound better than the later gen). The older military 6SN7W-GT are excellent as well, but they cost about $500/tube.
The Tung-Sol 6SN7 "Mouse Ears" (~$100-150/tube)are excellent tubes but rather hard to find. The even rarer Tung-Sol "Black Bottle" 6SN7s (~$500/tube) with the round mica sounds amazing but is almost impossible to find now, reaching astronomical prices.
Another option would be the original Russian MELZ metal-base 6N8S tubes. They are said to be excellent tubes but are prone to be noisy. Good tubes are hard to find, especially with the Ukraine-Russo war, as most of these tubes were exported from Ukraine.
As time goes on, the price of vintage tubes will rise accordingly, as these tubes are no longer made and the supply is finite. As more tubes are taken off the market, the prices will climb for what is left. And what is left will probably be in poorer condition than the ones available now. I have been into tubes for only two years and I can say that vintage tube prices have doubled since then. I have been lucky to be able to afford tubes and have collected a few hundred tubes, power and pre-amp tubes. I am not rich enough to by any esoteric tubes such as the Sylvania 6SN7WGT or Tung-Sol 6SN7 "black bottle" tubes, or even my Holy Grail Mullard XF2 EL34 tubes, but maybe one day, who knows?
PakProtector
AK member
Wow...$60/tube is a lot. I'd have no issue parting with a pile of 6SN7 if I could get anything near that $$ for 'em. The RCA and Sylvania stuff is quite fine, and the Loctal variants are cheep. And for linestage work in a properly tuned circuit, the 7AF7 works better anyway...LOL
Laughing ruefully at myself, at my likely lifetime supply of tubes. Time to build something with 'em. Nutty esoteric stuff like HY40, a DH triode with a 40W plate, and a thoriated tungsten cathode in a sweet ST bottle. My 4E27 amps are now more than 20 years old, and still on their first set of tubes. Many tested spares lurk on the shelf. 3D21A is neat one too...lots of heater power and cathode current for the relatively small plate dissipation. A pulse tube, IOW. A modicum of TV sweep tubes lurk in there too. Some late model stuff I want to try are the 27GB5 sweeps. AKA the EL500 in its 6V variant. Rated for half a Meg grid circuit resistance sweep duty w/o grid current. Instead of 6SN7's why can't they make a decent small plate cap for these( and the 3D21A )? May have to bump 'em to 866-size as I have a few of those laying about, US made Millen stuff.
Douglas
Don't forget the 12V versions either, including 12SN7. Those of us who have learned how to build/modify our own gear will never have to buy Chinese tubes or pay $60. I now have sufficient numbers of these NOS orphans to outlive me.
Jack
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I've been thinking about trying the Psvane 6SN7-UK myself.not sure who carries the Shuguang tubes but Viva tubes has the PSVANE
New Matched Pair (2) Psvane 6SN7-UK Black Plates Gold Pins Vacuum Tubes
New gain matched pair of Psvane 6SN7-UK vacuum tubes for sale. Your friendly trusted tube store with fast worldwide shipping. Always hand tested, matched, guaranteed and shipped in the USA. Thousands of valves in stock.
Warpstormer7
New Member
Thanks so much Jon for the detailed response and your experience with the new production tubes. I’m pretty new to the tube game and had no clue that these Psvane’s that me and people purchase are not even within spec when you purchase and pay good money for. The 2 sets of Psvane tubes I purchased all came with the certificates and spec numbers but who really knows if it’s fabricated or not. I did purchase some matched NOS sets as well but haven’t tried them yet since I just got my Freya+ like 3 weeks ago. These are NOS tubes that I picked up
. RCA 6sn7GT (black plates)(Bottom Getters)
. GE 6sn7GTB (Glow Dome)(Side Getters)
. Sylvania 6sn7GTB (Black plate) (Chrome Dome)(Top Halo Getters)
. Electro-Harmonix 6SN7
