Westinghouse 6CA7. Date unknown. Maybe late 80's???

[jsg1469]

Hello all. Not looking forward to the storms rolling in northeast Texas today. I'm fairly new to the tube game. Less than 2 years. Ive picked up several NOS pair of Mullard xf2 EL34s recently which i love. I just purchased this Westinghouse pair of 6CA7s made in Hungary for $85 plus shipping. Any thoughts? Are these a rebranded tube? Will i hear a noticable difference than the 34s? Im running an SE amp that i roll early 50s sylvania, rca and tung-sol preamp tubes through. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Dswankey]

.. .. Westinghouse pair of 6CA7s made in Hungary .. Are these a rebranded tube?..

Just guessing here that Westinghouse didn't have their own manufacturing plant in Hungary, so yes you could call those tubes "rebranded"

Tungsram springs to mind as a Hungarian based tube manufacturer not sure if they were/are around in the 80's though

 

[Lavane]

All that matters is how they sound. Oh, and that they don't redplate, or short out.

 

[gadget73]

Pretty sure most of the US brands had quit making tubes by the 80s. Any that got their brand were sourced elsewhere and probably only done to fill contracts.

 

[maxhifi]

Pretty sure most of the US brands had quit making tubes by the 80s. Any that got their brand were sourced elsewhere and probably only done to fill contracts.

RCA stopped making receiving tubes in 1976, but kept making transmitting tubes a while longer into the 80s.

SYLVANIA stopped making receiving tubes in 1988

GE shut down in 1991, and was up till then making the 6550A, the 6CA7, 6L6GC, etc.

Those EL34s are definitely foreign though. I have some EI made 12AX7 tubes from the early 90s marked Westinghouse ENGLAND in the same bright yellow writing. Those could be from any source in the general time frame, I wouldn't trust the country of origin too much.

 

[arts]

Those are chinese tubes. In general, extremely poor quality and very unreliable.

The thin strips of scrap-metal spotwelded to the plates are a dead giveaway; bias them up to anything approaching normal levels and you'll see a nice red stripe in that area. Lots of slimeballs rebranding tubes and preying on the inexperienced. Some even reproduce the original boxes too

 

[Mr Boochie]

Mica plastic "wings" anode plate supports leaning on the inner glass surface --- another Chinese trademark. AFAIK, Tungsram, Hungary-made EL34 had brown micanol bases. At least the ones that I have used. These were very good tubes.

 

[jsg1469]

Those are chinese tubes. In general, extremely poor quality and very unreliable.

The thin strips of scrap-metal spotwelded to the plates are a dead giveaway; bias them up to anything approaching normal levels and you'll see a nice red stripe in that area. Lots of slimeballs rebranding tubes and preying on the inexperienced. Some even reproduce the original boxes too

Thanks guys. You live and learn.

 

[Pio1980]

Regardless, they are slim EL34 pentodes, not fat bulb 6CA7 beam tetrodes which I consider mislabeling.
Functionally drop-in interchangeable tho structurally and operationally different. Many Chinese tubes can be quite good, fwiw.
Look for EH 6CA7 for true fat bulb beam tetrodes, JJ also offers them.
They are structurally smaller 6550 beam tetrodes, unlike EL34.

 

[fxer1982]

Hello all. Not looking forward to the storms rolling in northeast Texas today. I'm fairly new to the tube game. Less than 2 years. Ive picked up several NOS pair of MullardView attachment 2814781 View attachment 2814781 xf2 EL34s recently which i love. I just purchased this Westinghouse pair of 6CA7s made in Hungary for $85 plus shipping. Any thoughts? Are these a rebranded tube? Will i hear a noticable difference than the 34s? Im running an SE amp that i roll early 50s sylvania, rca and tung-sol preamp tubes through. Thank you for your feedback.

Westinghouse USA went out of business in the mid 60's near Elmira NY as a child i was not far from the factory and would pass it on my families trips to uncle Carl and aunt Shirley house in Big Flats NY. RE-BRANDED.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Westinghouse USA went out of business in the mid 60's near Elmira NY as a child i was not far from the factory and would pass it on my families trips to uncle Carl and aunt Shirley house in Big Flats NY. RE-BRANDED.

I have some Westinghouse (Made in Canada) tubes and some Holy US made Westie 7591 tubes. One of the finest output tubes ever made.

 

[jsg1469]

Regardless, they are slim EL34 pentodes, not fat bulb 6CA7 beam tetrodes which I consider mislabeling.
Functionally drop-in interchangeable tho structurally and operationally different. Many Chinese tubes can be quite good, fwiw.
Look for EH 6CA7 for true fat bulb beam tetrodes, JJ also offers them.
They are structurally smaller 6550 beam tetrodes, unlike EL34.

I have 2 pair of the sylvania (green) and 2 pair of the philips/sylvania (blue) ecg fat bottles. They sound great.