6SN7 Tube Addicts - Page 2

My favorite "bargain" 6SN7 is the CBS/Hytron tall-bottle 6SN7GT. Great tube, and often available for quite cheap.

I also have been able to get Sylvania 6SN7WGT's, NOS, for $10 each, within the last week. And these are pretty nice tubes - especially for that price!

This is good advice! Of course it is kinda fun exploring the scads of different NOS alternatives. They really DO have very different presentations of the music. The best sound totally convincing and valid, until you try another great one that gives you a whole different perspective on the same music.

If you are into DIY, you can use 12SN7 tubes instead of the 6SN7's. These were made on the same factory lines and used the same materials & parts, just the higher heater voltage. A pair of NOS Tung-Sol 6SN7 round plates easily fetches $250 or more, whereas you can find Tung-Sol round plate 12SN7's for $50-60.

I spent a few years playing with 6SN7's and when I added up the total spent, it was astounding (over $1500 for damn tubes). Now that I have a big stash, it is fun to play with amps that use these tubes, but I definitely would not recommend it as the best course, or even the best sound available.

There is something nice about octals though... (sound of wallet crying)

6SN7s have really skyrocketed in prices the last couple of years. Thankfully, I stocked up and purchased several nice random lots a while back, tested them and was lucky and ended up with a nice stash.

Here's an old pic of one of my drawers.




I have several favorites, but two of my go-to:

Tung Sol Tall




Sylvania W Short

I recently got a pair of GE 6SN7GT tubes with my WA5 and was wondering how good of driver tubes they actually were? I was tempted to upgrade to the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z but am not sure how much of a jump in performance there would be. Anybody have any suggestions?

One thing I've got to say if you are shopping ebay for 6SN7s is that don't let your enthusiasm get the best of you. I got a whole collection of second grade tubes, that I will probably never listen to again, because I was too anxious to buy. Watch the market for a month or so before purchasing - its not going away. Listen to the new tubes before buying any more. You'll save a lot of money and shelf space. =)

Can you post a picture of the GE?

Wiser words have not been spoken 'round here
I've also got a few small collections of tube types I don't need anymore, because I've upgraded (a few times now) to amps that don't use said types. Wish I had those purchase decisions back. The 6sn7 is one such type - I recently upgraded from a 6sn7 preamp to one that only uses 6H30pi.

At least in the case of the 6SN7, the odds of your needing those tubes again are decent. And they aren't getting cheaper - best to hang on to them.

here is a picture of the GE 6SN7GTA tubes (made in US):




Also, has anybody had any experience with these Rectifiers? They are 5AS4 Dumont rectifiers, which I haven't heard of before, but they are made in USA:

I have some of those GE's. Not my favorite US 6SN7, but plenty good. I'm not sure the Shuguang will sound that much better than those (I have one, nice enough tube, but not that great, and nowhere near as good sounding as a real ECC32/CV181).

I've got those sylvania w's! One of the best 6sn7's around! But getting really pricey...they are AS good as the taller metal base w's! But they are quite rare...

One of the reasons the prices go up is that the 6sn7 is seen as one of the best driver tubes for 300B's!

I also have a stash of a special jan/philips 6sn7, wich is also in the top 3 of best sounding 6sn7's.

There's also a special russian type of tube that also belongs in the top 3 best 6sn7's.


My top 3, jan/philips, sylvania w and the russian special type. You can't get any better then these imho!

Best driver tubes probably the sylvania w's...Shuguang will sound harsh in comparison to these sylvania w's simply one of the finest 6sn7's...