I have a bunch of those in 2 rivet and 3 rivet versions. Indeed the Bad Boy is by definition the 3 rivet tube and those vendors that call the 2 rivet tube a Bad Boy are either uneducated/unaware at best and deceptive etc. at worst. The VT231 is a military part number but does not confer any...

I realize this is 7 year old dead thread but I own an extreme which has developed a problem in one channel. It might just be the ceramic tube socket in need of tensioning but I can't figure out how to tension such a socket. Therefore does anyone know of a person who knows and repairs these...

Yes Grant Fidelity is a genuine importer distributor and retail vendor.  They are reliable and will only sell you the real thing. Most of the people who buy from them are happy with their tubes but I don't know about the grading or selection process..  I don't know of any other seller of Psvane...

I am partial to Sylvania 6SN7s in general but own ECC32s33s and even a single B65. The other Englich tubes of note are CV 1988s made by Brimar which come in black and gray glass if you like that. I really like them but fear the market is"now flooded with counterfeits, thus in this case I...

If you are bent on getting real Shuguang they imported by Grant Fidelity, based in Canada, but sell to USA direct. I was too lazy to see if they are still around. I have been no personal experience with the CV-181s but a very good friend whose opinion I trust, sold them shortly after they were...

In reference to the Hytron variatIons. My experience is that the Hytron Hytron original and the CBS Hytron are about the same in sound. These are the tubes with the high mounted plates, (sorry no pic to insert). You can find examples all over. Indeed the CBS tubes dreived from there regardless...

I am confused or being foolish answering this. You have diagnosed your problem.You have a circuit issue with weak tubes. The 10M were made as long life 10,000 hour tubes. I have seen my share of old Mullards, they can be very good sounding despite their low output. The sound most want with a...

I reread the ad for the GEC 188s. I am always curious when something is vanishingly "rare". One would think that you would have seen or at least heard of a tube. MOV GEC tubes had thejr own numbering system. Does this tube have such a numerical designation. I'm sure there's a lot of wishful...

You might see/hear the JAN WGTA as fast and clean The tube you may find that best meets your criteria is the Sylvania GTB , I would not ignore these. The RCAs really need to be the grey glass not graphite nor the billions of clear glass examples. There is a special 5692 red base you might like...

I am using this in case you never found the synergy you sought. For about 6 or 7 years I couldn't get a pair of Focal Electras a hich retailed for 6 kil0 bucks to sound the way I wanted. It took Cardas gold reference ICs Jena speaker cables an AE 3 ,Cary preamp with Sylvania Ws and the final...

Yes the aforementioned grey glass RCAs if you can get them at that price, are often described as lush, whatever that sounds like. More commonly at that price Sylvania GTBs, green lettering if possible which I find sound full rich and mellow. Trailing but really not as bad as one might think for...

The GEC tubes shown look a lot like Mullards with pretty blue stickers on them. I would not be surprised if they were not even Mullards, my eyes are not that good with photos and I would need a loupe to look them over in person, to best ID them. The bottle looks wrong, but I often find photos...

AH. the upside down flying saucer getter, a little Russian certainty.

I don't know which tubes the LD uses but trust that they are not the usual audio choices. As an inveterate tube roller collector hoarder you are also quite correct about the demand for and high prices that certain commonly used audio tubes realize. But and you knew a but was coming, you can...