The cup getters are indeed strange I agree but the cup getters on this BVA 5U4G are strange. I have never seen these type of getters on an American tube. I do own several American type 80 rectifiers but these have foil getters if I remember correctly. Maybe need to check again.

The top mica plate and hanging filaments are very different from the Mullard 5U4G. I think its fake -> pretty sure its a RCA 5R4GY

Pairs have been matched on a AVO tube tester.

I'm selling part of my backup tubes for the SW51+ Mazda 6F23: Polam EF184 After testing a lot of tubes for the Shortest Way 51+ the Mazda 6F23 and Polam EF184 were my favorites and I stocked up when I had the chance. The pairs I have for sale are real NOS, so unused, brand new and in...

You could try and replace the WE 422a with the 1950's La RadioTechnique France 5R4GYS that I posted in page 170. This might be a darker/warmer option without losing to much of the brilliance of the WE 422a. Another option would be to try a pair of cup getter GEC U52's. With these upper tier...

The Western Electric 422A is a tube rectifier whereas the Tung Sol 5998 is a power output tube, so these tubes are not interchangeable! In the quoted review Dubstep Girl only refers to the same domino plate structure of both tubes.

I have the same experience with the Philips 4699 pentodes. You can still find them regularly, but about half of them test badly and of those that test well 20% is noisy. Not easy making pairs or quads. Furthermore there are 2 different plate strutcures and 2 different getter types for the...

Mullard XF2's are not too hard to find in good condition, I own several pairs myself. NOS XF2's are more difficult and expensive to find though and a most of the EL34's being sold as NOS are definitely not NOS.

I'm not even a serious pentode collector and I already have 4 different types of GEC/Osram/Marconi/MWT KT66's in my collection: Osram 1940's VT75/KT66 Fat Boy clear glass & 1940's Cossor CV1075/KT66 Fat Boy Grey Glass GEC 1950's KT66 Grey Glass & Osram 1950's KT66 Grey Glass The VT75 and...

Have been testing 6DJ8/ECC88/E88CC/6922/PCC88 tubes from my collection quite extensively last couple of weeks. And although most of them produce solid results on the AVO tester, this unfortunately does not guarantee flawless operation in my amp. Even though the tubes have nicely balanced...

This is a really good price for real NOS E80CC's :thumbsup:

Tungsram did produce their own E80CC, you can find them branded as Tungsram as well as Siemens. They have a different construction compared to the Philips E80CC, with several holes in the plates.

Decided to try out some new rectifier types in the WA6-SE. Started out today with the 1953 Dario/Miniwatt 5Y3 with cup getter: When I receive my adapters I will also roll some 4-pin 5Z3 and type 80 rectifiers. These are still very cheap compared to their octal cousins.

I have quickly tried two gold frame grid Telefunken PCC88's. First impression is that these are nice sounding tubes (maybe a bit thin in the bass/lower midrange) but nothing special. I have to give these tubes some more time but I think I like the 1960 Philips E88CC "PTT" better. I still need to...

I would go for a used but good testing pair of Amperex/Philips Heerlen ECC88's or maybe even E88CC's, should be possible within your budget. Another option would be a NOS pair of Philips Heerlen or Valvo Hamburg PCC88's.

I have started testing and rolling the 6DJ8/ECC88/PCC88/6N23P tubes in my HAD Maestral II headphone amp. One of the first tubes I tried was the1956 Philips E88CC pinched waist and although this tube tested close to NOS, it is slightly microphonic on the right channel (or maybe its HF...

It seems that nowadays I'm just buying amps to fit my ever growing tube collection. Or buy amps for tubes that I want to collect.... Last week I bought a HAD Maestral II headphone amp. Really nice OTL amp with double 6AS7G/6080/5998 and 6DJ8/ECC88 driver. With a first dive in the collection...

Changed the drivers to 1959 Raytheon 6DE7 with D-getters. These sound really nice but in the beginning they were a bit microphonic after 20 hours and with the help of some tube dampers they now play problem free. I have changed the dac in this system recently so too early to comparisons to other...

I would be interested to hear, this amp has some serious iron and power to drive almost any headphone available. I used to own the Audio Note Oto SE Signature and still have some spare tubes that I could use for the ANK EL84 Virtuoso.

These are indeed the drivers for the first generation WA6 with the 6v heater voltage. The second generation uses the same drivers only with a 13v heater voltage. I think the main reason for this change was that the 6de7, 6dr7, 6ew7, 6fd7 and 6cy7 became increasingly difficult to source for Woo...

I'm currently comparing the GE 6EW7 black plates to the grey plates in my WA6-SE. Both GE's are cleartops and have halo side getters. The GE 6EW7 black plates: The GE 6EW7 black plates (left) and grey plate (right): The GE 6EW7 black plates (top) and grey plate (below): Construction of...

To my question above, does anyone know whether 6DR7's with square getters were ever produced? And if so how do they sound compared to the halo getter black and/or grey plates? I think that there should be 6DR7's with square getters around as I own 6CY7's with square getters and both the 6CY7...

And yes I have a mean collection of 6DJ8's/ECC88 types and several vintages of the hyped Reflektor 6N23P's and they are indeed not all that. I will stick with my 1950's pinched waist E88CC, CCA and PCC88 :wink:

Whatever you do don't part with your tube collection. These are just the different phases of life you are going through with changing focus and interests. It's likely that you come back to tubes and audio with vengeance. I have had the same with audio, tubes, music, vinyl, sports, wine etc. and...

And a NOS pair of Valvo Pinched Waist E81CC / 6201 Triple Mica Double Support D Getter: