Betula
Congrats on the acquisition of the Bendix Tubes and THANK YOU for all your posts early in this forum, not only did it convince me to get a HA-3A, but your information greatly helped me along my tube rolling journey!. Encourage ANYONE with this amp to try rolling tubes, it makes a LOT of difference!
Glad to see the Red Bank produced Bendix 6v6GT(Y) tubes also used the higher end Borosilicate glass
It is this glass that was used by Bendix that when the power hits it causes the blue glow.
Found this article that talks about when a glow in a tube is good and when it is bad
https://www.jacmusic.com/techcorner/ARTICLES/English/blueglow/blueglow.html
Not all tubes out there use this higher end glass that the Bendix Red Bank plant used in all the tubes made there.
There are other posts for larger power tubes like vintage 300B's that will glow blue regardless of glass type and if you get this "glow" it is very entertaining and safe.
I posted a while back but posting again, yes the 5992's glow blue and if they don't that is when you need to worry as glowing blue is normal in the HA-3A for the Bendix 5992 tubes (and apparently the 6V6GTY's also), and the lack of this glow is when these tubes are on their way out/going bad.
Betula please do post your impressions of the Bendix Tubes with the E80cc when you get them and get a chance to give it a good listen!
Here are some pictures of my Bendix 5992's running with my E80CC's and they are a great match!
- At night with lights off -
- But this is during the day with NO enhancements to the picture at all (IE not Photoshopped or adjustments to the saturation - sorry for all the dust in the photo ) - The blue glow is very evident even with direct sunlight hitting them.
Some say these are the best sounding 6V6 variant.
They are good, but I think I like my Mazda 6V6G ST/Coke Bottle shaped tubes with the E80cc's a little more, but the 5992's get rotated back into the listening mix every few weeks, and they don't disappoint. Enough so I found another set of NOS (at a discount) and purchased it just to have on hand, as they are getting harder to find NOS and not "used". Many say the sound better than the RCA vintage Black Plate 6V6G's, to me it's just different, but enjoyable.
Any of the E80cc variants pair well with 6V6 or 5992 tubes (and the Mazda 6V6G older ST shaped tubes, like Renexx posted a few posts back, I have the same tubes, and as always THANK YOU Renexx for sharing), and I have E80cc's from Philips, Tungsram, Amperex and Mullard, and each sounds a little different than the others. Right now the Mullards are what I've settled on at this point of time, but it does change on mood. Will be interested in hearing your opinion here also Betula.
Might have to look for a set of the Bendix 6V6GTY's to listen for the differences, but from what I can gather from some research it might not be too different, but I do hope so given the difference in price between the 5992 and the 6V6GTY Bendix tubes.
Thanks again and hope this information helps others out there with the HA-3A amp, considering any of these tubes mentioned.
And always all above is IMO and YMMV.