[catcherfly]

   
I've been running the new release Genalex Gold Lion KT77 the past couple of months and have been really happy with them. Jim McShane sells them at a good price with a great warranty.
 
I'm using Sylvania 12BH7 as the input tubes, but the heater circuit for the preamp tubes in my amp has been upgraded to handle the additional current these draw.

Hi Mhamel,
 
I ended up buying Genalex Gold Lion KT77s and Genalex B749/12AU7s from Jim McShane.
 
Thanks for your recommendation!

 

[JK-47]

Victor recommended the Genalex Gold Lion KT88 as an affordable new option. Does anyone have experience with this tube? The Tube Store is one source. Have any of you purchased from them?

 
 
I have a matched pair, and by all means they are decent. I don't know if it's sub conscious or some special tube magic, but the New Genelex Gold Lion KT88's seem to be missing just a touch of that special something, vintage tubes provide to the sound...

 

[catcherfly]

I have a matched pair, and by all means they are decent. I don't know if it's sub conscious or some special tube magic, but the New Genelex Gold Lion KT88's seem to be missing just a touch of that special something, vintage tubes provide to the sound...

Thanks Jk-47! After I've spent some time listening, I'll post my impressions.

 

[lucidreamer]

 
Hi Mhamel,
 
I ended up buying Genalex Gold Lion KT77s and Genalex B749/12AU7s from Jim McShane.
 
Thanks for your recommendation!

The Genalex Gold Lion KT77 should be a great tube, it is a new production EL34 and some people like it more than the famous Svetlana =C= EL34 tube. Would be great to check how it sounds.
 
Some reviews:
 
http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/EL34-6CA7-Tube-Types/Genalex-Gold-Lion-KT77
 
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/anyone-try-the-genalex-gold-lion-kt77-tubes.188183/
 
http://www.tubesforamps.com/best-el34-tube-review

 

[catcherfly]

  The Genalex Gold Lion KT77 should be a great tube, it is a new production EL34 and some people like it more than the famous Svetlana =C= EL34 tube. Would be great to check how it sounds.
 
Some reviews:
 
http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/EL34-6CA7-Tube-Types/Genalex-Gold-Lion-KT77
 
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/anyone-try-the-genalex-gold-lion-kt77-tubes.188183/
 
http://www.tubesforamps.com/best-el34-tube-review

I bought the KT88 not the KT77. Sorry about that!!

 

[JK-47]

I've been running the new release Genalex Gold Lion KT77 the past couple of months and have been really happy with them. Jim McShane sells them at a good price with a great warranty.

I'm using Sylvania 12BH7 as the input tubes, but the heater circuit for the preamp tubes in my amp has been upgraded to handle the additional current these draw.

What parts did you replace to accommodate the 12BH7's?

 

[LingLing1337]

One of my psvane kt88 just blew up! Well it didn't explode, but it died with a flash and a crackle to the speakers. Unfortunate they were a solid 4/5 for sound but for reliability, this puts them at a 1 or 2/5 for me.

 

[vkung]

It depends where you got your psvane and how much you paid.. 

 

[lucidreamer]

One of my psvane kt88 just blew up! Well it didn't explode, but it died with a flash and a crackle to the speakers. Unfortunate they were a solid 4/5 for sound but for reliability, this puts them at a 1 or 2/5 for me.

 
Sorry to hear about that... hope that your resistors and FETs are still good?
 
Just curious... Did you buy them from Grant Fidelity (shipped from Hong Kong) or some eBay seller? eBay have them cheaper but the Grant Fidelity store should be a better choice because they burn in and test them for some time(supposedly), mine have like 30-40 hours and worked great. I just put them away to sell or use later. I would be iffy to get those tubes direct from China, you never know if those tubes are made at the same factory that also makes the fireworks and what they put inside those tubes (just kidding) 

 
My RFT ECC82 preamp tubes are acting up a little strange too. When I turn on the amplifier, they light up pretty bright for a second as if the voltage is higher and then dim out to normal level. Is that supposed to be normal for tubes? Also, I noticed that one of the channels was outputting some excessive noise, I got scared that something could be blown up again. But after I removed the preamp tubes from their socket savers and put them back in without them the noise disappeared. One of the channels still has a slightly higher level of background noise compared to the other one, it is still pretty low and I can only hear it in the speakers, not the headphones, but I think it is normal because some tubes can be noisier than others. Those 8 Ohm Fostex speakers are really sensitive too.

 

[JK-47]

LingLing1337,

Sorry to hear about the blown tube, is your amp OK?

Lucidreamer,

I believe your Rft ecc82 tube is part of the Amperex/Philips family, and they are known to glow brightly for a second when turned on from a cold start.

The static may be from oxidized pins, give the pins a scrub and cleaning. Also try another set of input tubes and see if the background noise remains.

 

[Greg70]

lucidreamer, yes I suspect the start up flash is normal as JK-47 said.
The following is about Mullards, but several tube types do this:
 
The flash occurs on one side of the filament wires between the bottom plate and the inside bottom of the tube and this phenomenon only occurs when powering up from a cold start.   The sudden influx of current on the cold heater filament encounters very little resistance along this wire (hence the sudden burst of light).  So in effect one side of the tube always warms up 1st,  the second takes a while to catch up but before long the heat is evenly distributed (and your amp comes to life).
 
And this: Many of the Philips family of tubes (Siemens, Mullard, Valvo, Amperex/Miniwatt, even Ei) exhibit this design. The cold, exposed portion of the filament is less electrically resistive, but when it heats up (as it does rapidly), the electrical resistance rises rapidly, stopping the phenomenon. 

 

[lucidreamer]

Cool, thanks everyone. I will try to clean the pins again and see if the hiss will go away. I suspect it was a bad connection to the socket saver or some RMI issue caused by using a socket saver in the preamp tube that extended the pins and might have caused some interference issues.

 

[JK-47]

Cool, thanks everyone. I will try to clean the pins again and see if the hiss will go away. I suspect it was a bad connection to the socket saver or some RMI issue caused by using a socket saver in the preamp tube that extended the pins and might have caused some interference issues.

I edited my earlier post to ask you to try another set of input tubes if the pin cleaning doesn't work...

 

[LingLing1337]

I havent cracked the amp open yet to assess its condition, I just swapped in the backup amp for now. I will say the right side tube, the one that blew, has always lit up more dimly than the left side regardless of the set of tubes

 

[JK-47]

I havent cracked the amp open yet to assess its condition, I just swapped in the backup amp for now. I will say the right side tube, the one that blew, has always lit up more dimly than the left side regardless of the set of tubes

Did you try another set of tubes to see if it works?