[mordy]

Thanks, that's reassuring to hear. I am new to tubes, do you have any good 6SN7 tube pairings to recommend with the Mullard 6080. My equipment is a Darkvoice 336 and HD 6XX. I also have a Shuguang black treasure tube on the way from china.

Hi azahler,
Here is something that learnt - the same tube can sound different in different amps. Probably your best bet is to check on a blog of owners of the same amp that you have.
I also have a predilection for inexpensive good tubes. That said I like a 6SN7 variant - the Russian 6H8C (sometimes labeled 6N8S). There are many variants, but the one I have in mind was made by Foton from 1952-1955 and has ribbed anode plates. Looks like this:

Got the above pictures from eBay but not very clear. The identifying feature of this 6N8S/6H8C is the three ribs on the anode plate and the years of manufacture.

There are tons of 6H8C tubes for sale but very few of this exact type so look carefully.

 

[attmci]

I just bought a Mullard 6080 on ebay for about $60 but I'm worried it might be a fake. The seller claims the Mullard 6080 is new however what worries me is that the brand printing on the tube is crooked. In the picture below you will notice the L is not aligned with the other letters and also the lines around the shield are also not connected. Is this a normal imperfection that can be found on tubes or could this tube possibly be a fake?

What's the code on the tube?

 

[alvin sawdust]

Anyone else received their A2293 and adapter yet? Would be good to have someone validate what I am hearing.

 

[tintinsnowydog]

Anyone else received their A2293 and adapter yet? Would be good to have someone validate what I am hearing.

have tubes coming from langrex and adaptors from xulingmrs, hope they arrive some time next week. will post impressions. Tubes seem to be in abundant supply and cheap!

 

[alvin sawdust]

have tubes coming from langrex and adaptors from xulingmrs, hope they arrive some time next week. will post impressions. Tubes seem to be in abundant supply and cheap!

Confident you won't be disappointed, I have not had any urge to go back to the GEC 6AS7G. As most tubes do, they will take a few hours to settle down and open up. Have just won a A2293 on the bay for 99p!

 

[Dogmatrix]

Anyone else received their A2293 and adapter yet? Would be good to have someone validate what I am hearing.

Happy to validate , tubes arrived from Spain this morning . Only one hour so far but definitely a viable rolling option . Have some early production square getter A2293 on the way from UK to compare with what I think are mid to late CV4079 .
For me the best thing about GEC tubes is a subtle but beautiful clarity which extends throughout the spectrum . Strongest in the 6AS7G version it is also present in the 6080 version and I am happy to say the CV4079 . I will need much more time to grasp some sense of ranking . Certainly looks like a bargain back door into GEC

 

[alvin sawdust]

Happy to validate , tubes arrived from Spain this morning . Only one hour so far but definitely a viable rolling option . Have some early production square getter A2293 on the way from UK to compare with what I think are mid to late CV4079 .
For me the best thing about GEC tubes is a subtle but beautiful clarity which extends throughout the spectrum . Strongest in the 6AS7G version it is also present in the 6080 version and I am happy to say the CV4079 . I will need much more time to grasp some sense of ranking . Certainly looks like a bargain back door into GEC

Excellent first impressions, couldn't have put it better myself. I need to do some back and forth with their big brother but for me they are better than the 6080 version of which I have two. Both seem to have a little sharpness in comparison to the A1834 that I have.
My cv4079 are 1962 halo getter and I have noticed that there are slightly differences in the construction of the tubes, mostly plate length and getter shape, so will be interesting to compare.
Mine have quietened down somewhat and are are only as micrphonic as their big brother now.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

I posted this on anther thread, but thought it was relevant here as well

I have collected and compared quite a few 6AS7's in my custom Bottlhead Crackatwoa, with the exception of the GEC 6080 and 6AS7G since they are nearly impossible to find in the USA. Tubes I have in collection include several Tung Sol 5998's, a Tung Sol 421A, multiple Western Electric 421A's, Bendix 6080WB (graphite), Chatham 6080WB (graphite), Tung Sol 6080's, Tung Sol 6AS7G's, Mullard CV2984, and a handful of others.

I recently received an Ebay notification on a saved search a created well over a year ago and had completely forgotten about: "Tung Sol 7802", I had read an instance of a Bottlehead forum user mentioning that this tube was sublime, but pretty rare. A was fortunately able to acquire five of them for around $80, what a steal! When I first got the tubes, I gave them a passing listen, assumed that they fell somewhere in the 6080 lineup in terms of performance, and went back to my default, the 421A.

Then the other day, I decided to give them another go. WOW I have been missing out. IMO, after doing some comparisons, this tube easily rivals the 5998 and WE 421A in terms of clarity, resolution, soundstage. I would say it is a little brighter than those two tubes and more mid-forward, but an absolutely pleasing listen and a top performer in my Crackatwoa.

Just wanted to share this PSA: if you happen across one of these tubes, don't hesitate to grab it, truly a diamond in the rough.

 

[abvolt]

Nice collection you've got..

 

[mordy]

I posted this on anther thread, but thought it was relevant here as well

I have collected and compared quite a few 6AS7's in my custom Bottlhead Crackatwoa, with the exception of the GEC 6080 and 6AS7G since they are nearly impossible to find in the USA. Tubes I have in collection include several Tung Sol 5998's, a Tung Sol 421A, multiple Western Electric 421A's, Bendix 6080WB (graphite), Chatham 6080WB (graphite), Tung Sol 6080's, Tung Sol 6AS7G's, Mullard CV2984, and a handful of others.

I recently received an Ebay notification on a saved search a created well over a year ago and had completely forgotten about: "Tung Sol 7802", I had read an instance of a Bottlehead forum user mentioning that this tube was sublime, but pretty rare. A was fortunately able to acquire five of them for around $80, what a steal! When I first got the tubes, I gave them a passing listen, assumed that they fell somewhere in the 6080 lineup in terms of performance, and went back to my default, the 421A.

Then the other day, I decided to give them another go. WOW I have been missing out. IMO, after doing some comparisons, this tube easily rivals the 5998 and WE 421A in terms of clarity, resolution, soundstage. I would say it is a little brighter than those two tubes and more mid-forward, but an absolutely pleasing listen and a top performer in my Crackatwoa.

Just wanted to share this PSA: if you happen across one of these tubes, don't hesitate to grab it, truly a diamond in the rough.

Hi LG,
The Radiomuseum lists the TS 7802 at 0.5A but I am sure that it is a mistake - should be 2.5A.
I did notice that the amplification factor is 9 compared to 2 for many 6AS7 type tubes. I have a different amp than you (Glenn OTL) but have been told that a higher amplification factor may bring out more noise in my amp. On the other hand, this may not apply to your amp.

 

[tintinsnowydog]

Opening impressions of the A2293 compared with GEC 6as7g after a couple hours listening back and forth and having one of each on dual mono. Just dot points for now

-I struggled to get the tubes to sit flush with the adapters; at one point one of the tubes became unpowered but there was no sonic change.

-soundstage slightly smaller
-bass was more(?) plentiful but not as detailed (comparable to mullard 6080)
-treble rolled, overall sound signature is more laid back/warmer than 6as7g. This gave the illusion of a lot less detail at first, but i don't think the difference is as significant as it first seemed

-gain was less than 6as7g, so volume matching was hard. perhaps this skewed my perception of the small but noticeable drop in detail retrieval and layering specifically. Upper upper treble was where this was most apparent.

-i was satisfied by both tubes with the HD800 and LCD-2C, but found the A2293 a bit too warm with the HD650s.

-tubes probably need some more burn in time (very noisy, a bit microphonic and humming, i need to get them to sit in the sockets properly too). will update this if any impressions change

-overall I'd say that the sound is closer to the GEC 6080 than the GEC 6as7g, almost like a combination of the two. Definitely a very good choice as they are plentiful and cheap.

 

[Dogmatrix]

Opening impressions of the A2293 compared with GEC 6as7g after a couple hours listening back and forth and having one of each on dual mono. Just dot points for now

-I struggled to get the tubes to sit flush with the adapters; at one point one of the tubes became unpowered but there was no sonic change.

-soundstage slightly smaller
-bass was more(?) plentiful but not as detailed (comparable to mullard 6080)
-treble rolled, overall sound signature is more laid back/warmer than 6as7g. This gave the illusion of a lot less detail at first, but i don't think the difference is as significant as it first seemed

-gain was less than 6as7g, so volume matching was hard. perhaps this skewed my perception of the small but noticeable drop in detail retrieval and layering specifically. Upper upper treble was where this was most apparent.

-i was satisfied by both tubes with the HD800 and LCD-2C, but found the A2293 a bit too warm with the HD650s.

-tubes probably need some more burn in time (very noisy, a bit microphonic and humming, i need to get them to sit in the sockets properly too). will update this if any impressions change

-overall I'd say that the sound is closer to the GEC 6080 than the GEC 6as7g, almost like a combination of the two. Definitely a very good choice as they are plentiful and cheap.

I think you definitely have connexion issues . On my amp gain is considerably higher , absolutely no noise or microphonics . I would rank them just under the GEC 6as7g .
The sockets are a problem as the connectors have a flat top profile . When the tube pins are presented they want to stop on top of the connector and if pushed they will try to go between the connector and the socket . It takes patience and a strong light to make sure each pin is going central in the connector . If all is well the tube will easily seat fully with only a gentle push .
Just received some early production A2293 (square getter) so will compare to the mid 70s cv4079 I have .

 

[attmci]

Opening impressions of the A2293 compared with GEC 6as7g after a couple hours listening back and forth and having one of each on dual mono. Just dot points for now

-I struggled to get the tubes to sit flush with the adapters; at one point one of the tubes became unpowered but there was no sonic change.

-soundstage slightly smaller
-bass was more(?) plentiful but not as detailed (comparable to mullard 6080)
-treble rolled, overall sound signature is more laid back/warmer than 6as7g. This gave the illusion of a lot less detail at first, but i don't think the difference is as significant as it first seemed

-gain was less than 6as7g, so volume matching was hard. perhaps this skewed my perception of the small but noticeable drop in detail retrieval and layering specifically. Upper upper treble was where this was most apparent.

-i was satisfied by both tubes with the HD800 and LCD-2C, but found the A2293 a bit too warm with the HD650s.

-tubes probably need some more burn in time (very noisy, a bit microphonic and humming, i need to get them to sit in the sockets properly too). will update this if any impressions change

-overall I'd say that the sound is closer to the GEC 6080 than the GEC 6as7g, almost like a combination of the two. Definitely a very good choice as they are plentiful and cheap.

Because no one can use these.

 

[attmci]

The detailed structures between the 57 Clear-top 2399 and the 56 WE 421A are different.

All mine clear-top tubes were produced in 57. Strange.


See the attached file.
WE-421A.pdf
5998.pdf

Need to find out the relationship between the Chatham and WE (a Bell company).

"Chatham Electronics Div was latterly a Division of Tung-Sol Electric Inc, Livingston, NJ. This in turn was part of Wagner Electric Corp in 1966 finally acquired by Studebaker in 1967. The Chatham organisation manufactured equipment but the tubes owe more to Tung-Sol as Chatham was not independent of their parent company."

"
The 1967 merger that created the company was arranged by the entrepreneur Derald Ruttenberg, who took the risk of buying Studebaker despite the liabilities that came with it, including dealer warranties and union agreements. He saw that Onan generators and STP engine additives were healthy businesses. The large tax loss was also valuable. Worthington was expected to continue to earn steady profits, but could use the tax loss to avoid paying taxes.[6]

"The stockholders of Studebaker and Worthington approved the merger despite rumors that the Federal Trade Commission considered the merger would be "substantially anti-competitive". The combined 1966 gross revenues of the two companies had been $672 million, with net income of $24.5 million.[7] Studebaker was acquired by Wagner Electric, which in turn was merged with Worthington Corporation to create Studebaker-Worthington.[8] The merger was completed in November 1967, creating a company with $550 million of assets.[9] The combined company included the profitable divisions from Studebaker, brake and electrical automobile component manufacturing from Wagner Electric, and diverse operations from Worthington that included manufacture of construction equipment, valves and power generation plant.[5]"

Did they spin off some divisions during the merge?

WE do have a history to design tubes to support the phone company.


Link to the old debate.

 

[nocturaline]

Hi everyone. I posted this in another thread that may be no longer active, so I'll take my chances here. If anyone can help, that would be awesome.

To sum it up, one of my WA2 power tube is humming pretty bad. Those are the original power tubes, Philips JAN 6080WC. Since I can't afford expensive tubes at the moment, I was thinking of replacing them with the SED Winged 'C' 6H13C. Those are $30 a piece. Would they be inferior or mostly equivalent to the 6080? Thanks!