The Reference 6SN7 Thread

[mordy]

General question
What’s the best storage solution for Driver tubes

I assume that you already found a solution for the power tubes.
Personally, I store my tubes in old shoeboxes and put a sticker on top of the box with the tube designation(s). Those that have boxes stay in the boxes and I put pairs together with a rubber band. Most of my tubes don't have boxes - they get wrapped individually in bubble wrap and then paired (if possible) with a rubber band.
There are more elegant solutions - some people buy boxes of the appropriate sizes and stack them on enclosed shelves.
I have seen foam blocks with holes for test tubes - that looks like a nice idea if you want to keep a selection of driver tubes handy near you amp.

You have to check the size of the holes to make sure they match your tubes.

 

[Elect37]

I assume that you already found a solution for the power tubes.
Personally, I store my tubes in old shoeboxes and put a sticker on top of the box with the tube designation(s). Those that have boxes stay in the boxes and I put pairs together with a rubber band. Most of my tubes don't have boxes - they get wrapped individually in bubble wrap and then paired (if possible) with a rubber band.
There are more elegant solutions - some people buy boxes of the appropriate sizes and stack them on enclosed shelves.
I have seen foam blocks with holes for test tubes - that looks like a nice idea if you want to keep a selection of driver tubes handy near you amp.

You have to check the size of the holes to make sure they match your tubes.

my power tubes being all new are in there nice boxes with foam the old driver tubes are just in boxes the foam block looks great Thank you!!
Just need to find one looks like 1-1/4 x 3-4” would work

 

[JamminVMI]

Wrong place, wrong time…

 

[DecentLevi]

Hey guys! Need a little 6sn7 advice. Maybe from you Mordy... see you online here, it's been a while for sure! So I've been looking for a holy grail 6SN7 tube. So far I tried the Melz 6SN7 type like this. I'm impressed by the organic/realistic quality and the rhythm is good, but a bit muddy and slow at times.

What about the esteemed type with holes as shown below. Would you recommend it's what I'm looking for and worth the extra cost?

Few others I already have are Sylvania silver glass authentic 'bad boy', Sylvania short glass 6sn7w chrome base, and tall Tung Sol 6sn7 brown base.

 

[Isaacc7]

I was directed towards this great history of the 6sn7 in Vacuum Tube Valley, pages 3-9.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/A...m-Tube-Valley/Vacuum-Tube-Valley-Issue-11.pdf

It was published in 1999. I hadn’t realized it but I’m sure these views are what was echoed on Usenet back in the day and set my biases towards the 6sn7 and what I wanted to listen to. I can echo their praise of the Sylvania metal base 6sn7w. I used to have a pair and found them to be the best I had heard. Sadly I included them when I sold the amp I was using with them. Luckily I’m 95% sure the 14n7 is the same tube

A few interesting tidbits. First, this was published just 6 years before this thread started. We are continuing a long line of info about these tubes! I found it interesting that at the time the 6sn7 wasn’t really considered a popular tube, especially since it wasn’t used in guitar amplifiers. He also estimated that there were only 10,000 6sn7 tubes used a year. Since these were made by the millions there’s no wonder lots of NOS was, and still is around. I think it’s safe to say the 6sn7 is quite a bit more popular these days.

 

[mordy]

Hey guys! Need a little 6sn7 advice. Maybe from you Mordy... see you online here, it's been a while for sure! So I've been looking for a holy grail 6SN7 tube. So far I tried the Melz 6SN7 type like this. I'm impressed by the organic/realistic quality and the rhythm is good, but a bit muddy and slow at times.

What about the esteemed type with holes as shown below. Would you recommend it's what I'm looking for and worth the extra cost?

Few others I already have are Sylvania silver glass authentic 'bad boy', Sylvania short glass 6sn7w chrome base, and tall Tung Sol 6sn7 brown base.

The best 6SN7 tubes have become quite pricey. According to many, and I concur as well, a pair of 6J5 family tubes will sound better and cost less. The 6J5 is 1/2 of a 6SN7. You will need a dual adapter to use them or two adapters depending on how your amp was made.
There is another tube that is electrically very similar to the 6J5 family - the 6C5. I would suggest a pair of metal 6C5 Ken-Rad tubes - can be found very inexpensive and sound great.
The 6J5/6C5 tubes come as metal, GT and G versions and there is plenty of reading material to figure out what may be best for you.
You could also look for Russian versions of the 6J5GT tubes - 6C2C which should be very reasonably priced compared to the Melz.

 

[DecentLevi]

Right on Mordy, I'm also a multi-year collector and believer in 6J5 and also have 6C5. Unfortunately with my current amp, the tube sockets are so incredibly close together that it would be a challenge to fit any dual adapter. Let me know any other suggestions about good 6sn7/6h8c tubes? Or should I go for the 5?-hole Melz if I already have the one shown above.

 

[jonathan c]

The best 6SN7 tubes have become quite pricey. According to many, and I concur as well, a pair of 6J5 family tubes will sound better and cost less. The 6J5 is 1/2 of a 6SN7. You will need a dual adapter to use them or two adapters depending on how your amp was made.
There is another tube that is electrically very similar to the 6J5 family - the 6C5. **I would suggest a pair of metal 6C5 Ken-Rad tubes - can be found very inexpensive and sound great.**
The 6J5/6C5 tubes come as metal, GT and G versions and there is plenty of reading material to figure out what may be best for you.
You could also look for Russian versions of the 6J5GT tubes - 6C2C which should be very reasonably priced compared to the Melz.

** Schiit Lyr 3 sounded its wondrous best with these via a @Deyan-built dual adapter!!

 

[Isaacc7]

Right on Mordy, I'm also a multi-year collector and believer in 6J5 and also have 6C5. Unfortunately with my current amp, the tube sockets are so incredibly close together that it would be a challenge to fit any dual adapter. Let me know any other suggestions about good 6sn7/6h8c tubes? Or should I go for the 5?-hole Melz if I already have the one shown above.

I have become rather cynical about “best” versions of tubes. Once you get to a certain level it’s really all down to personal preference.

The usual best of lists include the metal base Sylvania 6sn7w, GEC b65, Brimar “black beauty”, the Melz tubes of various vintages, Tung Sol round plate black glass, Ken Rad vt231, bad boys, “Frankie” 7n7, and the list goes on. You should be able to enjoy listening with any of them. Getting caught up with what’s best will just cost you a lot of money. I find I usually need to change input tubes when I change output tubes anyway.

The 2 *sn7 I keep coming back to are the GEC b36 and the 14n7. You’ll notice both are 12v tubes. Those are far more affordable, to the point that paying for the adapter and external power supply is still worth it. The 14n7 is very similar to the Sylvania metal base 6sn7w. No other 6sn7, 12sn7, or 7n7 is built the same way.

I’m willing to believe that the Melz tubes are really good. I know I’d never pay that kind of money for a tube. The prices of the GEC b65 are absurd and I’d never pay what they are going for despite thinking they are one of the best I’ve heard.

The other thing to remember about MELZ tubes is that you might have to resolder them. There are numerous reports of tubes failing in a variety of ways. Luckily most of the time they seem to be fine after resoldering. I’d hate to spend that kind of money just to get something I need to repair. Just go into the purchase understanding what might need to be done.

 

[WildPhydeaux]

Re: Resolder Meltz Tubes

Agreed. I have a pair of Meltz I really enjoyed for a week until one began randomly sputtering. I heard about replacing the pin solder on an antique radio forum and decided to try it. Worked a treat and after a month of flawless operation I also did the one that never gave a problem. Because, you know, new solder "sounds better". Lol

I have since done this to a couple of other non-Melz tubes, one of which was a Sylvania 6SN7W which also crackled on occasion but is now silent (in a good way). I have also "fixed" a Mullard xf2 EL34 which simply didn't work and tested as dead, though the heater was obviously working.

If you have a problem tube, what have you got to lose?

Cheers,
Robert

 

[Designsfx]

Right on Mordy, I'm also a multi-year collector and believer in 6J5 and also have 6C5. Unfortunately with my current amp, the tube sockets are so incredibly close together that it would be a challenge to fit any dual adapter. Let me know any other suggestions about good 6sn7/6h8c tubes? Or should I go for the 5?-hole Melz if I already have the one shown above.

I have many 6SN7’s and these are really good- I also agree with all of the above as well

 

[mordy]

Right on Mordy, I'm also a multi-year collector and believer in 6J5 and also have 6C5. Unfortunately with my current amp, the tube sockets are so incredibly close together that it would be a challenge to fit any dual adapter. Let me know any other suggestions about good 6sn7/6h8c tubes? Or should I go for the 5?-hole Melz if I already have the one shown above.

You remember the old "Frankentube" days? You could build a tower of octal adapters and then place the dual adapter on top, above the other tubes. Won't look nice, but will work.
At least it will tell you if the 6C5/6J5 tubes are an improvement in your amp...

 

[Isaacc7]

You remember the old "Frankentube" days? You could build a tower of octal adapters and then place the dual adapter on top, above the other tubes. Won't look nice, but will work.
At least it will tell you if the 6C5/6J5 tubes are an improvement in your amp...

You can also get custom adapters that can work around space constraints. They look a little weird but you already know how go single triodes can sound and the deals they are compared to 6sn7.

 

[NicRhodes]

I subscribed to all the Vacuum Tube Valley publications (and Sound Practices) back then. They were one of the few sources back in the 90s for info. I even bought Eric Barbours test data. [On non photocopy paper that makes it difficult to read]. I agreed with some stuff but soon found the gap for non USA based tubes. I discovered my love for UK / European tubes and then there was the great USSR tubes. I bought many USSR tubes from 50s to 70s in many types but am less a fan of the Meltz than most here. The 6SN7s in this thread are a bit different in that it is US dominated the market and 'UK' use was limited (try looking for a genuine made Mullard 6SN7GY ). I did however discover the 12v variants / 6J5 / 6C5 / Osram / GEC / RWM etc and many of the USA types on my own like KenRad Black, TS Round etc. There are however many in my collection that I struggle with, many with 'Brimar' designations. For sure VTV and SP drove the prices of many of the tubes in that era. Red Bank / Bendix were hard to come by even then. To this day I prefer the CBS / Hytron brown base 5692 to the Red base at a fraction of the money but it is curious how one persons view in print dominates prices. Many guitar views have poorly translated to audiophile views

 

[WildPhydeaux]

@Isaacc7 Your post reminded me that in my previous usage of 6SN6 I had found the 7N7 to be in my own top three tubes in a previous preamp. This was several years ago and I never heard of the Frankie version, but I do have a few tubes that I found notably better than others and I could never find more of them. In fact I couldn't even find anyone who found similar tubes.

They are not Frankie because their bottom mica isn't the oval shape, they are just rounded corner rectangles. I can barely see they are parallel plates but here's where I was confused - they are chrome, flattish tops and grey glass. Some are marked Sylvania and a couple are RCA, but same construction. We know they must be Sylvania because they don't align with NU - who had grey glass ones but not chrome tops.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Robert