What pair of 6DE7 tubes are the ones "to have"?

[Huck]

Hi: I have read a lot here about the 5AR4/GZ34 rectiifier tube as the "one to have" for the WA6 as being either the black base,brown base, metal base or the fat black base, but I don't see too often the pair of 6DE7's or their substitutes that are recommended. I also find that there isn't much info on the 6DE7 tube! How come?! What kind of 6DE7's are the ones to have? Thanks,Huck

 

[johnsonad]

This is an obscure tube used mostly in TV's. There are a few threads with some great info already if you read through them. Jamato8 posted some good info. When I sold my WA6 it had about 10 pair including all of the good ones I got for a about $20 total and to be honest, I only changed out those tubes a couple of times and was happy with the RCA grey plates that Jack shipped with it. Spend your money on a nice metal base amperex GZ34 instead

 

[atbglenn]

I purchased some RCA 6DE7's from thetubestore.com for $6.95 each. They have a couple of dozen in stock. Since I have not received them or my WA6 yet, I have no idea how good they are. I figured I'd get some spares before they are not available anymore.

 

[musicmind]

The RCA or GE 6de7 are probably the best NOS options out there and luckily they aren't expensive. I recently rolled in the RCA pair but its too early to tell if I am hearing any difference that I can attribute to them.

If you really want to experiment with the driver tubes, you can get the tube adaptors from Jack to use the 6ew7.

 

[mikeymad]

Any other results from this, or are we talking about recifier tube rolling only?

Cheers,

 

[jamato8]

The best pair I have are a pair of Marconi and they aren't marked the same but I know tubes. They are from the 1950's and frankly very hard to find. I find the RCA with 20 or 30 hours on them sound pretty good but there are different versions of the RCA.