6L6WGC/5881 Tube choices for Amp

Have you looked at upscaleaudio.com or tubesandmore.com or even echohifi.com. Quads of these shouldn't break your bank. But yes I would spend extra on NOS. Each brand does have a personality.

The Problem is i do not know which quads are good for the money i am willing to spend - for me the rolling stops threre - so i want to go for something solid - hope someone can help me..

My Manley 200 mono's use eight 6l6GC/5881 each. Since purchasing the amps several years ago I have used NOS GE's, NOS Tungsol 5881's (expensive!), Sovtek's, and Svetlana Winged C. To my ears, and IN THESE AMPS, the GE's are excellent overall if slightly dry sounding, the Tungsol's are a beautiful sounding tube but ultimately too romantic and dark sounding, the Sovtek's are OK but dry sounding and a little glary. The Svetlana's are fantastic for the money (about $65 ea), and while a little brighter than the GE's, they are very smooth and overall on a par with the much more expensive GE's. A no brainer IMO. I hope this helps and good luck.

Dear Frogman,
Thank you very much doe your response - Do you mean this one?
http://www.boiaudioworks.com/6L6GCSVMatchedQuad ?

Have you experienced with TAD Tubes?
http://www.boiaudioworks.com/tad_6L6gc_str_matched_quad

and lastly, does the 6L6 "W" GLC - does the W mean anything in vast different that the ones without it will fit my amp??

Thank you so much for your response!

Thegoodarcher, I believe that the "W" is a military-spec designation re tighter tolerances, but same electrical characteristics and interchangeable. I am sure someone more knowledgable here can give a more detailed explanation. The Svetlana's in your link are not original Svetlana made in their St. Petersburg factory before the company was sold to US-owned Sovtek. As I am sure you are finding out there are many different opinions re the quality of tubes manufactured at different facilities even when by the same company. The general concensus is that the original St. Petersburg Svetlana's are the best. The one's in your link are not those; I referred to these:

http://www.upscaleaudio.com/sed-winged-c-6l6gc/

More expensive than when I bought mine a couple of years ago, but Kevin at Upscale Audio is as good a person to deal with and as knowledgeable as anyone, so I would encourage you to contact him.

These are described as older production as well, but if you look closely they are not the same as the one's from Upscale. Again, contact Kevin.

http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/6L6-5881-Tube-Types/Winged-C-SED-6L6GC

You may find this interesting:

bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf>http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi
bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf

Lastly, and especially since you are interested in trying a different input tube, personally I would do that first. My experience IN MY AMP has been that it makes a bigger difference than the power tubes. My favorite is the W German Telefunken 12AX7. Good luck and have fun with this, you will hear many different opinions and it can get very confusing; but good tubes make a big difference and well worth the investment.