Do we still need 6550 or KT88 tubes?

I think Wolf Garcia said something like that earlier.

I have tried kt 120, WC 6550, GL kt88, JJ kt88, Ei kt90, sovtek kt88, I luked the 6550 WC best, just more musically convincing. In other systems this was not the case. The plate impedance is diffwrent for each tube so they are very system dependant. Try first in your system...Jallen

I have tried kt 120, WC 6550, GL kt88, JJ kt88, Ei kt90, sovtek kt88, I liked the 6550 WC best, just more musically convincing. In other systems this was not the case. The plate impedance is different for each tube so they are very system dependant. Try first in your system...Jallen

Old thread, but just ran across it. I have switched to NOS GE 6550A in my Bob Carver Black Raven 200 mono blocks. The improvement over the current production Russian tubes is incredible. I was going to try KT120s, but instead I bought another 14 NOS GEs. These are the favorite tube of Stu Hegman and Bob Carver and I see why. Bob loves to tell the story of when he asked Stu about Genelex KT88s and Stu raised his pinky and said "Watered-down British tea." If you are thinking of getting some new Russian tubes, now maybe the time. With oil prices so low and strangling the Russian economy, our response ( like the response if Jimmy Carter in 1980) may be to impose an embargo if Russia gets more agressive in Ukraine.

"With oil prices so low and strangling the Russian economy, our response ( like the response if Jimmy Carter in 1980) may be to impose an embargo if Russia gets more agressive in Ukraine."

Putin and his henchmen are the one's strangling the Russian economy with their blatant corruption and criminal activities, low oil prices are just exacerbating the problem for his people created by HIM. Agree, buy now before the inevitable embargo by this or the next administration and his response, doubling down. There is no palatable solution with that guy, he is just too ambitious and dangerous.