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KT88s...the final chapter

Ok, Ive posted before, ive read the prior threads, ive read the David99 vs Marchman debacle, I done my homework on NOS, Valve Art, Svetlanas, out there. Id love to use Gold Lions and other NOS out there, but most are sold on ebay 1 pair or quad at a time for around $100 a piece. I need 16 tubes. Svetlanas run about $40 a piece. Sovteks are about $24 each. My question, are the Sovteks such a step down in quality to my stcok Svetlana 6550's? I am talking about the price to value ratio here. If my amps used a quad or even an octet, id have no problem with forking out the $$ for Gold Lions. Has anyone given the Sovtek kt88s a shot and if so, were they put back in the box bad? Anyone have suggestions on a lo cost source for kt88 types?

thanks
128x128justlisten
leafs
414 posts
 
I HAVE HEARD SOME NASTY THINGS ABOUT THESE TUBES.
justlisten's avatar
justlisten OP
489 posts
 
Well here is what Ive found, for my amps at least the SF Power 3's SF now is not recommending the Svetlana Kt88's due a high failure rate. They run the tube at a plate voltage of approx 540volts. They like the Sovtek Kt88's...I myself have purchased a set of EIKt90s. 2 sets of Sovtek kt88's and 2 sets of Valve Art Kt88's. I just recd the Sovteks and the Kt90s and rolled in the kt90s....so far so good, but its only been 3 hours. I am most intrigued at hearing the Valve Art, as SF has high priases for their 300B tube and one other they are using. The person I bought the Valve Arts from said there is a newer rugged Kt88 (3rd generation) which was designed for Jadis which have a thicker anode and thicker glass. Many people ive talked to have said nice things sonically about this tube with the only drawback being reliability..with this new Generation, lets hope that variable has been eliminated.
marchman
45 posts
 
Justlisten:

David and I have made up, via private email correspondence, FYI.

OTOH, I just (7/01) received a new Power 2SE and it came with Valvo 6922's and Svetlana KT88's. I wonder why SF would be including them with NEW amps if they are no longer recommending them? Do you have any idea?

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I haven't had any problems with the Svet KT88 yet.
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