New KT150 tubes?


Has anyone any experience with these pretty new tubes. There are already one or 2 amps I know of, that use them. The review of one of these amps in a UK magazine suggested they were a little warmer and more natural sounding than the nearly new KT120's

The article also suggested they were a straight swap for KT120 based amps, with no adjustment necessary. They are more than twice the cost of KT120's, but still not too costly compared with NOS tubes. I know changing from KT88's or 90's to 120's. did require some amp modification. I have an ARC reference 75 and might want to try the new tubes at some point, ARC don't seem to have a customer E-mail service, to ask the question
david12
7000 hours is two years or so at 10 hours a day...or 30 years at one hour a day...300 years at a minute a day?
will keep my fingers crossed that these will be better quality and can be used in place of KT-120's. Love the sound of the KT-120 but quality of manufacturing precision is erratic compared to the GL KT-88's they retired for my amp. Given what we saw with the KT-120's no doubt will have to wait a year before the various manufacturers render opinion on whether they are safe to use with the different models in their product lines. I suspect we could all get better results out of an improved QC version of KT-120 (or KT-150 if similar to 120 for tonal balance)
your right wolf,$300 is about the lowest ive seen them plus shipping. most have them for $380 for four plus shipping.
the big question here is to all of us who went out and spent $160 for four kt120's last year are going to want to spend more money now 10 more wpc. thats like twice the price. i think its a rip off. they know everybody will want them because they are new and cool looking. the kt 120's should be around $30-$40 ea and the kt150's around $50-$60,not the $90-$100 premium they are asking for. but we all know in this business tube guys seem to have deep pockets and will pay whatever they cost. i have two jolida amps running in mono. that would be 8 tubes for $750. the 120's are $300. are they really worth double the cost
This is the first I've heard of KT120 quality issues, and I think it's interesting Davide has experienced "erratic" manufacturing when they're made in the same factory as GL tubes (maybe the Gold Lion quality control team should visit other parts of the factory...lazy bastards!). I'd say that's some bad tube luck as New Sensor must have made a batch after lunch on a Wednesday. I don't doubt other people must have had issues at some point with 120s as they're everywhere, but I've made it a quest to find criticism of 120s as they're such a hit. The official score is 752 to 3 against 120s! Also it's interesting to see such interest in 150s when (like me) 120s work so well (except Davide's). Premium 120s with gold pins, etc., have surprisingly never appeared...Psvane should make some of those as I'd try 'em!
The KT-120s sound fine but the internals of 1 were clearly not given a good visual QC... the posts (anode?) for the vertical glowing conductors are shorter above the top mica plate than the other 3 and guaranteed that when circuit protection cuts in, that's the culprit tube.