Preamp Deal of the Century

Hello Gang. A while back, I posted an alternative tube that can hold its own with the ultra expensive Western Electric 350B when employed as regulators in the supratek. I have been using a pair of 6F6g [ST bottle shape] from the 1930's in my Syrah for more than a month now.Mine are labelled rogers, however, I believe they were made by National Union[the company that first developed the 350b]. These power pentodes are slightly smaller than the 350b and their internals are almost indentical. Do "not" use the 6F6 metals[developed first] as they do not sound the same as the later glass tubes.These 6F6 power pentodes preceeded the more common 6V6 beam tetrode tubes and were used mostly in old radios and consols of the day.They should be relatively cheap and easy to source with a little searching as there is virtually no demand for these tubes today.The 6F6g will amaze you in the supratek! They sound so much like the 350b its simply a no brainer.

Thanks for the response Tubegroover. I am very tempted to order both the Berning and the Syrah. I really am looking for something that I can use for a decade happily. I have been considering the Syrah for the last week and I have always been attraced to Berning amps. This seems like a real winner of a combo that would be hard to beat at anywhere near the cost. Thanks again!

I doubt it can be touched for the money Baranyi, it can be safely recommended without worry. I have heard a few other amps in my system and as far as the Berning goes for what it offers you would have to pay considerably more to get comparable performance. I would go even further, I know a few Berning owners that have traded down mega expensive ss amps in favor of the zh270. The Spectron has been mentioned with the Von Scheikerts as a reference but after personally listening to that amp next to the Berning with the VSM (read that cavaet!), it really didn't come close. It sounded compressed and closed in by comparison. The Berning is more than good at the price it is reference caliper amplifier at any price with any amp in its power rating, it just misses in the harmonic presentation of the SET's but nothing is perfect except for maybe TWL's 1 watt ZOTL 45 SET "Holy Grail" the best of all worlds except maybe for the 1 watt, but I can only imagine the perfection of that 1 watt! IMO. May the cannon fire begin.

Ecclectique - How do you "discover" these wildcat tube substitutions? FWIW, the 6V6G and similar tubes also work as regs in the supratek.

Tubegroover: The Supratek Merlot monoblocs come pretty close to the notion of 'perfection' in a power amp, from what I've heard. So long as you have loudspeakers that can do them justice, i.e, are happy to run on 18watts of Single Ended Triode power.

Regards,

Steve M.