Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes

@trivema well here’s my 2 cents on my Melz experience.  I did a lot of research on forums and most of the forums  talked about the holed version as the best.  But I did come across some praising the solid plates if you get the older ‘50’s version. Saying they performed very similar if not the same. After shopping for the holed version I realized the prices were crazy especially with the risk of buying from Ukraine or Eastern Europe.  I opted for the ‘53-56 solid plates and was able to put together 2 noise free pairs that are my best sounding 6sn7 tubes. I was fortunate they only cost me $60ea a year or so ago but prices keep going up. The biggest challenge is finding tubes that aren’t noisy which Melz are known for due to the age/quality of the solder on the  pins. Fyi- Heating the pins with a solder iron to reset the tin solder does fix the noise in many cases. I eliminated the noise on one of my tubes using this method.

I have 3 pairs of Melz but no more interest in them due to noise problem.

I also collected more than 8 ohter Russian tubes whish also sound decent.

Recently, I am using 6f8g tubes but no detailed review on them.

If I write detailed review, they will jack up the price..

Tungsol 6f8g got  overpriced due to hype.

Thomas

Thomas

Some people try to define which is the best 6sn7 tube.

But after going through more than 50 kinds of 6sn7 and variants, around 20 of them are pretty good.

The choice will be dependent on system and personal taste.

Vintage tubes are like vintage wines.

I sometime rotate between the tubes to taste different flavors.

Thomas

Agree it’s very difficult to say which 6SN7 tube is best.  We all have our preferences and our systems vary greatly.  For my system the Melz just stand out and hit all the marks although several others sound great just different.  I also like the analogy of fine wine…many taste good but with subtle differences in flavor.  Fun to rotate them for different moods.

@tksteingraber 

It is indeed fun to rotate the tube depending on your mood or music.

But be sure to use socket saver.

Otherwise, it will be lot of work to replace tube socket in your pre or main amp.

Just 2 cents.

Thomas