Supratek Tubes and Tube Swappin' for Everybody

What makes you believe the 6106 is called upon to do the duty of a 5ar4 in the supratek, one could use the very same analogy by saying
the 5ar4 has to do the same duty as the 5z4, gz33, gz34, gz37 as well as a host of others. All of these rectifiers are recommended by Mick Maloney himself. RE: tube life???All the redbank family of rectifiers were developed exclusively for the Top secret American Missile Program. Their build quality and durabilty are legendary, and second to none. My 6106 has been in active duty for more than a decade and still test above 100% on both sides. It replaced a Mullard gz34 in my stock Dynakit stereo 70 way back in the early 90's. Whether it will outlast a Mullard gz34 in a supratek? I rather doubt it though, as the original Mullard gz34 lasted more than 20 years in the Dyna. Who the hell knows? but who here really cares anyway?

Ecclectique - it is great to see you active on the thread again. I tried the 6106 in my preamp for a week and it was very good. It opened up a bit after the first 24 hours but I didn't notice much change after that.

Are we dealin with a breakin issue or is it an operating temp problem? If you take your 6106 out and let it cool off, how long will it take to open up again when you put it back in?

Is that the heater element in the middle of the 6106? Looks like they ran it through some ceramic. Maybe that attributes to some of this.

On another note. I have some 6K6G on the way. Mick said they would work in the regulator position. The plate dissipation is real low so I am hoping for some magic.

Hi Jazz. Unfortunately...My typing skills are zero,I never did learn to type, not to mention that I'm a "certified moron" on these damned computers.I type with "one finger". hehehehe.....Hell if the keyboard didn't have the letters marked on the keys I'd have no chance at all! Yes, you have probably noticed how much longer the 6106 takes to power up the preamp when compared to other rectifiers. It also seems to take the supratek longer to warm up sonically with the 6106 in it. Furthermore, the 6106 operates at a lot hotter temperature [by design] than any of the others. When it's removed and cools down, unfortunately you will have to wait another 30 to 40 minutes for it to optimize the preamp. Another interesting observation.....About 6 months ago... I replaced my old 6106 in the cortese with a brand new 6106 and it sounded just dreadful,imparted a glare to the preamp that was unbearable to listen to. To run it in I powered it up [24/7] for a couple of weeks in the power supply of the syrah [unattached] and it still sounded rather thin by comparison, but the glare was almost gone at about 100 hours. It took a total of nearly 300 hours for it to fully flesh out.I loaned it to another supratek user[syrah] and he loves it paired with the 6f6g's in the regulation position. Yes sir: the 6K6g is another small power pentode that is a very good alternative tube option for regulation duty in the suprateks, however.... these were all originally made in either metal envelopes,st bottles or short glass gt types... the only 6k6 that is any good in our preamps are the earlier bottle shaped G versions with the round plate internals. The 6K6 metals are no good, the 6k6gt's are better but the G versions are the tube of choice. Note: There are a lot of other small pentode tubes from that same family that we can substitute for regulation duty in our preamps. Most of this family of pentodes... like the 6f6,6L6,6K6,6U6,6v6,1621,5871 can be used for regulation duty in the supratek and many are very gound sounding valves when used as an output tube in a good amplifier. However.... most of them were originally designed in either metal envelopes or glass bottles. My experience with them..... stay with the bottle types as none of the metals sound very good. Another superb tube for regulation duty is the 1621. This tube was used in the amplifier of wurlitzer's top model jukes, as well as some early Western Electric amplifier circuits.

I have asked Mike these questions:

Can bendix 6106 be used in Chenin rectifier (line level and phono inputs)?
Or maybe it can be used only when line level input are used, or not at all ?

His answer:
"
The Bendix can be used in any Supratek, and is probably as good as you can get.
The 6F6GT regulator tube can only be used in the line stage pres, and there are a few brands that dont seem very reliable -I'm recommending that if you want to experiment with regulator tubes the Sovtek KT66 is a good sub.
"

Ah.. so Mick like the Bendix too! Nice! Sorlowski, thanks for posting.