6L6WGC/5881 Tube choices for Amp

The Problem is i do not know which quads are good for the money i am willing to spend - for me the rolling stops threre - so i want to go for something solid - hope someone can help me..

My Manley 200 mono's use eight 6l6GC/5881 each. Since purchasing the amps several years ago I have used NOS GE's, NOS Tungsol 5881's (expensive!), Sovtek's, and Svetlana Winged C. To my ears, and IN THESE AMPS, the GE's are excellent overall if slightly dry sounding, the Tungsol's are a beautiful sounding tube but ultimately too romantic and dark sounding, the Sovtek's are OK but dry sounding and a little glary. The Svetlana's are fantastic for the money (about $65 ea), and while a little brighter than the GE's, they are very smooth and overall on a par with the much more expensive GE's. A no brainer IMO. I hope this helps and good luck.

Dear Frogman,
Thank you very much doe your response - Do you mean this one?
http://www.boiaudioworks.com/6L6GCSVMatchedQuad ?

Have you experienced with TAD Tubes?
http://www.boiaudioworks.com/tad_6L6gc_str_matched_quad

and lastly, does the 6L6 "W" GLC - does the W mean anything in vast different that the ones without it will fit my amp??

Thank you so much for your response!

Thegoodarcher, I believe that the "W" is a military-spec designation re tighter tolerances, but same electrical characteristics and interchangeable. I am sure someone more knowledgable here can give a more detailed explanation. The Svetlana's in your link are not original Svetlana made in their St. Petersburg factory before the company was sold to US-owned Sovtek. As I am sure you are finding out there are many different opinions re the quality of tubes manufactured at different facilities even when by the same company. The general concensus is that the original St. Petersburg Svetlana's are the best. The one's in your link are not those; I referred to these:

http://www.upscaleaudio.com/sed-winged-c-6l6gc/

More expensive than when I bought mine a couple of years ago, but Kevin at Upscale Audio is as good a person to deal with and as knowledgeable as anyone, so I would encourage you to contact him.

These are described as older production as well, but if you look closely they are not the same as the one's from Upscale. Again, contact Kevin.

http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/6L6-5881-Tube-Types/Winged-C-SED-6L6GC

You may find this interesting:

bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf>http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi
bin/documents/testreport_44.pdf

Lastly, and especially since you are interested in trying a different input tube, personally I would do that first. My experience IN MY AMP has been that it makes a bigger difference than the power tubes. My favorite is the W German Telefunken 12AX7. Good luck and have fun with this, you will hear many different opinions and it can get very confusing; but good tubes make a big difference and well worth the investment.

Thegoodarcher - Really can't help much on the power tubes. But for the ecc83 the only Brimar I have is the yellow 'T'. Nice but a tad dry compared to my Gec CV6091's (similar but pretty expensive). Have you tried or considered Telefunken ecc83 or ecc803? That's another I like a lot. I have to say like Mechans said the Gold Lion re-issue are nice. As far as vintage Mullard CV4024's they are a nice warm sounding tube (no experience with the re-issue from Russia). Which brings up my next statement. When I had Dyn C1 Signatures speakers the Mullards sounded wonderful. But when I upgraded to the Raidho D1's it wasn't wonderful sounding anymore. I went back to the tele's and Gec.

Time to chime in on this thread regarding your speaker consideration. I had to send my Octave V110 (110W)in for a minor repair when I had the Raidho D1's and got an Octave V70SE (70W) loaner. Not much difference in sound (I previously owned a V70SE). Then I upgraded to the D2's. Sounded good with the same tubes. When the V110 got back the D2's sound better with a bit more control. So the extra power (40W) made them sound a bit better. Although the V110 can use EL34 6550 KT88 KT90 KT120 and KT150 (yes I have them all except the KT150)(no power gain with the KT150 because the Octave was designed around the KT120) I find the tubes that sound best with the Raidho's will be the most linear and detailed sounding tubes. With the Dyn's warmer sounding tubes sounded the best. The Rca 5751 black plate was killer with the Dyn's but too warm (like the Mullards) with the D1's. If you go with Magico I can't really comment what tubes would sound best. But IMO the only way you're really going to know is by trying various tubes. But there lies the beauty with tubes. As long as you have the necessary power there is no real need to swap amps - just roll tubes in and out.