JJ 6550 made in Slovakia are a good recommendation - and affordable! Other brands like Gold Lion and Tungsol are made in Russia - not a USA-friendly country!
Re-tubing a McIntosh power amp
I have a McIntosh 275 VI tube amp that I am considering changing out the tubes. Not interested in rolling, just upgrading from the stock tubes that it shipped with. Don’t want to go exotic ($$$) just trying to replace them with some upgraded, reliable tubes. Have any if you done this recently? Looking for suggestions on brands and reliable, fairly priced tube sources. Thanks!
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GL KT88s are about 210-230.00 per quad. I'd stick with KT88s not 6550, and yes there is BIG difference. GL are a good sounding valve for one. A 6550 in the older 1961-67 275s that's a different story. The amp is made differently. Actually I like a GE6550 better than even the old GLs. BOTH are wonderful valves though.. PSVANE is just a no no too. I tried a few times.. The signal valves not too bad, but the power valves.. YIKES! I know I have used some Solvex that were REALLY good. The problem I had was the failure rate out of the box and for about the first 50 hours or so.. SUPER high.. I bought in bulk, and didn't lose my shirt, BUT I was burning in quads for a while.. 15% failure rate, THEN they were fine.. Over 30 valves out of 200, three different times.. Some put on quite the fireworks display in a tube.. Scare the heck out of you the first few times.. :-) OP rolling valves is swapping, but normally we roll small valves for the final tweak. Some have fewer to roll than others.. That's all. LOL |
Thing is tho, by your intent you will in fact be tube rolling! Are you looking to replace a whole set of signal and OPT’s or a combination of same? If you are considering replacing valves ( Mainly the KT’s) that you feel. may be a little tired my first inclination would be Mac factory tested and approved via a Mac dealer. |
not rolling but upgraded from stock, oh baby what a quest. stock tubes from whom, OEM tubes or you bought used? I imagine OEM's put what they believe is best, then people replace/roll. The difference to the OEM of 'stock' tube cost is insignificant to the cost of the amp. You will get into the issue of Bias, I started a thread about that 1-1/2 yrs ago, after ton's of advice, then Covid, all kinda other new stuff all over the house, did nothing about bias. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/tube-bias-socket-to-me?highlight=bias%2Bsocket%2Bto%2Bme Since 1973 I have messed with these power tubes: EL37's; EL34's, 6L6; 7581, 5881; 6550, KT88. weak, shorts, got hold of some money, .... a variety of amps and reasons. Most recent, my Cayin A88T came with used 6550's. I like having spares, got some b'day $, bought some new KT88's. I loved the 6550's, I love the KT88's more. Convinced myself with my own expectation bias? Source: Brent Jesse, http://www.audiotubes.com/ |
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