Phono preamp tube rolling.

@lowrider57 

The OTK stamp meant it went through quality control and met the highest specs

You right about passing through quality control… but too optimistic about highest specs…all Soviet NOS has to be carefully checked before using…we have to be specifically careful with tubes made in USSR in 80s - 90s cause quite control of this period was much lower than 60s - 70s. 

@surfmuz , you are so right. I  mentioned on another tube thread that I'm done with Melz. I purchased a pair of 1578 OTK from a dealer in Russia, 30 day returns. I loved them, ordered 2 more pairs. Long story short, 4 tubes had crackling issues, the remaining pair will reside on my shelf. I'll save them for a rainy day.

I found out later on a different forum about the poor QC after 1970s. Mine are 1980 vintage and can be restored by resoldering the connections inside the pins. A few owners who also bought the 1980s have done it successfully.

I can say that andy's tubes sells special graded phono tubes and driver tubes that will cut down on system noise and sound better at the same time, you should check it out before swapping a bunch of non graded tubes in/out of phono circuits.