Do military/industrial tubes sound better than regular ones ?

Or they are usually just more rugged and longer lasting? I am particularly interested in 12AX7 and 12AU7 RCA blackplates from early and late 50s.

They are often double the price, but that would not be my main concern in this case because even regular ones should last for a very long time.

In other words, I would like to have best sounding RCA blackplates in my VAC Avatar SE, and longer lasting would be a bonus.

inna02-06-2025 10:02pm

yogiboy Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 5,759 posts 02-06-2025 at 11:37pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete No they don’t sound better!
knotscott Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 996 posts 02-06-2025 at 11:38pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Many are dubbed military or industrial for a variety of different reasons, so it'll depend a lot on each individual tube, and what makes them different. Plus a lot of tubes sound different on different circuits, and it's all very subjective.
immatthewj Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,295 posts 02-06-2025 at 11:44pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I don't know about the small 12 pin tubes, but I believe that the VT231 is a military application of the 6sn7 and I was fortunate, three or so years ago, to get several pairs of vintage 6sn7s and VT231s. After several days of tube rolling I was really wowed by a couple of the VT231s--more so than by the 6SN7s. I make no claims whatsover to be a tube guru, but I think what may be a factor in that is that the military may have had higher specification demands for the tubes that they were using in tubed equipment at the time.